ABSTRACT
A people’s language is one of the most important aspects of their culture. Our languages are to us as other people’s are to them: means of verbal communications of speech and learning. Aspects of the language of our West African people consist of physical gesticulations, such as various movements of the arms, facial expressions, shrugs of the shoulders, all of which in most of these societies give varying degrees of emphasis to aspects of communication. Any social circumstance that is detrimental to a people’s language is detrimental to an important aspect of the social institution of the society. As Frantz Fanon stated about the significance of language, being colonised by a language has significant implications for one’s consciousness. The usage of language in Igbo as well as in Western culture when appropriately applied will be effective in conveying the desired meaning but they would be ineffective if, through ethnocentric prejudice, the affinity of language to its cultural origin is ignored.
