Being committed to serving you in the maximum way in the blogsphere, this time, as it's customary with Learning Never Ends (LNE), it brings to you a fresh but rare interview with another success story from the Linguistic world. He is no other person than Comrade Owoh Ugochukwu Vincent. He is a Linguist and a student leader. He is interviewed by Bello Sagir Imam where he unveils so many vital issues as regards to Linguistics and student leadership, that address the most frequently asked questions by both initiated and uninitiated persons in the field. He further argued that, in his eyes, till doomsday, his discipline will remain relevant to all other disciplines. Enjoy:
LNE: Sir, in just few words, can you tell us about yourself?
VINCENT: Ok thank you. My name is Comrade Owoh Ugochukwu Vincent. A Linguist, studying at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State. And by His grace I'm presently the National President of Linguistics & Languages Students Association (NALLS)nig.
LNE: What does NALLS offer and to whom?
VINCENT: Ah, this is a good question. NALLS nig is a national students Association for Linguistics and Languages students in Nigeria. NALLS nig fights for the interest of its members and promotes Linguistics and Languages professions in Nigeria.
LNE: What is Linguistics?
VINCENT: Linguistics is the scientific study of Language. In addition, Linguistics studies all aspects of Language from its formal structural properties to the way it is used, as represented in the brain. Linguistics as a field of study endeavors to describe and explain the human faculty of Language.
LNE: What are the branches of Linguistics?
VINCENT: Wow! Linguistics as a course has the following four branches:
1) General Linguistics, generally describes the concepts and categories of a particular language or among all language. It also provides analyzed theory of the language.
2) Descriptive Linguistics describes or gives the data to confirm or refute the theory of particular language explained generally.
3) Micro Linguistics is the narrower view. It concerns internal view of Language itself (structure of language system) without relating to other sciences and to how to apply it in daily life. Some fields of Micro Linguistics are as follows: a) Phonetics (b) Phonology (c) Morphology (d) Syntax (e) Semantics (f) Pragmatics (g) Discourse Analysis.
4) Macro Linguistics is the broadest view of language. It is concerned with external view of language itself relating to other sciences and how to apply it in daily life. Some fields of Macro Linguistics are as follows: (a) Stylistics (b) Developmental Linguistics (c) Historical Linguistics (d) Language Geography(e) Evolutionary Linguistics (f) Psycho Linguistics (g) Socio Linguistics (h) Clinical Linguistics (I) Neuro Linguistics (j) Biolinguistics (k) computational linguistics and we also have (l) forensic linguistics and others. The latter helps in the detection of crime and terrorism, as it is used by America and other developed nations. Nigerian security too can use it in their fight against terrorism and all other forms of crimes.
LNE: In brief, how did Linguistics come into being, historically?
VINCENT: Thank you for this interesting question. In ancient civilization, Linguistics study was originally motivated by the correct description of classical Liturgical language, notably that of Sanskrit grammar beginning in about the 6th Century BCE, or by the development of logic and rhetoric in ancient Greece, leading to a grammatical tradition in Hellenism beginning around the 4th Century BCE. China also developed its own grammatical traditions. Traditions of Arabic grammar and Hebrew grammar developed during the middle Ages, also in a religious context. Thank you.
LNE: What are the merits and the demerit (if there is any) of studying Linguistics?
VINCENT: Good. In my opinion there are lots of merits of studying Linguistics. Here are some of them:
1) it gives one the opportunity to know how words are formed.
2) it broadens ones mood of expressions because you can play on words and syntactically arrive at the meaning intended to pass on.
3) It gives one the link to other fields of study and to cap it all, Linguistics is arguably, the mother of all other professions and will forever remain as such, as no profession can exist without using language which is the tool of Linguistics. For me, the only demerits on this is that you will only know little about other professions. Thank you.
LNE: What are the direct relevance of Linguistics to our society?
VINCENT: There are so many relevance of Linguistics in our life. One, there is what we call Discourse Analysis, which is the field that examines the natural use of language in everyday use, which includes, gender differences, gestures, language and politics, among many others. Secondly, there is what we call Languages in contact which happens when cultures are exposed to different languages. In some cases, they may borrow words and sometimes new language emerge. Thirdly, Meaning which tells us how people understand the actual meaning behind the things we say. Then language in the social context tells us a lot about what we know about a language and its importance in society
LNE: Is Linguistics a Social Science? If yes, what are its relationship with other Social Science courses?
VINCENT: No. Linguistics is a purely a science. It's the scientific study of languages. Thank you.
LNE: How marketable is Linguistics?
VINCENT: Very marketable because Linguistics have links with every field of study. A Linguist has a place in the media house, in the hospital, in the law court, in the embassy etc so a Linguist can work in any parastatal of choice.
LNE: What are the interrelatedness between languages and Linguistics?
VINCENT: Nice question! We already know that Linguistics is a scientific study of language. Ok, from different viewpoints, as a science, linguistics can be divided into several branches. As a science, linguistics must fulfill some scientific prerequisites. First, it must have a subject mater. Language is said to be a subject matter of linguistics. As a subject matter, a language must be clearly and explicitly defined. Finocchioro defined a language as a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols that permit all people in a given culture, or other people who have learned the system of that culture, to communicate or to interact.
LNE: What can you say about learning Linguistics in Nigeria? Compare and contrast it with that of other African and Non African countries.
VINCENT: Learning Linguistics in Nigeria is very necessary and important. This will help the Nigerian government to keep records of the various native Languages spoken across the country and in the other words there will be a preservations of culture of the people. In comparism with other African country, in my opinion I will say that the study of Linguistics in African countries is still on the same pace because record of Languages spoken in Africa are not recorded and as such most of her Languages are lost. Presently, most of African Languages including Nigeria are going into extinction but in contrary to that of the developed countries of the world where the study of Linguistics is highly observed and the procedure of Language recording is on the high pace that the histories of Language development is documented unlike her African counterpart that had no history of her Language.
LNE: Probably, the most asked question by the fresh students of Linguistics in Nigerian universities, especially immediately they were admitted, is that: 'Does studying Linguistics means studying English, or Hausa, or Ibgo or Yoruba, or English or Arabic or French, or some of these together or perhaps all of them?', in other words, 'will one graduate with B.A Linguistics Hausa or B.A Linguistics English at the end of one's studies?'. What can you say about this, Comrade?
VINCENT: It's not. Studying Linguistics is all about knowing the components that build up Language of the world and also the relationship between one language and the other. Like we have the language tree, here. We now have the mother Language and the sister languages. Studying Linguistics will also expand your knowledge to play on word because of the syntaxzology knowledge. Example of what I mean- I advised him to try not to be too trying. You find out in this concept we have 'try' in two places but having different meaning. This is the work of Linguistics, its not about having just a knowing on a particular language like English, igbo , French etc. So with the knowing of Linguistics you can absolutely analysis any language you come in contact with. But at this juncture I will advise every Linguistics students to have a knowledge on any Foreign language of your choice like French, chiness etc. this will promote you much more in the labour market. Though its also possible you graduate with B.A Linguistics Igbo, or Hausa depending on your programme and the university in which you study. Thanks.
LNE: Comrade, some students assert that university primary assignment i.e studies is in opposition with student unionism. Do you concur with the assertion. Then How do you reconcile between the two?
VINCENT: No I don't concur on the opinion that the University primary assignment is in opposition with students unionism. My reason is as follows: first the University programme is peramant, a students who gained admission into an institution is expected to obey the Universities rules and regulations so in this view every students Unionism should work in line with the programme of the university because without the university you are not recognized. And if student is already committed to his studies, his involvement in student unionism will in no way harm his studies, it will instead give him several advantages during and after his graduation. Thanks.
LNE: What can you say about the blog: 'Learning Never Ends' which is on: www.bellosagirimam.blogspot.com?
VINCENT: Yeah. Its really a welcome development to see in the history of Linguistics world that a Linguist developed a site as this. With this blog issues facing the discipline can be showcased here in the blog and be discussed to provide answers to them. I believe that this blog will really go very far and become popular among Linguistics students in Nigeria. Thanks.
LNE: What is your last massage, especially to your non-linguistics readers?
VINCENT: This is really interesting, yeah I would give this message to my non-linguistics readers and also to my Linguistics readers too. First of all it's very important that everyone should have little knowledge about Linguistics because it will help you know that your language is your identity, so you shouldn't lose your language and it will assist you to have the knowledge to know how language is preserved. Thank you very much my famous Linguist, Comrade Bello Sagir Imam from Beyero University Kano for this notable interview that is gird to promote Linguistics profession. Ok take good care of yourself brother. You will go places.
LNE: Sir, this blog can't thank you enough, and it gives you three powerful gbosas. Gbosa! gbosa!! gbosa!!!
'Learning Never Ends' will soon, God willing, interview Comrade Owoh Ugochukwu Vincent on the fast approaching national linguistics conference that will host representatives of students of the course from all the Nigerian universities and colleges, to be held in Abuja, and post here. Just stay in touch with the blog: 'Learning Never Ends' for satisfying your reading flair.
Thanks for the reading!
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