Abstract
The tenant of peace has
been distorted with bunches of crises, especially in the Northern part of
Nigeria. Security in the Nigerian states has become a major problem in recent
times. Cases of abduction, kidnapping, terrorism, senseless killings, maiming,
nihilism, burgeoning restlessness, banditry and others vices, have been
unabatedly rampant. Therefore, Nigerian citizens, despite the state security
apparatus to ensure the safety and protection of lives and property, are
incessantly living in perpetual fear and worry. It is against this backdrop
that this research article employs other means of trying to resolve the
scenario of crises and banditry through the application of sociolinguistics, language,
culture and communication as a panacea to incessant crises and banditry in
Northern Nigeria. The principal aim of the study is to identify how language
and culture could lead to the achievement of peacebuilding across the Northern
Nigerian states, especially in North-west Nigeria. Interviews and
questionnaires were complementarily adopted to gather data for the study. Whorf
Hypothesis Theory was used as the theoretical framework of analysis for the
study. On the whole, the study discovered among other things that, language, culture and effective
communication are better instruments for settling disputes rather than the use
of force. Therefore, the study concludes that the roles of language,
communication and culture in the management of crises and other
conflict-related activities can never be over-emphasized in the settling of
disputes among warring parties.
Keywords: Sociolinguistics, Language, Communication, Culture, Banditry
DOI: www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2023.v02i01.009
