Language Policy Ecology in Multilingual Nigeria: The Mandarin Variable in an Indigenous-English-Pidgin Context

The introduction of Mandarin Chinese into Nigeria's already complex multilingual landscape, which encompasses approximately 520 indigenous languages, Nigerian Pidgin English, and inherited colonial English, creates theoretical and policy questions that existing language policy ecology frameworks are inadequately equipped to address. This study develops an original theoretical framework for analysing the ecological position of Mandarin in Nigeria's language policy system, drawing on Spolsky's Language Management Theory, Canagarajah's World Englishes ecology framework, and complexity theory as applied to multilingual systems. The study employs a comprehensive mixed-methods design including analysis of all Nigeria federal and state language policy documents, constitutional provisions, and curriculum frameworks from 2000 to 2023; a sociolinguistic survey of language attitudes toward Mandarin among 600 respondents across all six geopolitical zones; and ethnographic observation at Mandarin learning sites in Lagos, Kano, and Enugu. Original theoretical contributions include a Mandarin Ecological Position Model that maps Mandarin's relationship with other languages across five societal domains: education, commerce, government, media, and daily interaction. The model identifies asymmetric ecological pressures that simultaneously push Mandarin toward high-prestige commercial domains while limiting its penetration of domestic social and cultural domains. Findings challenge simplistic narratives of Mandarin displacing indigenous languages and reveal a complex ecological integration that creates new multilingual repertoires without eliminating existing ones.

Keywords: language policy ecology, Mandarin in Nigeria, multilingualism, theoretical framework, language management