Resumen de Bilingualism and language use in the Nupe settlement in lbadan

Solomon O. Oyetade

• This paper explores Nupe-Yomba bilingualism and its concomitants in the Nupe settlement in Ibadan. Significantly, it was discovered that prqficiency in Yoruba is negatively correlated with age in the sense that the adolescents tend to be more bilingual in Yoruba and Nupe than their adult counterparts.

  Furthermore, the language-use pattern here presents a case of language maintenance, in that Nupe is dominant in the home domain whereas Yoruba is employed elsewhere, and this is not restricted to a particular age group.

  Finally, in terms of attitudes, there is a kind of split commitment to both Nupe and Yoruba in that Nupe is sentimentally preferred, but preference for Yoruba can be said to be instrumentally motivated.