LANGUAGE POLICY AND PLANNING IN THE BROADCAST MEDIA OF A MULTILINGUAL CONTEXT: A CASE STUDY OF KOGI STATE, NIGERIA. By FUNMILAYO MODUPE OBUKADETA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of English Faculty of Arts and Humanities University of Sheffield First Supervisor: Prof. Susan Fitzmaurice Second Supervisor: Dr. Jane Mulderrig May 2019 ABSTRACT Studies on language policies and planning in Nigeria have mostly focused on education while the broadcast media domain has received very little attention. This situation may be attributed to the fact that unlike in the educational sector where there is an explicit and substantially detailed structure of language policy and planning, there is no such thing in the Nigerian broadcasting media. Yet the Nigerian broadcast media has a complex task of deciding which languages to use for communicating information to a vast multilingual audience. This study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the language practice of four public broadcast stations consisting of two television stations and two radio stations. A wide range of interviews were carried out with relevant staff members who have a range of different functions at these broadcast stations. Data was also collected from official documents and programming records. My iterative process of data analysis informed by Grounded Theory Method produced two broad interesting findings. First, the data analysis reveals that although the broadcast stations claim they have no language policy, I argue for the existence of a de facto macro language policy in the Nigerian broadcast media which is being interpreted and implemented at the local broadcast stations in various ways. Secondly, the analysis of the language use in these broadcast stations demonstrates that English occupies a dominant position. Ample evidence from the analysis of the interview data collected and the stations’ programme schedules show how the dominance of English is being perpetuated in the stations through standardisation and commercialisation mechanisms. Although the stations have a multilingual framework by using some indigenous languages in their broadcast, this study reveals that these languages are under-utilised and there is generally very little will to increase their use. This study also shows that the Nigerian Pidgin English is gaining force as a proxy for the indigenous languages in the broadcast media. The study ends by advocating the need for an explicit language policy that will recognise and promote the use of indigenous languages in the stations as well as securing a decent airtime slot for indigenous language programming. By so doing, the general audience will not be excluded from the public space irrespective of their knowledge of English and/or Nigerian Pidgin English as a lingua franca. Finally, this study is the first of its kind to situate the language practices in the Nigerian broadcast media in the language policy and planning field. i DEDICATION To the Almighty God, who gave me wisdom, knowledge and understanding to write this insightful piece. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My utmost gratitude goes to the Almighty God who saw me through my PhD journey. He granted me smooth access to all my interviewees and made my field trip very productive. He provided fresh insight and understanding to my study and gave me the strength to combine the pressures of motherhood with academics. I am eternally indebted to my parents Engr. & Mrs Olonipile who invested in my education and encouraged me to reach the height I am in today. Through thick and thin, you sponsored my PhD programme. Thanks for trusting in me this much. May you reap abundantly the rewards of your labour in Jesus’ name (Amen). I am also grateful to my siblings, Abayomi, Foluso, Deji and my cousin Esther whose calls and advice were soothing balm in times of need. Words are powerless to express my gratitude to my main supervisor, Prof Susan Fitzmaurice. Thanks for your encouragement, diligence and the time you invested in my studies. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me and for also challenging me to think outside the box. I also appreciate Prof Andrew Linn whose short contribution to my work shaped and provided fresh insights to it. I also appreciate my second supervisor, Dr Jane Mulderrig for her contribution to the success of this PhD programme. I am grateful to my precious family. To my darling husband, Peter Obukadeta thanks for your loving support, prayers, encouragement and personal sacrifices throughout my PhD journey. I am glad you joined me along the way. To my beloved son, Emmanuel Obukadeta, your resilience and patience during my writing stage is highly commendable. Finally, I really appreciate all my participants in the broadcast institutions I visited during my field trip. Thanks for your time and for making my data collection experience very interesting and productivity. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... i DEDICATION ...................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................. viii LIST OF FIGURES.............................................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background to the Study and the Motivation of Study................................................... 1 1.2 Research Questions ...................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Methodological Framework .......................................................................................... 3 1.4 Organisation of Chapters .............................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................................................. 7 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................................... 7 2.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 7 2.1 A State of the Art Review of Language Policy and Language Planning ......................... 7 2.1.1 Definition of Key Terms .................................................................................. 13 2.1.2 A Review of Studies on Language Policy and Planning in the Broadcast Media. 14 2.2 Language Policy and Language Planning in Nigeria.................................................... 15 2.3 The Development of Broadcast Media in Nigeria ........................................................ 23 2.3.1 Language Policy in the Broadcast Media .......................................................... 28 2.3.2 Recent Studies in Nigerian Broadcast Media .................................................... 30 CHAPTER 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 33 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN................................................................................. 33 3.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 33 3.1 Review of Methodologies Used in the Literature ......................................................... 33 3.1.1 Historical-textual method ................................................................................. 34 3.1.2 Survey method ................................................................................................. 34 3.1.3 Ethnography .................................................................................................... 34 3.2 Grounded Theory Method ........................................................................................... 35 3.2.1 Data Collection ................................................................................................ 36 3.2.2 Data Analysis Process ...................................................................................... 37 3.2.3 Justification for Using Grounded Theory ............................................................ 39 3.3 Research Design ......................................................................................................... 40 3.3.1 Pre-field Trip Arrangements ............................................................................. 41 3.3.2 Expectations made about my Research before Data Collection ......................... 43 3.3.3 Data Collection Process ................................................................................... 45 iv 3.4 Processing of Data ............................................................................................................... 51 CHAPTER FOUR ..............................................................................................................................