The standard Igbo in radio broadcasting: A study of selected radio stations in Anambra state

Abstract

The standard form of a language is basically promoted in schools and radio and TV programmes. This is not much the case with the standard Igbo. This paper examines this situation with the purpose of determining to what extent the Igbo used on radio programmes represent the standard Igbo. Two public radio stations in Anambra State are used, Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) and a Federal Radio Corporation station, Purity FM (102.5), Awka. Of course, it is very highly expected that government-owned radio stations in an Igbo speaking state would promote the standard Igbo. Two news programmes are recorded from each of the stations. By recourse to the basic features of the standard Igbo as represented in Igbo grammar books taught and examined in schools, the recorded news is analyzed descriptively. The analysis shows that there are significant deviant or non-standard features in the news cast on the stations. Particularly, there is the use of non-standard forms in some places where the standard forms should apply. This is basically occasioned by dialectal interference in the speech of the news casters. The following recommendations are made to ensure that the radio stations fulfill their own part in promoting the standard Igbo. Firstly, the news casters should undergo proper training in the use of the standard Igbo. Secondly, there ought to be recruitment of Igbo experts and possibly proper training and retraining from time to time so as to be up to date with the language.