The Role of Borrowed Words in Language Development: the Case of Ejagham and English

Abstract

Language is essentially a medium of communication. It is a universal human phenomenon. With it we communicate our ideas, thoughts, emotions and messages. A language has to have the capability to express these phenomena. Sometimes, however, a language does not possess all the words necessary for it to capture all its experiences. At such times, it has to borrow words and expressions from other languages that come in contact with it. Such borrowed items help in enriching, expanding and developing the language. This paper, a purely descriptive work, considers the role of borrowed words in the development of the Ejagham language. Words which came with the English language and for which Ejagham had no equivalent expressions were borrowed from English in order to express the new experiences that came with the coming of the British to Nigeria and that has contributed to the development of the language. We hereby recommend that borrowed words should be used in upgrading and updating the Ejagham language.

Key words: Borrowing, Language, Development, English, Ejagham