Abstract:
The
scope of this paper is to examine the impact of lexical borrowing on Yorùbá
vocabulary development. The paper is a follow up on the existing literatures on
borrowing and classification of borrowing in Yorùbá language. The main aim of
this paper is to examine the negative impact borrowing has on Yorùbá language
development which has not been fully studied by previous scholars and how this
negative trend can be stopped or reduced to the barest minimum. This research
work adopts a qualitative approach to data gathering and elicitation. Data for
this research work were gathered from both primary and secondary sources
through careful observation of native speakers of the language and also through
consultation of existing literatures that are related to this work. Our
findings revealed that borrowing of words which are already available in the
language has led to the endangerment, extinction and death of many native
Yorùbá words and put others on the verge of going into extinction because of
restriction placed on their usage by speakers of the language and the
preference most of the speakers have for borrowed words. Also, it was observed
that borrowing in Yoruba language can be classified into Mutualism and
Parasitism borrowing. We conclude that creation of new words through research
workshops by linguists, works such as Bamgbose (1984) and Awobuluyi (1990) on
Yorùbá meta-language is one of the ways this can be curtail. Also,
intralingua borrowing and trans-disciplinary borrowing should be encouraged
while unnecessary external borrowing especially when there is no linguistics
need to do so should be discouraged.
Keywords: Language Endangerment; Synonym; Language Contact; Cross-cultural Communication
DOI: www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2024.v03i02.007
author/Rabiu, R.A., Abiola, O.L., & Ayelabola, S.O.
journal/Tasambo JLLC 3(2) | September 2024 |
