Towards Igbo Terminological Growth: The ICT Angle

Abstract

From a linguistic perspective, the advent and continuous growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has introduced new technical terms with no equivalents in some Nigerian languages and Igbo language is not an exception. Thus, the major objectives of this study is to create ICT terms in Igbo, equivalent to the English ICT terms using some methods of term creation and also to analyze earlier or existing terms. The researcher adopted the qualitative research paradigm and the data for this study was collected through structured and unstructured oral interview from purposively selected 50 informants comprising ICT experts, retailers and dealers of ICT accessories, lecturers and experts in linguistics in some of the States in South-east. The interview was guided by a word list/glossary of ICT terms. The study found out that earlier or existing ICT terms in Igbo such as nweta ohere (accessibility), ebe nweta ohere (access point) and adressi̟(address) as well as otu o̟nu̟ ngu̟ (analogue) for instance were created without recourse to the function and form of the terms but solely on the English meanings of the terms and therefore affects the meanings realized by the creation. In view of this, the present study therefore proposed terms such as Ǹnyeaka (accessibility), Ebe mbaànye (access point), Ebe nchekwa (address), Ọnụọgụgụ nchara (analogue), among the 81 ICT terms in Igbo created in this study. The study therefore concluded that ICT terms are technical terms, and as such recourse should be taken to semantic extensions (function and form) and cultural nuances in developing such terms. It was recommended that the proposed terms should be included in the Igbo ICT dictionaries for effective Igbo language pedagogy.