Assetization of the Igbo Language in the Digital Age
Conference: ISA 22nd Annual International Conference (2025)
Presenter(s): Gerald O. Nweya
Abstract
Language is a tool for human communication but which plays in other role in the human society. Previous studies on the use of Igbo focus largely on the its grammar and role in cultural preservation with little attention paid to how contemporary users are deploying the language as digital is asset in the internet space. This study, therefore, examines the various ways by which individuals exploit the use of Igbo as digital asset with a view to determining what extent language constitute economic capital in the Igbo society. Data were collected via observation and indebt interview with twenty purposively selected speakers from different works of life such as teachers, linguists, traders and religious leaders. The study discovers that the knowledge of language could be of immense economic and social benefit to individuals or group in the society and is deployed by many in the digital space a capital for building a business or developing an existing one. We observed that language has been deployed in remote teaching (Igbo teaching online), language (verbling), learning (Kedụ.org), AI (google translate, nkowaokwu, sabbi), security, trading, socialization (Igbo communities in diaspora,) journalism (BBC Igbo). The study concludes that even though the knowledge of Igbo language could be an economic capital, its economic value cannot be harnessed easily if it is not properly deployed with other forms of capital.
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