MONSIGNOR PROFESSOR SIMON O ANYANWU'S CALL FOR A DAILY CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER IN SOUTHEAST NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR IGBO LANGUAGE PROMOTION

Msgr Prof Simon Anyanwu, in his work, Igbo Catholicism on the Move, called for a daily Catholic newspaper in Southeast Nigeria. This paper investigates the implications of that call for Igbo language promotion. Specifically, it aims to portray how implementing that clarion call would promote Igbo language documentation, preservation, maintenance, development, propagation, revitalisation, renaissance, and hybridisation. The primary data sources are the work mentioned above and interviews, while the library and the internet are the secondary sources. The theoretical framework is Joshua Fishman's theory of revising language shift. The data analysis and interpretation methods are descriptive, analytical, and hermeneutical. However, the finding indicates his advocacy for a daily Catholic newspaper is implicitly Igbo language-promoting. Thus, this paper recommends that the proposed newspaper promote the Igbo language unreservedly and simultaneously translate to running Igbo and English versions.