THE LINGUISTIC ATTITUDE OF ESAN SPEAKERS TOWARDS THEIR LANGUAGE

ABSTRACT
This research tends to investigate the attitude of Esan speakers towards the Esan language. And why they tend to have negative attitude towards the language. This study which was carried out on Esan speakers who reside in the University of Benin environs aimed at investigating the factor responsible for the attitude Esan speakers have towards their language. This research is a sociolinguistics approach using Baker 1992 theory of language attitude. Which shows the factors that necessitate the attitude of the speakers. The data employed for this study was a 51 item questionnaire which will be examined, presented, analyzed and illustrated in a tabular form. This work is subdivided into five chapters. Chapter one is the introductory aspect which shows some aspect of the language while chapter two deals with the literature review involving works written on attitude and what links it to linguistics. Chapter three focuses on research methodology which reveals the method in which the work will be carried out. Chapter four is the presentation and analysis of the questionnaire. Chapter five shows the summary and conclusion, which is the finding of this work.