Exploring Igbo Language Maintenance Strategies in Igbo Pentecostal Churches in Abuja: An Ethnolinguistic Study

This study explores Igbo language maintenance strategies employed within Igbo-led Pentecostal churches in Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory, adopting an ethnolinguistic approach to understand how religious institutions function as voluntary language maintenance spaces in the national capital. Pentecostal Christianity has been identified as one of the most active sites of informal language maintenance in the African diaspora, yet its specific operation as a language institution in the Nigerian internal diaspora context has not been empirically investigated. The research conducts a fourteen-month ethnolinguistic fieldwork programme across four Igbo Pentecostal churches in Abuja, combining participant observation, longitudinal interview series with thirty-six congregation members, and analysis of church communication materials in Igbo. Findings identify six active language maintenance strategies: exclusive Igbo prayer sessions, Igbo choir and praise music programmes, Igbo Bible study groups, Igbo-medium children's Sunday school classes, Igbo identity testimonial sharing conventions, and Igbo language awards for congregation members. Churches with over three hundred members demonstrate more systematic language programming than smaller congregations, reflecting a threshold of institutional capacity. The study finds that spiritual motivation is a particularly powerful driver of Igbo maintenance efforts, with members reporting language preservation as a form of cultural-spiritual stewardship. Keywords: Igbo language maintenance, Pentecostal churches, Abuja, ethnolinguistics, diaspora.