Language Health

 Report: Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has named gospel musician, Asu Ekiye, Ijaw Language Ambassador. Speaking on Sunday in Yenagoa during Ekiye’s musical concert and album launch tagged “Ebikamo Experience,” Governor Diri said the appointment was in recognition of his effort to preserve Ijaw language through his music and that this was in line with his administration’s vision to ensure the language does not go extinct. Describing the musician’s passion for preserving the language as commendable, he said his administration has trained Ijaw teachers and would do more to promote the language. The governor also stated that Bayelsa was peaceful because the Ijaw people were peaceful in nature and solicited their continuous support for his administration to initiate more development projects across the state. His words: I would have been here earlier but was told that the place was not ready. When it started raining, I told the Chief of Staff and SA Religion to represen...

By Josiah Egbilika Linguist, Indigenous Language Advocate  Every 21st February, the world celebrates the international mother tongue day. This day is set aside to create awareness of the necessity of indigenous languages and why the globe should have language tolerance noting that despite the differences in our languages, we are one. This year, the celebration is special as it marks the 25th year, silver jubilee of the celebration of the international mother tongue day which was adopted by united nations in 2000 after been initiated by Bangladesh the year before. This therefore calls for a reflection to the Nigerian situation. For 25 years, what has Nigeria achieved, how have we felt in terms of language development and sustainability? While there may seems to be more negatives to the questions above, there are actually some positives we as a nation has achieved. The past 25 years, Nigeria has developed some language policies to help the development of indigenous languages. There i...

By Eylem Altuntas Babies are like little detectives, constantly piecing together clues about the world around them. If you've ever noticed your baby staring at you while you talk, it's because they're picking up on more than just sounds – they're learning how those sounds are made. Our recent study, published in Developmental Science, shows this amazing process starts as early as four months old, shaking up the old belief that babies learn these patterns only after tuning in to their native language between 6 and 12 months of age. It also gives us an earlier window to help children who might be at risk of speech or language delays. Sorting through a buffet of sounds By their first birthday, babies are already fine-tuning their ears to the sounds of their native language in a process called perceptual attunement. Think of it like their brain sorting through a buffet of sounds to focus on the ones that matter most. But in their first six months, babies can tell apart soun...

by: Josiah Egbilika  Just like in 2020 when 29 Nigerian words, such as danfo, okada, next tomorrow, and mama put were included in the Oxford Dictionary, another milestone has been achieved in 2025 as The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added a more collection of Nigerian words to its latest update. In this latest update, 20 new words were included into the dictionary with majority of them from being lexicons from Nigerian Pidgin.  The words added to the dictionary include: 1. 419 2. abi 3. adire 4. agbero 5. area boy 6. cross-carpet 7. cross-carpeting 8. eba 9. Edo 10. gele 11. jand (noun, verb) 12. janded (adjective) 13. Japa (noun, verb) 14. Kanuri 15. Kobo 16. Naija 17. suya 18. Yahoo 19. Yahoo boy, and 20. Yarn Dust These additions showcase Nigeria’s cultural diversity, daily life, and street culture while highlighting the rising influence of Nigerian Pidgin across Africa and beyond. The 20 included words are in addition to at least 57 Nigerian words already in the dic...

...celebrates Awajis Josiah-Chijindu, others for their contributions in journalism Martha Okere It is commendable that media practitioners are increasingly being appointed as Chief Press Secretaries and Special Advisers on Media to the new CTC chairmen in #RiversState. This development will improve the quality and professionalism of press communications, ensuring clarity and effectiveness. My congratulations go out to my colleagues, among them Ofonime Okon and others who choose to remain anonymous. I hold you all in high regard and have full confidence in your ability to excel in these roles. However, it is concerning to observe the marginalization of women journalists from such appointments. Women have consistently proven to be exceptional media managers, as shown by the tenure of a former female Commissioner for Information in our state. Ibim Semenitari’s communication strategies played a crucial role in ensuring that  the achievements of the administration she worked for are wel...

OPINION By: Josiah Egbilika The World Day Against Child Labor is celebrated every June 12 of the year. It is a day set aside to raise awareness and solicit for prompt actions to stopping child labour in all of its forms. The International Labour Organziation (ILO) launched the Day in 2002. Since then, the day has focused attention on the prevalence of child labour throughout the world, and the actions needed to eliminating it. According to the The International Labour Organziation, Child Labour refers to any work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; that deprives them the opportunity to attend school or that cause any form of harm to children. The World Day Against Child Labour since its inception in 2002, has sought for ways to eliminate child labour in the world. According to the Global Estimates of Child Labour Results and Trends report of 2012-2016 released in 2017 by International Labour Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, there are...