Family language policy in selected exogamous homes in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Exogamous families are usually confronted with the challenge of maintaining two different languages in the same setting. This study examined the Family Language Policy (FLP) of mixed marriages in selected homes in Lagos. This is with a view to exploring their native language maintenance strategies and the efforts of the spouses in sustaining the use of their respective native tongues in their homes. Spolsky's model of Family Language Policy was used as a guide. Through purposive and snow-ball sampling methods, data were collected from 30 parents representing 60 participants of different ethnolinguistic combinations. The findings reveal that, although the parents opted for a bi/multilingual language ideology, they actually practised a monolingual form, thus indicating a contradiction in ideological disposition. A significant percentage of parents neither maintained nor made real efforts on transferring their native languages to the next generation, but primarily favoured the use of English. An insignificant minority of parents used explicit management style in their families while a majority adopted the laissez-faire approach which largely negated their avowed language ideologies. The little attempt at native language promotion, showed that the wives made more efforts than the fathers. It is recommended that, despite the complexities of exogamy, parents should take advantage of their privileged positions as authority figures in the home to favour the use of their native languages, despite pressures from the external environment.

Keywords: Family Language Policy, exogamy, language maintenance, native language, Lagos