The Development of Written Literature in Urhobo (1910 – 2010)

Abstract

Languages are classified as major or minorityones not just because of the population of its speaker but also based on other parameters such as the level of development, availability of accepted orthography and literature in the languages. The National Policy of Education (NPE) strongly emphasized that for a language to function as first language (mother tongue)in schools it must have orthography and literature. Where it does not have, it shall be taught orally as second language (L2). We can thus affirm that the quantity and quality of literature that exist in any language becomes a pre requisite for accepting it as school subject to be taught at all levels of education as well as a language of instruction in schools. This paper provides an overview on the developmental trends in Urhobo written literature; it provides an appraisal of various efforts by both writers and other stakeholders from its inception-- 1910-1911 when literary work in the language began to the present era using the ethno-linguistics vitality, a multi – dimensional approach. The result shows that Urhobo language has made significant progress both in quantity and quality of literature and as a subject of study up to University level. However, there is a great dearth in the area of creative literature. Secondly, the essay reveals that some of the authors deviated from the accepted writing system and the agreed standard dialect. A total of sixty – seven texts written in Urhobo were collected and categorized as part of our data for the study.