Patterns of Linguistic Variation and Change in Igbo: The Ezikeoba Dialect Example

This resea:rc:h s t u d y f o c u s e s on the a p p l i c a t i o n o f the
q u a n t i t a t i v e approach t o the process of l i n g u i s t i c v a r i a t i o n
and change i n an African r u r a l speech community,
s p e c i f i c & l i j , the Igbo-speaking community of Enugu-Ezike
l o c a t e d i n t h e south-eastern p a r t of Nigeria. The study,
which aims at making fundamental statements of i n t e r e s t
t o s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c theory, seeks to i d e n t i f y the appropriate
l i n g u i s t i c v a r i a b l e s add discern the r e l a t i v e s i g n i f i c a n c e
of a s e t of s o c i a l v a r i a b l e s (such as region, age, c o n t a c t ,
s o c i a l network r e l a t i o n s h i p s , gender, and education) i n
i n f l u e n c i n g the l i n g u i s t i c v a r i a b l e s .
Predicated on the c u r r e n t thinking of Labovian
s o c i o l . i n g u i s t i c s , t h e r e s e a r c h s a i s out t o c r i t i c a l l y
e v a l u ~ t et h e q u a n t i t a t i v e approach t o v a r i a t i o n ~ t u d i e s
and possibly determine the extent t o which the research
findings accord w e l l w i t h t h e Lheoretlcnl framework. To
t h i s e f f e c t , the l i n g u i s t i c data were q u a n t i t a t i v e l y
studiod and the r e s u l t s i n t e r p r e t e d using f a c t o r i a l
experiments, a n a l y s i s of variance and p r i n c i p a l component
a n a l y s i s . The ouccome of these analyses provides the
b a e i s f o r drawing c o n c l u ~ i o nr~e l a t i n g t o t h e o r e t i c a l
and rnethodologi&l i s s u e s , and research findings.
Prominent among them a r e t h a t :