Documentation of Endangered Dialect of the Igbo Language: Issues of Greetings in Enugwu Ezike Dialect Juliana Ginika Mamah Department of Linguistics, Igbo & Other Nigerian Languages, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria Jacinta Ukamaka Eze Department of Linguistics, Igbo & Other Nigerian Languages, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria Bestman Esegbuyiota Odeh Department of Linguistics, Igbo & Other Nigerian Languages, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria Ifeanyi John Nwosu Department of Linguistics, Igbo & Other Nigerian Languages, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria Abstract—This paper studies the documentation of endangered dialect of the Igbo language: Issues of greetings in Enugwu Ezike dialect. The objectives of the study are to identify different types of greetings in Enugwu Ezike, examine the extent to which other dialects, standard Igbo or English language are preferred in greetings in Enugwu Ezike and also to proffer measures through which the greeting patterns can be revitalised. The data for the study were gathered through introspection and unstructured oral interview. Using descriptive method of data analysis, the study discovers different types of greetings in Enugwu Ezike dialect ranging from daily greetings, greetings to the sick, farewell greetings, seasonal/ periodic greetings, eulogy/praise greetings etc. The study also discovers that many speakers of Enugwu Ezike dialect especially the younger generation prefer the greeting patterns of other dialects and languages. In order to avert this ugly phenomenon, the study suggests measures towards reviving this aspect of the dialect which are through documentation, awareness- raising through programs on radio and television stations, involving the young people via social media and the loyalty of the speakers towards their dialect. The study therefore recommends that researchers from Enugwu Ezike extraction should endeavour to work on other aspects of Enugwu Ezike dialect that is under threat of endangerment or outright extinction. Index Terms—endangered, language, Enugwu-Ezike, Igbo, greetings I. INTRODUCTION Documentation is very important in language study. It is one of the major means to preserve and safeguard languages or dialects. Documentary linguistics as a new sub-field of linguistics is primarily concerned with providing comprehensive records of linguistic practice for which a speech community is known. It is sometimes used interchangeably with language description. However, certain nuances are discernible between the concept and language description in that the later aims at records of language as a system of abstract elements, constructions and rules (Himmelmann, 1998). Documentation is an aspect of language engineering that provides the data base for theorising in linguistics and also forms the basis for developing and producing orthography of descriptive grammar, extended word list and dictionaries (Ndimele, 2010). A language is said to be endangered when it is at the risk of no longer being used as occasioned by the demise of its speakers or when the speakers shift to speaking another language. It becomes a dead language when it has no more native speakers. This condition is also referred to as language loss. Different levels or categories of endangerment have been identified by many scholars. Aikawa in UNESCO (2001) ranks in a continuum from stability to extinction as follows: extinct which occur when there is no one who can speak or remember the language; critically endangered where the youngest speakers are in the great grand parents’ generation and the language is not used for every day interaction; severely endangered when the language is spoken by only grandparents and other generations while the parents’ generation may still understand the language but they typically do not speak it to their children among themselves; definitely endangered when it is no longer learned as the mother tongue by the children in the home. The youngest speakers are thus of the parental generation. Perhaps, Wurm’s (2003) categorisation of endangerment will be more appropriate. He identifies five levels of language endangerment: (a) potentially endangered if the children starts preferring the dominant language, (b) endangered if the youngest speakers are young adults, and only very few speakers. (c) Seriously endangered if the ISSN 1798-4769 Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 120-126, January 2021 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1201.13 © 2021 ACADEMY PUBLICATION