Language occupies a very important position in any human community regardless of the population. Language plays a very vital role in any human community-school, company, organization, group, home etc. the language of any human society tells a lot about that society therefore, it can be further emphasized that language and any human society are two inseparable bonds.
In any human society, language occupies a very important seat, more than many people see at the surface level. Language performs many functions but that is not the aim of this paper however, we shall mention a few of them. The functions of any language in any language community include the following; expression of thoughts, political, administration, education, social, religious and so on.
This paper is more concerned with the role of language towards national unity. We shall however be using Nigeria as our reference point. The aim of any human community is to have peace and unity and be conflict free, many nations of the world today are facing different degrees of conflicts, and Nigeria is one of such countries. This paper sees language as major player in attaining national unity in Nigeria. People have in the past expressed their various views about the meaning of language.
A lecturer of mine, Professor Fakuade .G. said and I quote,” language is the faithful mirror of the society” in other words a language is what shows the true nature of any society. This implies that what a language is meant to do to any human society is to reflect to the world what that society is all about. The language of any society therefore should give us a perfect knowledge of what a particular is all about this includes; the culture, beliefs, mode of dressing, marriage and every other sociolinguistic information about the society. Language is supposed to be the symbol of a nation just as the flag, Anthem, Currency etc. are in other words language is to be the window through which people can see through any human society.
English is the language of integration in Nigeria, amidst the compounding complexities of Nigeria especially in relation to the language question, the only language that indexes the spirit of togetherness is English. As viewed by Bamgbose a profound linguist:
Of allthe heritage left behind in Nigeria by the British at the end of colonial administration, probably, none is more important than the English language. It is now the language of government, business and commerce, education, the mass media, literature, and much internal as well as external communications… Bamgbose (1971):
It is obviously clear that the language that has held Nigeria together up to date to a great extent has been English language which was passed on to us by our colonial masters. And so far it has played that role well but I think it would have been better if it had been an indigenous language that has played this role. This is no intension to disrespect English language, I have my reasons for saying this.
Many of the conflicts and ethnic dispute we have had in the past could have been averted if our official language had been an indigenous language. The reason is that many people have orally misrepresented their ideas, views and intensions due to their incapability in terms of communication, they have chosen the wrong world at a particular point in time and this has led to unhappy testimonies. We have chosen English as our ‘official language of day to day” operation and activities and this has led to a situation whereby our indigenous languages occupy the back seat. English language is the key to any important door, no one who cannot communicate in English language is expected to occupy an important position in any organization.
The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of The English Language (Encyclopedic edition), defines language as, the expression and communication of emotions or ideas between human beings by means of speech and hearing, the sounds spoken or heard being systematized and confirmed by usage among a given people over a given period of time.” From the above view, it suggests that a language is supposed to communicate the internal (original) idea and express what a particular speaker has within. But this is not always so in a case where a particular speaker is not proficient in the language he is using as a medium of communication at a point in time for instance, an Hausa man who wants to communicate with a Yoruba or an Igbo man will have to use English where his level of proficiency is low compared to his L1 there is likely possibility that such a person is very likely to misrepresent some of his intensions during communication and such may not be taken likely by the other party and could lead to conflict between them. In such case would one say that language has been able to play it role well? This has definitely not justified the meaning of language and the essence of communication. The way a particular thought is conveyed is very important during communication; hence the essence of any communication is to present accurately the internal idea a speaker. Many Nigerians think in their MT and try to communicate their intensions in English and in some cases ideas have been misrepresented, they don’t have the correct word to represent their thoughts. The situation is not the same when interlocutors from the same ethnic background and where they both have proper knowledge of the language.
It is urgent for us to begin to see language as a vital agent of unity in our beloved country, Nigeria and begin to see how we can use this tool as an agent of unity to make Nigeria a more unified country and push aside all ethnic and tribal differences. Language is a tool that can be in our quest for national unity and should be handled with total commitment and seriousness. Every Nigerian should begin to think and see how language can contribute to the growth of the giant of Africa. Our culture is embedded in our language. Let us embrace our language with enthusiasm and pride and promote what we have together and then our differences will become a thing of the past. This is a call to national unity but this time around it is coming through an unpopular medium, let us use this valuable tool of ours towards one Nigeria. Language has a very vital role to play in our quest for national unity. Let us embrace it just as we have done to football. Language has a vital role to play in our quest for national unity.
