Cite this article as: Yahaya, S.O. (2023). A Sociolinguistics Application of Language, Culture and Communication as Panacea to Incessant Conflicts and Banditry in North-West, Nigeria. Tasambo Journal of Language, Literature, and Culture, (2)1, 73-80. www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2023.v02i01.009.
Abstract
The tenant of peace has been distorted with bunches of crises, especially in the Northern part of Nigeria. Security in the Nigerian states has become a major problem in recent times. Cases of abduction, kidnapping, terrorism, senseless killings, maiming, nihilism, burgeoning restlessness, banditry and others vices, have been unabatedly rampant. Therefore, Nigerian citizens, despite the state security apparatus to ensure the safety and protection of lives and property, are incessantly living in perpetual fear and worry. It is against this backdrop that this research article employs other means of trying to resolve the scenario of crises and banditry through the application of sociolinguistics, language, culture and communication as a panacea to incessant crises and banditry in Northern Nigeria. The principal aim of the study is to identify how language and culture could lead to the achievement of peacebuilding across the Northern Nigerian states, especially in North-west Nigeria. Interviews and questionnaires were complementarily adopted to gather data for the study. Whorf Hypothesis Theory was used as the theoretical framework of analysis for the study. On the whole, the study discovered among other things that, language, culture and effective communication are better instruments for settling disputes rather than the use of force. Therefore, the study concludes that the roles of language, communication and culture in the management of crises and other conflict-related activities can never be over-emphasized in the settling of disputes among warring parties.
Keywords: Sociolinguistics, Language, Communication, Culture, Banditry
DOI: www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2023.v02i01.009
By
Saidu Yahaya Ojoo, PhD.
Department of English and Literature, Federal University Gusau, Gusau, Zamfara State, Nigeria
+2348036498672
saiduoyahaya@fugusau.edu.ng
Abstract
The tenant of peace has been distorted with bunches of crises, especially in the Northern part of Nigeria. Security in the Nigerian states has become a major problem in recent times. Cases of abduction, kidnapping, terrorism, senseless killings, maiming, nihilism, burgeoning restlessness, banditry and others vices, have been unabatedly rampant. Therefore, Nigerian citizens, despite the state security apparatus to ensure the safety and protection of lives and property, are incessantly living in perpetual fear and worry. It is against this backdrop that this research article employs other means of trying to resolve the scenario of crises and banditry through the application of sociolinguistics, language, culture and communication as a panacea to incessant crises and banditry in Northern Nigeria. The principal aim of the study is to identify how language and culture could lead to the achievement of peacebuilding across the Northern Nigerian states, especially in North-west Nigeria. Interviews and questionnaires were complementarily adopted to gather data for the study. Whorf Hypothesis Theory was used as the theoretical framework of analysis for the study. On the whole, the study discovered among other things that, language, culture and effective communication are better instruments for settling disputes rather than the use of force. Therefore, the study concludes that the roles of language, communication and culture in the management of crises and other conflict-related activities can never be over-emphasized in the settling of disputes among warring parties.
Keywords: Sociolinguistics, language, communication Culture, Banditry
Introduction
Sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics that studies the relationship between language and society. Language varies in structure and functions in its various uses by users in social and situational contexts of communication. Sociolinguistics also account for the status and uses of language in society. This by extension means, the attitude of a society to its language or dialects determines the status and functions assigned to them. Language as a concept is subjected to different definitions depending on the understanding and the concern of the scholar. For example, a psychologist may see it as an instrument of thought or representation of behaviour or performance; an educationist may see it as a medium of instruction or subject to be learnt; a philosopher may see it as the vehicle of reason or experience; and a sociologist may see it as a means of communication in society. Therefore, as a working definition in the current research work, it would suffice to describe language as a means of social communication used to explicate and differentiate different ethnic groups and cultures among people of the world. Through language, people build, understand and express their emotions, intentions and values to confirm social relations. Language is an intrinsic part of the culture and its potential can be tapped and maximized to establish peace through adequate and proper language use.
Communication which is the process of sharing and exchanging information between parties, groups, and potential parties in the resolution of crises among warring parties is quite undisputable in the current study. This implies that despite conflict situations, individuals or parties involved can still converse. Whenever it is possible to have a communication link between the parties in a crisis, there are possibilities of exchanging perceptions, assumptions and attitudes, which have been built up by conflict groups and others. This means that communication or absence of communication can easily escalate conflicts between the parties or among individuals in conflicts situation.
Crises and banditry whenever it occurs anywhere in the world are widely perceived as destructive. The destruction of these two damaging acts is inimical to the peace and development of society. In other words, the destructive nature of every act of conflict and banditry makes it a vice that should be avoided. In this case, it has become a permanent life threat and, in most cases, has retard development in Nigeria, especially in the entire parts of Northern Nigeria. The dangers associated with crises and banditry require that there should be proactive measures taken to avoid the incessant occurrence of these two social vices, which are inimical to the growth and development of any civil society. It is against this backdrop that this research work conducts a sociolinguistics application of language, culture and communication as a panacea to incessant crises and banditry in Nigeria, with a focus on the North-west states of Nigeria.
Problem statement
Incessant crises in Nigeria are so alarming so much so that every citizen is subjected to the threat of one form of crisis or the other, ranging from cases of abduction, kidnapping, killings, nihilism, and banditry, to mention but a few. The recent and emerging cattle rustling, banditry, and killing of innocent farmers in the Northern part of Nigeria, are clamouring for a solution. Therefore, this research work investigated the sociolinguistics application of language, culture and communication as an alternative means to bring about permanent solutions to crises and banditry. The researcher believed that there should be other methods of appealing for peace other than the usual use of force by the government.
Objectives of the study
1. Based on dependable data investigates the causes and manifestation of conflicts and banditry in the North-west region of Nigeria.
2. Based on dependable materials investigate the extent to which the wave of incessant conflict and banditry affects the socio-economic development of the North-west region of Nigeria.
3. Investigate the role of language as a panacea to incessant crises and banditry in contemporary Northern Nigerian societies.
4. Examine the effects of culture in resolving the incessant crises and banditry across the North-west part of Nigeria.
5. Investigate the effects of communication as the panacea to the prevailing crises and banditry in Northern Nigeria.
Conceptualization of terms
i. Language
Language as a phenomenon is the pivot on which all human activities, ranging from the most prosaic to the most profound revolve. It provides the unique medium through which the belief system, worldview, moral values and virtually all the fundamental components of any given society are passed on from generation to generation. Language, as a natural ability is common to every normal human being. This means that all normal beings are naturally disposed to using language for the sole purpose of communication. Language differs from other social practices such as those about religion, diet or dress, in that it is unavoidable. That is unlike those other practices. It is simply impossible in most if not all situations to avoid the issue of a specific language. Therefore, the unavailability of language creates a significant challenge for language policy, since any decision to use a particular language advantages those individuals who are competent in the language. It also necessarily penalizes those individuals who are not competent in the institutionalized language. In short, it is simply not possible for any institution to be completely neutral in the sense of not favouring any particular language and by extension the speakers of that language. Kymlicka, (1995) asserts that:
It is possible for a state not to have an established church. But the state cannot help but give at least partial establishment to a culture when it decides which language to be used in public schooling or the provision of state services. The state can (and should) replace religious oaths in court with secular oaths, but it cannot replace the use of English in courts with no language.”
In, according to Bloomberg, (2005), there is no such thing as non-social language. Any utterance produced by people will be, for instance, an instance of oral speech, spoken with a particular accent gendered and reflective of age and social position, tied to a particular situation or domain, and produced in a certain stylistically or generically identifiable format. Language is necessary to society in the sense that there can be no study of language devoid of society. In the study of language, social and cultural considerations are required, nevertheless, language is essentially social in nature. A good knowledge of our society will enable us to predict with some level of reliability the probability of certain types of language being used in a given particular situation, given the language, we can also predict with certainty the social situation out of which it came to be. Though, one wonders if a language can exist without people or culture. It is equally doubtful if a person, no matter his/her intelligence can speak without listeners.
ii. Culture
Culture is said to be the total ways of life of a group of people, the ways of life are given expression in language. Indeed, while the level of development prevalent in a society depends upon the cultural values of the people, these values are communicated, first of all through the medium of language. Therefore, language and culture are interrelated as they work together and influence each other positively towards functional peace and stability of a society. Culture is a complex and total configuration of institutions and modes of life embracing the knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, capabilities, habits, and expectations commonly prevalent in society and shared by the members thereof (we, 1979). In brief, culture can also be defined as an aggregate and complex concept and ways of life of a people. It is a major way in which people adapt to their environment and it plays a vital role in the renewal of society. Therefore, the survival of morality in any society depends to a large extent on the revival of the positive aspects of its culture.
Two things are essential to remember about culture: they are always changing, and they relate to the symbolic dimension of life. The symbolic dimension is the place where we are constantly making meaning and enacting our identities. Cultural messages from the groups we belong to give us information about what is meaningful or important, who we are in the world and our relation to others’ identities. Therefore, cultural messages shape our understanding of relationships, and how to deal with the crises and harmony that are always present whenever two or more people come together. The ideological nature of language and culture is always compounded and complementary by the fact that arguments for culture are usually embedded in a host of assumptions. These include assumptions about how language preserves and transmit culture. This is the fact that speakers belonging to particular communities might be expected to have various languages and about how the notion of equality of treatment (both within a group and beyond the group) itself might be interpreted.
iii. Communication
Communication is a channel through which information is passed from one person to another or from one person to a group of persons. Thus, information is transmitted through the effective use of a language understood by people, hence language and communication are interlaced. The reason is that communication cannot take place devoid of language and for information to be passed between the sender and the receiver; there must be an absolute use and understanding of a particular language.
Communication is a term so pervasive and commonplace in human society that it informs the centre for human existence and survival both as an organized society and as individuals. Thus, communication is the sharing of meaning between a source and a receiver to establish common sense. (Payne 2001) sees communication as negotiation because according to him, when we communicate we are sharing our understanding, trying to understand others, asking questions and providing responses. Communication is also the process in which persons assign meaning to events and especially to the behaviour of other persons. The striking feature of the above definition is the recognition of non-verbal or symbolic communication. It also identifies communication as a process, which means that senders and receivers must participate actively for effective communication to occur. In any case, the receiver must receive the intended message/meaning of the sender in a communicative activity.
iv. Banditry
Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving threat or use of force. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits a crime such as extortion, robbery, and murder either as an individual or in groups. Bandits have been operating in most of the northwest states of Nigeria for over a decade, but the situation got worse in the past few years. Banditry is the code name in the region for organized crimes like kidnapping, cattle rustling, mass abduction, arson, and even armed robbery. Banditry has been a pandemic global phenomenon with far-reaching social, political and economic consequences which threaten the development efforts of affected nations in parts of the world. In Nigeria, the issue of banditry is in recent years a major internal security challenge, particularly in the Northern parts of the country. In the Northern part of the country, banditry has been a menace which has and continues to haunt many communities in the region unabated. The vicious circle of kidnapping, cattle rustling, and arbitrary killing of people by the bandits have been on for a decade. The activities of these bandits have to some extent affected the day-to-day routines of the affected communities and by extension the whole region. The rate of banditry has led to a high rate of death, injury and displacement of people in northern states of Nigeria as people are forced to move or migrate to other places for safety. The sudden and unorganized movements affect their well-being politically, psychologically, socially and economically. These heinous activities of the bandits generally affected most of the inhabitants’ political, social, economic as well as religious activities to the lowest ebb; as the scale of farming and pastoral activities were reduced to low levels. Thus, life has become critical and hard for the entire people of Northerners as a result of the banditry. The prevailing situation in the region could be compared to the scenario of war-torn countries where people survive in fear and uncertainty. This is because, people living in some of the villages in the region, hardly sleep comfortably.
v. Conflict
Is mostly conceived as the absence of peace and the breakdown of order. However, scholars of social conflict have made several attempts to dissect the concept, especially in the analysis of what constitutes a violent conflict and how it is inimical to peace. Indeed, conflict is actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests. It is an intrinsic and inevitable part of human existence, by this; conflict appears to be perverse in human society. What this means is that conflict generally arises as a result of the pursuit of incompatible interests and goals by different groups or individuals. Hobbes argued in Leviathan that: “When two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies and … endeavour to destroy or subdue one another” (Hobbes 1991), (Olorede and Olorede 2015. (Francis 2006)
To this end, parties cannot enjoy values accrued to scarce commodities that invariable convey them to conflict. For Butler, 2009, conflict arises from mutual recognition of competing or incompatible material, interests and social basic values. However, most conflicts in the social realm are dynamic rather than static in nature and evolve following interaction between and among the aggrieved parties. This shows that the absence of communication or interactions among people provides a conflict environment a situation the aggrieved parties are ready to go to war with one another. It can be viewed from both political and social perspectives. From the social perspective, it is an expressed agitation between parties with conflicting interests; and from the political point of view, conflict among parties who struggle for power and resources. The parties in conflict may be individuals, groups, or countries.
There are several theories which explained the causes of conflict; and these include the Human Need Theory, Relational Theory, Political Theory and Transformative Theory. The Human Needs Theory expresses the view that without certain basic needs, human beings cannot survive. The relational Theory posits that conflict is the product of social interactions that operate among people from different sociocultural backgrounds. The political Theory views the state as the platform where people or groups with conflicting interest clash over certain benefits. Thus, a weak state informed by poor leadership breeds conflict among the group therein. The Transformative Theory opines that conflict is generated by perceived inequality and injustices driven by socio-cultural, religious, political and economic forces within a state. In a rapidly changing world, approaches to the settlement of conflict are also changing.
The relationship between language, culture, and communication
The connection between language and culture can be described in many ways. First, it is an aspect of culture-one of the very many objects and institutions of culture. Second, language is an instrument of thought. It helps to concretize thought and also to explore, discover, extend and record the experiences in culture. Third, language expresses culture. It is the only way by which the social experiences and values of a group of people are perceived and understood, (Adegbite, 2020). The study of language as part of culture and society is called sociolinguistics. Osuagu et al (1997) define sociolinguistics as the study of variations of language in the light of non-linguistic aspects of social structure. It is specifically, the relationship between grammatical choices and social functions and situations and the individual’s knowledge of their language varieties and the role they perform with them.
The issues of language and culture emanate out of an attempt to explain the relationship between language and the interpretation of social reality. Edward Sapir, (1929) explores this relationship in his discussion of the interrelationship between language, culture and personality. According to him, language does not stand apart from or run parallel to direct experience but completely interpenetrates it. The observation of Sapir as explicated above was further extended and developed by his student, Benjamin Lee Whorf, into what later became the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. Whorf, (1956). He claims that language conditions our worldview and that different speakers view the world along the different lines laid down by their respective languages. Therefore, language is crucial in human social relations, and therefore language, culture and communication are keys to the management and resolution of conflict and banditry currently bedevilling Nigeria, especially the Northern part of the country.
Language and culture and communication are multi-disciplinary fields that can be used to analyze the causes of social crises and explore processes by which crises can be handled to maximize social value, justice to minimize violence crises. These trio concepts are the systemic mechanism through which crisis mediators could bargain and negotiate to bring violent crises to a halt. Therefore, language, culture and communication assume systematic instruments for resolving and management of violent crises and banditry currently experienced in Nigeria, especially in the Northern parts of the country.
Theoretical framework: Sapir Whorfian Hypothesis
Sapir Whorf Hypothesis Theory and Social Contract Theory are jointly adopted as its theoretical Framework. The use of these two theories helped us do justice in all ramifications of the research work, as the use of one complements the other. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis holds that our thoughts are shaped by our native language and that speakers of different languages, therefore, think differently. This hypothesis is controversial in part because it appears to deny the possibility of a universal groundwork for human cognition, and in part. After all, some findings taken to support it have not been reliably replicated. We argue that considering this hypothesis through the lens of probabilistic inference has the potential to resolve both issues, at least concerning certain prominent findings in the domain of comprehension of concepts and ideas. Thus, the researcher employed the principle of linguistic relativity. This formulation implicitly acknowledges that Sapir and Whorf were not the first or only scholars to have theorized about relations between language and thought and that other strands of thinking about the issue also exist. A main point of debate in the discussion of linguistic relativity is the correlation between language and thought. The strongest form of correlation is linguistic determinism, which would hold that language entirely determines the range of possible cognitive processes of an individual. This view has sometimes been attributed to Benjamin Lee Whorf and Ludwig Wittgenstein, but it is not currently the consensus that either of these thinkers espoused determinist views of the relation between language and thought. The work proved among other things that the application of language, culture and communication are stronger weapons than the arms and ammunition which are being employed by the federal government of Nigeria in attempting to resolve many crises in Nigeria.
An overview of the study areas: North-West geopolitical zones of Nigeria
The study is expected to investigate some selected areas in a particular state where the cases of incessant conflict/crises and banditry activity have been recorded in the North-West (NW) region of Nigeria. The North-West zone is made up of seven (7) states Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states. We shall be providing an in-depth historical overview of the North-west geopolitical zone of Nigeria.
The population of the study
Participants for the study were selected from across all the states within the North-west geopolitical zone with emphasis on the areas from where there are records of conflicts and banditry. Participants were randomly selected from the areas selected through a stratified random sampling technique. Each zone was stratified along component states. North-west comprises seven states. Therefore, the study covered seven (7) states of the North-west region with twenty-one (21) Senatorial Districts.
Methods of data collection
The research used questionnaires, oral interviews and formal interactions to elicit information from the inhabitants of the areas where there are records of banditry and conflicts activities. Key Person Interview (KPI) was used to verify the information obtained from the oral and informal interactions. The researcher paid several visits to the selected communities where there are records of conflicts and banditry activities. Meetings were scheduled and organized across the states; and in each senatorial district of the states, especially in such areas that are prone to incessant conflicts or banditry attacks. The researcher also organized a series of meetings and interviews with selected traditional and youth leaders in such areas to sensitize them on the roles of language, culture and communication in resolving conflicts and other crises. The researcher replicates the same throughout the seven (7) states of the geo-political zone under investigation. This was done in each of the senatorial districts within the state, except where there is a need to skip some areas due to the absence of a record of conflict/banditry activities for some reasonable record time.
Summary of findings and discussions
The resolution of the conflict has widely come to refer to the actual tackling of prevailing disagreement that translates to violent conflict. In other words, conflict/crisis resolution is seen as a variety of approaches aimed at terminating conflict through the constructive solution to problems which is the anticipation of the current research work. Therefore, the following was discovered after a thorough analysis of our data from the seven (7) states and twenty-one (21) Senatorial Districts within the study area:
That language event presupposes the existence of a particular society with its implicit and explicit values, norms, rules and laws with all its peculiar economic, social political and cultural conditions of life often referred to as the ‘fabric of society’. This fabric supports and accounts for all human activity as necessary context which is mostly activated by language. Thus, the need to employ this instrument of value to solve conflicts and other forms of unrest in any given community cannot be overemphasized. Conflicts or crises of whatever form, whether caused by ethno-religions or electoral factors, conflict in Nigeria can be solved through the instrument of language.
It has also been discovered through the analysis of available data that, resolving conflicts in Nigeria through the mode of language and culture presupposes understanding and articulating the pragmatics of multiculturalism. Indeed, conflict resolution is a basic activity articulated and conducted in forms that significantly vary across cultures and people. In other words, cultural practice varies from one community of people to another. Differences in approach rest on a contrasting understanding of the nature of conflict and society. The current study discovered that in conflict resolution, language is a stronger weapon than the arms and ammunition which the current governments of Nigeria use in attempting to resolve many conflicts in the country.
Cultural influences and identities become important depending on the context. When an aspect of cultural identity is threatened or misunderstood it may become relatively more important than other cultural identities and this fixed narrow identity may become the focus of negative projection and crises set in. Therefore, there is a need for mutual respect for the cultural practices of every community of people. These and many other significant premises are what was discovered by this research work.
Conclusion
Nigeria is a country that is characterized by a diversity of norms, values and beliefs, a destructive multiculturalism that makes it vulnerable to a variety of crises/conflicts. This view is typical of a multicultural society; each of the diverse groups making up the country has a value and interest which sometimes conflict with those of others. Therefore, the situation of crises in Nigeria has recently reached quite unprecedented heights so much so that hardly a day passes without horrible pictures and heartbroken details of excessive destruction and senseless killings on the television screen, radio broadcasting, newspapers and magazines. For instance, the Niger Delta crisis, the Hausa and Kataf, Jos crises, the Herdsmen-Farmers crisis, banditry as well as a horde of others are just a part of quite an endless list of rifts in Nigeria and by extension, other parts of the African continent. Indeed, global peace and security of lives and property is a perennial, tropical all involving issue in the humanities and other fields of human endeavour. But this has been a disturbing scenario because of the many crises in the Nigerian nation in particular and the world at large. Thus, language as a means of communication has severally been used to explain and differentiate ethnic groups and cultures in a community of people with diverse languages and cultures. Therefore, giving the phenomena of language, communication and culture as instruments to manage the incessant crises in our society against the use of force would give the desired result.
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