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 National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

(NINLAN).

Life

Chinyere Ohiri-Aniche gained a B.Sc. in French and Linguistics from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

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 The University of Port Harcourt is located in Choba in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Nigeria. It was established in 1975 as University College, Port Harcourt and was given university status in 1977. The University of Port Harcourt was rank ...

in 1991. She became a Senior Lecturer, specializing in Igbo education, at the University of Lagos. A two-volume ''

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' was published in her honour in 2015. As President of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN) in 2014, Ohiri-Aniche warned that over 400 indigenous languages of Nigeria were

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

. In August 2016

President Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

appointed her as chief executive officer of the National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN). She was the third executive director of NINLAN, succeeding Ben Elugbe. At the end of 2016 she warned that over fifty languages in Nigeria faced imminent

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. She died in September 2018.A Great Star Is Gone! – Professor Chinyere Ohiri-Aniche
''Elombah News'', 4 October 2018. Accessed 18 May 2020.

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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohiri-Aniche, Chinyere Linguists from Nigeria Georgetown University alumni Université de Montréal alumni University of Port Harcourt alumni Academic staff of the University of Lagos