Nigeria’s first Professor of Linguistics and scholar, Professor Ayọ Bamgbose, is dead. He was aged 94.
Bamgbose, who was a scholar credited with establishing Linguistics as an academic discipline in Nigeria, died in the early hours of Saturday,
Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka, who announced the demise of the distinguished scholar on his Facebook wall, said he made contributions to education and linguistics, achieving recognition in the form of honours and election to offices in professional bodies.
Professor Bamgbose was born in Odopotu, near Ijebu Ode in Ogun State in January, 1932. After primary education, Bamgbose was admitted, in 1948, into St. Andrew’s College. He qualified as a grade two teacher in 1951.
He then gained admission into University of Ibadan, affiliated with the University of London, where he graduated with a B.A. (Hons) English degree of the University of London in 1960.
He proceeded to the University of Edinburgh where he earned a diploma in general linguistics in 1961 and his PhD in 1963 with the thesis: “A Study of Structures and Classes in the Grammar of Modern Yoruba.”
He joined the staff of the University of Ibadan in 1963 as a Lecturer, rising quickly to the grade of Senior Lecturer in 1966 and to Professor in 1968. He was 36 years old at the time.
He served as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1971 to 1973. On retirement from the university, he was honoured with the title of Professor Emeritus in 1994.
The core of Bamgbose’s contribution to knowledge is his work on the structure of Yoruba language. Among his twenty-one books, Grammar of Yoruba remains a classic in the application of modern linguistics to Yoruba.
Equally significant is Fonologi ati Girama Yoruba which tackles the problem of linguistic metalanguage of Yoruba students.
His versatility was evident in Orthographies of Nigerian Languages [Efik, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba], Language and the Nation and Language and Exclusion. Bamgbose also wrote over 130 papers or chapters in books.
In 1984, Professor Bamgbose became the first African linguist to be conferred honorary membership of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA). In 2000, he was elected as the first African president of the International Association of World Englishes.
In 2003, he was elected the second Vice-President of the Permanent International Committee of Linguists, the first time an African linguist has been so honoured.
In 2009, he was elected Foundation President of the Assembly of Academicians of the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN). He was also a member of the executive committee of the Nigerian Academy of Letters of which he is the foundation member.
He was the sole recipient of the Nigerian National Order of Merit in 1990. He was conferred with the degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) of the University of Ibadan in 2017.
