THE ANALOGY OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION WITHIN PANKSHIN LGA, PLATEAU STATE

This paper presents the analogy of homogenous language and culture as one of the most significant components of conflict resolution in a heterogeneous society. Language and culture have over the years played a vital role in resolving conflict among diverse ethnic groups in Pankshin LGA. Basically, human interaction is based on perceptions that capitalize on needs, emotions, interests and fears. People from different environments and communities see the world through the ambit provided by their different languages. Language provides the foundation of words that create different categorizations in which users have divided their world. One can find words that are culturally, contextually and communicatively bound which are of great importance to members of a shared environment. The language spoken by a people and their identity are inseparable. The study used key informant interview as primary data and journals, newspaper articles, books and online databases as secondary data, and found that despite the inevitability of conflict resulting from people interaction, language and culture are essential component of conflict resolution. The paper concludes that in a country like Nigeria where conflicts stem from political manipulation, alienation and marginalization, religious and ethnic differences are very essential for people to be aware of those common traits in language and culture that unify them. It is therefore recommended that emphasis should be placed in exploring different cultures and uses of language in conflict resolution.