Linguistics & African Languages

The origins of this Department must be traced to the Department of English of this University which, in 1954, created a sub-Department of Phonetics. Between then and 1962 a lot was done to widen the scope of the phonetic courses to deal with theories of the phoneme and using laboratory equipment such as palatograph, kymograph, spectograph, etc. to investigate and establish the phonetic nature of the sounds of selected Nigerian Languages. In 1962, simultaneous with the autonomy of this University, the sub-Department became the Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages. The name has since changed to become Department of Linguistics and African Languages.

In its early years (1962-1966), Linguistics was not a full degree course. The Department offered only subsidiary courses in Phonetics and Linguistics, i.e as electives or adjuncts to the student's main course. In the first year introductory courses were offered in the phonetics of English, French, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. In the second year more advanced courses were offered in the treatment of spoken English in forms of instrumental and acoustic phonetics. Students could now compare the sounds of English and their different mother tongues.

A linguistics option was also available in the second year. In it were courses in dialectology, phonemic and morphemic analyses and grammatical features of some languages.

In 1961, the Department mounted postgraduate certificate and diploma courses in Phonetics and in 1965, a more elaborate Postgraduate Diploma in Phonetics and Linguistics.

In October, 1966, the undergraduate degree course in Linguistics was started with five students. The aim of the course was stated as follows:

To give the student a scientific approach to the study of language in general, to introduce him to modern linguistic theory - descriptive as well as historical and comparative - and to enable him to undertake the scientific analysis of a language.

The Linguistics programme covers topics in phonology, grammar, phonetics, comparative and historical linguistics and practical analysis of selected languages (with practice in field methods and work with informants). The programme has since been expanded to include courses in sociolinguistics. The degree course in Linguistics is a three-year course for direct entry students and four years via UME. Linguistics majors were required to take three subjects in their first year, one of which must be a language, and to continue to take a subsidiary course in the same language subject in both their second and third years.

When the Department of Linguistics was established in 1962, it was emphasized that the Department was going to concern itself not only with linguistics, but with the study of the Nigerian languages as well. The intention is reflected in the name "the Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages".

The first step in the teaching of Nigerian languages in the Department was taken in 1964 with the introduction of a Part I Yoruba syllabus in the B.A. and B.Ed. degreees. The Yourba course, which was specifically designed for students already proficient in the language, was started with three students. Scuh was the impact of the subject that in 1966 when a full degree programme was introduced, 17 students enrolled for the first year course in Yoruba, and of this number, seven eventually majored in the subject.

One notable aspect of the degree course is that it embraces the study of both the language and literature. The aim of the course as stated in the Faculty Prospectus reflects this bias:

The aim of the Yoruba courses is to give an insight into the structure of Yoruba, to foster an appreciation of the literature both oral and written, and to provide a better understanding of the social role of the language and its literature.

The B.A. degree course in Yoruba is a three-year course for Direct Entry Students and four years via UME, and Yoruba majors are also required to take some courses in Linguistics. The idea of this is to give the students the kind of scientific background in language that they may require for a proper analysis of the Yoruba language. The Yoruba course covers topics in Yoruba grammar, stylistics, then novel, and poetry.

There was formerly a proficiency course in Igbo studies, but now we have a full degree programme. The B.A. degree programme in Igbo is fashioned on the models of the Yoruba degree course.

The Department had its first set of graduand, both in Linguistics and Yoruba in 1969, four in Linguistics, three in Yoruba Single Honours and four in Yoruba - B.Ed.

As in some other parts of the world, undergraduate training preceded the postgraduate. There was first the Postgraduate Certificate in Phonetics (1961) and later the Postgraduate Certificate in Phonetics and Linguistics (1963), the Postgraduate Diploma in Linguistics (1969). The changing titles reflect the expansions in and the higher statues of the courses offered. Today, the Department is engaged in the Master of Arts, Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy courses in all areas of General Linguistics, and in Yoruba and Igbo Languages and Literatures.

Over the years, as should rightly be expected, the Department has made remarkable contributions to linguistic and literary scholarship in Nigeria's major and minor languages. There have been the development of orthographies for the minor languages and the harmonization and modernization of those which were in use before the advent of modern linguistics. The first full length analyses of Nigerian languages and their associated literatures done in this country were invariably done in Ibadan Products of its postgraduate programmes are to be found today in the Departments of Linguistics, Languages and Literatures of the newer universities and in executive roles in the Linguistics Association of Nigeria (LAN). It is perhaps not immodest to observe that the first graduate student of the Department, Miss Kay R.M. Williamson, enrolled in 1956, not only became Professor in the Department but is also the pioneer Professor of Linguistics at the University of Port-Harcourt. Another former Head of the Department, Professor Ayo Bamgbose today has the distinction of being the only African to hold the prestigious Honorary Fellowship of the Linguistic Society of America.

Of those who pioneered Linguistics in Ibadan, pride of place may be given to Professor Carl Hoffman, Emeritus Professor Ayo Bamgbose and Professor Kay Williamson. Among their products in Linguistics and the literature of Nigerian Languages are Professor O.O. Olatunji and Professor Ben Elugbe. Professor Elugbe was a foundation student of the B.A. Linguistics programme (1966) while Professor Olatunji was the first in 1970 to take a Ph.D. in the literature of Yoruba in the Department. Some others who at one time or the other have taught Linguistics at Ibadan are Mr. B.O. Mafeni, Dr. Elizabeth Dunstan, Dr. Isaac S.G. Madugu, Miss Mona Lindau, Mr. (now Professor) O.J.B. Yai, etc. A list of former and present teaching staff is also appended to this account.