Language Endangerment, Documentation, and the Literary Archive: Towards an Integrated Framework for Minority Language Literary Preservation in Nigeria

This dissertation develops an original integrated framework for the documentation and literary archiving of endangered minority languages in Nigeria, making a theoretical and methodological contribution that bridges language endangerment linguistics, archival theory, digital humanities, and the literary study of minority language traditions. Nigeria is estimated to have over 500 distinct languages, a significant number of which are endangered or severely threatened, and the documentary linguistics community has developed methodologies for language documentation that focus primarily on grammatical and lexical archiving rather than on the preservation of literary and creative expression in endangered languages. This dissertation argues that this limitation produces an incomplete picture of endangered language heritage and proposes an integrated framework that treats the documentation of oral literary genres, praise poetry, epic narrative, riddle traditions, and ceremonial language as inseparable from the linguistic documentation project. The framework is developed through a theoretical synthesis and applied through case studies of three endangered Nigerian minority languages: Holma in Adamawa State, Coastal Ijaw in Bayelsa State, and Tyap in Kaduna State. For each case, the dissertation analyses existing documentation materials, interviews language community members and traditional knowledge holders, and develops a model community literary archive. Original contributions include the integrated documentation and literary archiving framework, three language-specific literary documentation case studies, and a model methodology for involving community literary practitioners as co-researchers in endangered language literary documentation. Keywords: language endangerment, minority languages, documentation, literary archive, Nigeria.