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Abstract
Language has often been claimed by different persons as ‘God’s special gift to mankind’. Without language, human civilization, as we now know it, would have remained impossible. It is a carrier of civilization and culture, as human thoughts and philosophy are conveyed from one generation to the other through the medium of language. That is, just like living things, languages die after undergoing the whole process of endangerment, shift and loss. In line with the postulations above, this project examines the attitude of purposively selected students (of Esan origin) to the use of the language on campus (University of Benin, Ugbowo Campus), Benin City, Edo-State. The project used a questionnaire to gather data on students’ perspective on what they think about the use of the language in day to day interactions while on campus. The questionnaire was distributed to several university students (approximately 200) in in the University of Benin, Edo State. The questionnaires were structured in a way that the research questions which motivated the present studies were covered. The questions asked centred on the role of the Esan language in contemporary societies and the emerging trends in language attitude. The results revealed that a considerable number of students’ attitude to their native Esan language were not positive. The project further observed that Esan language is highly endangered by the general preference by its speakers for English and Pidgin in the University of Benin. It was observed that there is a general negative attitude towards the Esan language by the students of Esan origin which stem largely from the cosmopolitan nature of the City (Benin) where the university is situated.
