The Role of Government in Revitalizing Numeral System of Indigenous Languages: The Eggon Case

This paper sets out to investigate the endangerment of Eggon numeral system and the government's role to revitalize and expand it to meet the need of our modern society by implementing the National Policy on Education, especially as it concerns language use. Eggon belongs to the N iger-Congo Phylum ofthe Western Benue Congo Plateau group of African languages. The paper seeks answers to question: To what extent is Eggon numeral system productive? Previous works on Eggon numeral system, the intuitive knowledge of the language and training of the writers as linguists constitute the major sources of data. The descriptive method employed in this study shows that, among other things, unless the government puts concerted effort, the Eggon numeral system will go more moribund and will eventually be extinct. Being abreast of the success of the concerted and sustainable efforts of language policy in some countries, the paper submits that the government is required to play a role in implementing the language policy on education and formulate more policies that will favor indigenous languages, to the advantage of remnant languages, especially Eggon to revitalize its critically endangered numeral system. The findings shows that this study can be applied to other remnant Nigerian and African languages which are victims of endangered numeral system.