Media and the Preservation of Indigenous Languages: The Case of Films Made in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

Sociolinguists, sociologists and other scholars have highlighted the consequence of language endangerment. Its implication on the cultural relevance of African people explains the hosting of conferences and other meetings by culture advocates and language experts. The momentum generated by such fora and concerns expressed by stakeholders have resulted in efforts geared towards the revitalization of indigenous African languages. The mass media constitute one of the agencies that are in the vanguard to preserve the languages. The concern of this study was to find out the success of film in preserving the language of Akwa Ibom people, one of Nigeria’s indigenous languages, from going extinct. It also sought to find out if the people of the state learn the language and sustain interest in it because of its use in film stories. Data were generated from 480 respondents sampled using a questionnaire, responses from a focus group comprising six discussants, and results from interviews with five prominent producers of Akwacross films. At the end, it was found out that while movie makers deliberately produce films using the Akwa Ibom language with the hope of promoting and preserving this language, viewers of the movies do not in the main profess to use the film medium as a means of learning the language and that the medium does not motivate them to develop interest in the language. Film therefore is merely a storage facility for the language. As a result of these findings, the study recommends among other things, that culture advocates, promoters of indigenous languages and policy makers should enlist other agents of socialization like the family, school and social groups, including community associations and age grades, to promote and preserve indigenous languages. Film should be seen as a complementary channel for the preservation of languages and propagation of culture.