The Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages formerly known as Department of Yorùbá Studies was established in 1982 when Ondo State University, Ado- Ekiti (OSUA) now Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti (EKSU) was founded. The programme was designed to train students in Yorùbá language, Literature, culture and to impart Yorùbá moral values to the students.  The Department changed its nomenclature in 1999 to Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages owning to lack of sufficient students to study Yorùbá.

Aims and Objectives of the Department

Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages aims at:

1. equipping the undergraduate students with analytic skills for critical and creative knowledge of Yorùbá language and literature; both oral and written;
2. fostering in students a deeper understanding and appreciation of the literature and culture of the Yorùbá people in general;

• training students the application of Linguistics and literary knowledge to other fields such as sociology, education, psychology, mass communication, publishing and to prepare them for further studies in various related fields;

1. exposing the students to the various aspects of Linguistics such as Phonology, Phonetics, Sociolinguistics, Semantics/Pragmatics, Lexicography, Historical Linguistics, Anthropology, Psyco- linguistics, etc.

The Department awards degree in the underlisted programmes:

1. Linguistics
2. Yorùbá
3. Linguistics and Yorùbá
4. Linguistics and English
5. Linguistics and French

Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages offers admission into Postgraduate Programmes such as M. A; M.Phil.; M. Phil./Ph. D and Ph. D. The Department has qualified lecturers to teach the programmes.