THE PROBLEM OF LANGUAGE IN AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY

AN ENIGMA

Abstract

African philosophers who argue for a unique African identityare also greeted with the practice of  communicating African philosophy largely in foreign languages. Some of these African scholars opine that there is need to redefine African philosophy in terms of the language with which it is communicated. In
Nigeria, as well as other parts of Africa, the problem of
language in African philosophy is raising a real  concern. African philosophy is overly prided as unique by some of its proponents. Language which mirrors the culture of a people has a special role to play for African philosophy to maintain its uniqueness. Nigeria has more than two hundred distinct indigenous languages plus the use of English as a lingua franca. This paper investigates what determines the language in which African philosophy in Nigeria should be articulated. It concludes that the African scholar faces an enigmatic dilemma since the replacement of English as lingua franca by indigenous
languages suffers several developmental setbacks. The paper recommends that further research and funding for research on indigenous languages and lingua franca can improve the situation.