Multilingualism is linguistic situation where there is the existence of more two languages in a community. The Igbo language is one of the three major languages spoken in Nigeria where there is the existence of more four hundred languages. In Nigeria, the Igbo language is spoken in the following south-eastern states: Abia, Anambara, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo. It is also spoken in some parts of: Delta, Rivers, and Edo states in the south–south region of the country. The major objective of this paper is to suggest ways of preserving the Igbo language in a globalized multilingual world. The theoretical framework that is used is the Ethnolinguistic theory. The reason for the adoption of this theory for this paper, is because it encourages competence in all the cultural aspects of a language. The data for this paper were collected by interviewing four native speakers of the Igbo language who are literate and have lived consistently in Igbo land for fifteen years. Some of the findings of the paper are: that some of the ways to sustaining the Igbo language in a globalized multilingual world is to encourage vital uses of the language in speech, writing, phatic, ludic and the internet. This paper recommends further research into the linguistic status of the Igbo language in a globalized multilingual world.
Globalization, Igbo, language, linguistic vitality and multilingualism.
