The Sociology of Yoruba Language Endangerment: Structural Factors, Community Agency, and Intervention Theory

Language endangerment is not simply a linguistic process but a sociological phenomenon generated by structural forces including economic inequality, educational marginalisation, migration, and ideological devaluation of indigenous language identities. This dissertation develops an original sociological theory of Yoruba language endangerment, moving beyond descriptive documentation to analyse the structural factors, patterns of community agency, and theoretical models of intervention that can account for differential endangerment outcomes across Yoruba speech communities in Nigeria. Using a comparative sociological methodology, the study examines four contrasting Yoruba community cases: a dialect-preserving rural community in Ondo State, an endangered diaspora community in Kogi State, a partially revitalising urban community in Lagos, and a severely endangered migrant community in Adamawa State. Data were collected through extended fieldwork, community surveys, institutional analysis, and longitudinal sociolinguistic assessment of a cohort of community members. The theoretical framework integrates Bourdieu's field theory, Gramsci's hegemony theory, and social movement theory with Yoruba endangerment documentation research. Existing endangerment research on Yoruba has focused primarily on linguistic symptom documentation, with sociological causal analysis underdeveloped. This dissertation makes an original contribution by developing the Differential Yoruba Endangerment Model, which identifies structural vulnerability factors and community agency variables that together predict endangerment trajectories. Recommendations will address a sociologically informed Yoruba language policy framework applicable across Nigeria. Keywords: language endangerment, Yoruba, sociology of language, community agency, intervention theory.