Nonverbal Communication In Nigeria (Essay Sample)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Nigeria is an independent Federal state in the Western African region. It is regarded as the giant of Africa due to an extensive economy, political stature, and its human resource potential in the continent. The country currently has at least 500 ethnic groups with a variety of languages across the country. Nigeria is rich with ethnic diversities that are composed of different cultures and groups that make the country as one of the most diverse in Africa as well as in the world. Nigeria’s large population is one of the largest in the world, which is currently ranked 7th across the globe. The population of Nigeria is booming that makes ethnic groups to grow and produce more members of each ethnicity in the nation.

Nonverbal communication in Nigeria can be traced back to ancient times. Since the evolution of humans began in at least 1.7 million years ago, sign languages were the first form of communication. Nigeria is lucky to be the first country in the world to host the evolution of humanity in the planet. There were isolated civilizations that lived in Nigeria to develop non-verbal communication. During the ancient times, early humans used sign languages and gestures before they communicate with other individuals. When early humans have an observable brain development after hundreds of thousands of years of existence, they began to do paintings in several caves across Nigeria. Some caves were found to contain scriptures and paintings made by early humans who settled in the area for tens of thousands of years. Archeological sites reveal that as years progressed, more symbols emerged as a symbol for every early human to communicate with other members of their family.

When civilizations across Africa formed, Nigeria experienced an overlapping generations of villages and communities. Sign languages became more evident when civilizations from the ancient times began to create calligraphy to perform communication with other individuals or even from other communities. Calligraphy started similarly when ancient civilizations began using tools for doing household chores. At the same manner, voice communication came synonymously with non-verbal communication in Nigeria. There were words translated from the scripts to better understand the essence of each word or phrase applied to send a message to other individuals. When humans slowly mutated into full modern living organisms, it created a new way of fully expressing their concerns.  Scripts started to appear in stone and wood tablets. Rocks were carved with symbols and scripts to represent information that sends a message to others.

Nonverbal communication in Nigeria in the modern times is fully applied by Nigerians. The official language of Nigeria to date is English; however, there are other major languages of the region, which are Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. In the modern era, nonverbal communication is commonly made in formal letters. The rise of smart phones and electronic networking allow messaging to connect between two or more individuals, groups, and organizations. Examples are text messages, chat, and formal communication letters. For computer programmers in Nigeria, symbols using digital art technology allow artists and programmers to have an alternative way to communicate with other parties. This is similar with the artists who create artistic masterpieces to detail a story in their paintings that are displayed inside households. The use of technology is significant for allowing humans to create a telepathic way of communicating in a non-verbal manner (Okonji, 2013).

Reference

  • Okonji, Emma (2013). “Zinox Introduces Tablet Range of Computers, Plans Commercial Launch”. This Day. This Day Live.
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