The Fear of Foreign Accent and the Endangerment of Igbo Language

Many world languages and dialects today are endangered. The threat of language endangerment has caught the attention of many scholars like Fishman (2001), Odinye and Odinye (2010), and international organizations like the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), which have proposed a model for classifying less privileged languages and dialects. The future of the Igbo language of south-eastern Nigeria is not too certain. Duruaku (2004) showed that the Igbo people portray some negative attitudes toward their language. Such attitudes hamper language maintenance and preservation. This paper focuses on the current status of Igbo language and examines the roles of linguistic perceptions in Igbo language endangerment.

Keywords: language endangerment, language maintenance and preservation, Igbo language and dialects,
language perception, language acquisition