ARABIC LANGUAGE AND THE CHALLENGE OF IDENTITY IN MULTI-ETHNIC SOCIETIES: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA
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Date
2021
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AL-LISĀN JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMIC SOCIETY FOR ARABIC LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN NIGERIA (ASALLIN) VOL. III NO. XII, 2021
Abstract
Nigeria is a linguistic, ethnic, cultural and social mosaic with more than fourhundred different indigenous, endoglossic tongues.¹ According to Brann, these
languages are of divergent genetic families such as Niger-Kordofanian, Afro-Asiatic,
and Nilo-Saharan. Furthermore, Niger-Kordofanian has two branches: Niger-Congo
and Benue-Congo. Niger-Congo itself is of three sub-branches, namely, Kwa, WestAtlantic and Adamawa. However, Benue-Congo has two sub-branches: Cross-River
and Bantoid.2
a The Arabic language belongs to the Semitic family of languages. It is
relative of the South-West Semitic branch that entails South Arabian and Ethiopian
languages.3 The Arabic language was first introduced in to Nigeria through the
Islamic faith and the Arab traders in the Northern part of the country in the ninth
century A. D. when the Old Kanemi Empire was first introduced to Islam. According
to Turkham as cited in Zakariya, Arabic at the initial stage was circumscribed to
religious sphere in Nigeria due to its great affinity with Islam. The spread of Islam
and the proliferation of the Quranic knowledge, coupled with the establishment of the
religious statehood in Sokoto by Fulani Jihadists made Arabic gained enormous
ground by the end of the nineteenth century.
Today in Borno State, there is a sizeable ethno-linguistic minority population
called Shuwa Arab whose mother tongue is Arabic. By implication, Arabic is one of
the Nigerian languages. The fact that it is not given its due care in this country is
regrettable.