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1、NordicJournalofAfricanStudies12(1):105-117(2003)LANGUAGEPLANNINGINAMULTI–ETHNICSTATE:THEMAJORITY/MINORITYDICHOTOMYINNIGERIAOLUWOLES.OYETADEUniversitätzuKöln,GermanyABSTRACTLanguagepoliciesandplanninginNigeriahavehithertonotbeenrealisticallyresponsivetothelinguisticdiversityinthecountry.Rather,th
2、eyhavesucceededinaccentuatingethnicconsciousnessandvitalitywithlanguageasasymbol.Forexample,Nigeriaisnowpolarizedalongtwolinguisticlines–linguisticmajorityandlinguisticminority.Ourstandpointinthispaperisthatasituationsuchasthisisinimicaltoouremergingdemocracyandouraspirationfornationaldevelopmen
3、t.Thepaper,therefore,willexaminelanguagepolicyandplanningattemptsinNigeriasinceindependencetothepresent.AgainstthebackdropofacasestudyoflanguageplanninginacountrylikeCanada,withsimilarlinguisticproblems,thispaperadvocatesagovernment’sstrategyofgovernance,whichallowsforgreaterdecentralizationofpo
4、werandwhichrecognizesandprotectsthelinguisticrightsofallNigerians.Keywords:language,languagepolicy,linguisticrightsINTRODUCTIONNigeriaiswidelyknownasacountrywithextremelinguisticfragmentation.Inactualfact,thepresentlinguisticsituationinthecountrymaybeunderstoodinthecontextofaworldwideprocessofba
5、lkanization.This,accordingtoConnor(1991:2)isaprocesscausedby"thealmosttotallackofcoincidencethatexiststodaybetweenpoliticalandethnicbordersintheworld".Hepointsoutthatwhilethereareatpresentthousandsofethnicgroupsornationsintheworld,thereareonly160states.Thismeansthatthousandsofethnicgroupsexistas
6、minoritieswithinlargerinclusivepoliticalstates,andthatemergingeliteswithintheseminoritygroupscannotbutfeeldisadvantagedastheycompetewithmembersofthemajorityforpositioninthelargercommunity.Oftenthiscompetitionpitsethno-nationalism,anideologicalandnationalattachmenttoone’sgroup,againstpatriotism,a
7、similarattachmenttoone’scountry.ThisislargelytrueofNigeria.Nigeriaismadeupofdiverseethnicgroups,themajorityofwhichhaveminoritystatus.Basedonthesizeofthevariousethno-linguisticgroupsinthecountry,itmaybeconvenienttorecognizeth
