Chinyere Ohiri-Aniche (died 2018) was a Nigerian linguist and academic. From 2016 until her death she was head of the National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN).
Life
Chinyere Ohiri-Aniche gained a B.Sc. in French and Linguistics from Georgetown University in 1975, a M.Ed. in Language Teaching from the University of Montreal in 1977, and a PhD in linguistics from the University of Port Harcourt in 1991. She became a Senior Lecturer, specializing in Igbo education, at the University of Lagos.[1] A two-volume festschrift was published in her honour in 2015.[2]
As President of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN) in 2014, Ohiri-Aniche warned that over 400 indigenous languages of Nigeria were endangered.[3] In August 2016 President Buhari appointed her as chief executive officer of the National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN).[4] She was the third executive director of NINLAN, succeeding Ben Elugbe.[5] At the end of 2016 she warned that over fifty languages in Nigeria faced imminent extinction.[6]
She died in September 2018.[7]
Works
- A comparative phonology of consonants in the Igboid, Edoid, and Yoruboid languages of Nigeria. PhD thesis, University of Port Harcourt, 1991.
- 'Language diversification in the Akoko area of Western Nigeria', in R. M. Blench & M. Spriggs (eds.) Archaeology and Language IV. Language change and cultural transformation, 1999, pp. 79–94.
- 'Language pluralism and national development in Nigeria', in A. E. Eruvbetine (ed.) The humanistic management and pluralism: A formula for development in Nigeria, 2001, pp. 544–560.
- (ed. with Iwu Ikwubuzo and Chigozie Nnabuihe) Udezuluigbo: a festschrift in honour of Sam Uzochukwu. Itire, Lagos, Nigeria : Green Olive, 2008.
- (ed. with T. Uzodinma Nwala and Nath Aniekwu) Igbo nation: history & challenges of rebirth and development. Ibadan, Nigeria : Kraft Books Limited, 2015.