Creating terms in the domain of terrorism: The Igbo experience

Abstract

Terrorism is not new. It has existed since the beginning of recorded history and more particularly after the Second World War Terrorist activities have been witnessed around the world. These attacks have multiplied since the terrorist attack on the United States of America on September 11 2001. In recent times in Nigeria, the unity of the country has been threatened by terrorist activities of the Boko Haram. Nigerians have been exposed to the vocabulary of terrorism like: terrorism, suicide bomber, counter terrorism etc. It is this new trend that heightened our curiosity to want to create terms in this area to enable the speakers of the Igbo language use such terms. To the best of our knowledge, there is no systematized creation of terms in the area of terrorism in the Igbo language. The aim of this paper is to create terms relating to terrorism in the Igbo language. We will discuss briefly the origin of terrorism and confection a bilingual glossary on terrorism.

Keywords: Boko Haram, bombing, terrorism, terrorist attack, terminology.