Language Ideologies and Power in the Igbo Language Standardisation Debates: A Discourse-Historical Analysis from 1939 to the Present

This dissertation conducts a discourse-historical analysis of the language ideologies and power dynamics embedded in Igbo language standardisation debates from the 1939 Onwu Orthography to contemporary digital-era disputes, tracing the ideological contestations that have repeatedly obstructed consensus in Igbo linguistic standardisation. Language standardisation debates are not merely technical linguistic disagreements but complex socio-political arenas in which competing ideologies of authenticity, authority, and communal identity are contested by actors with differential access to symbolic and institutional power. The study assembles an archive of standardisation debate materials spanning eighty-five years, including conference proceedings, newspaper articles, official policy documents, correspondence archives, and online forum discussions, producing a unique longitudinal discourse corpus. Discourse-historical analysis identifies the primary ideological fault lines across successive standardisation episodes and traces the genealogy of recurring argumentative topoi. Findings reveal four persistent ideological formations: dialectal purism, dialectal neutralism, functional pragmatism, and Igbo nationalist pan-dialectalism, each associated with distinct institutional positions and political-economic interests. The analysis identifies elite capture of standardisation bodies as a structural feature that has systematically excluded rural community voices from debate. The dissertation makes a theoretical contribution by introducing the concept of recursive standardisation ideology to describe the reproduction of identical ideological conflicts across successive historical periods. Keywords: Igbo standardisation, language ideology, discourse-historical analysis, power, orthography.