NIGERIANISMS IN ENGLISH: ERROR OR VARIATION?

A TERM PAPER IN:

ENG 790: ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NIGERIA

BY

GROUP 10

MEMBERS

NAME MATRIC. NO.

1) MAYAKI JOSEPH A. 126714

2) WATSON IFEOLUWA O. 161267

3) OLAYIWOLA MOPELOLA R. 122675

4) UZOALOR CHIKAODILI 159575

5) IBRAHIM MARIAM I. 115459

6) ADEYEMO FOLUSO O. 129344

7) LABIRAN SUBOMI O. 161930

8) ADENIYI GANIYU EDWIN 160078

SUBMITTED TO:

DR O. ADEYANJU & DR. A. AKINJOBI

OCTOBER, 2011

Abstract

It is an undeniable fact that the English language has become an established entity in the

Nigerian society. However, its predominant usage does not remove the fact that the English

language is not native to Nigeria or deny the existence of native Nigerian languages. Therefore,

this paper seeks to highlight how the contact between both languages; the English language and

native Nigerian languages have led to the creation of peculiar variants which have been tagged as

Nigerianisms. This paper elucidates on how the unique linguistic features from the native

Nigerian languages which are transposed into the English language can be considered as

variations and not errors.

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Introduction

It is a fact that the English language is gradually becoming the language of the world. Its

ownership is no longer limited to the ‘English people’ in the strict sense of the word. Adventure,

trade and commerce, gospel propagation and imperialism among other factors have motivated

the implantation of the English language to a large extent in Nigeria. However, it is important to

note that cultural diversities and peculiarities are reflected in the English language spoken by

specific nations, communities or ethnic groups. This has given rise to what we now know as

varieties of English. According to Timothy T. Ajani (2007):

New Englishes, modern Englishes, international Englishes, South African English, Australian English, Indian English are some of the designations used to describe the new varieties of English bourgeoning all over the world. These new Englishes are the result of the global spread of English… that began with British colonialism during the nineteenth century

Therefore, it is no longer a controversy that one can establish the concept of Nigerian English.

Nigerianisms in English is the distinct distinguishing linguistic term that backs up the concept of

Nigerian English. Bokamba (1982, 1991), Jibril (1982), Odumuh (1987, 1993), Salami (1968),

Balogun (1980), Kachru (1956, 1992, 1992), Jowit (1991), Bamiro (1991, 1994), Goke-Pariola

(1993) and Bamgbose (1982) are few among the scholarly authorities of high repute who have

distinctly recognised and/or analysed Nigerianisms in English, thereby confirming the notion of

Nigerian English.

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Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

Central to the new Englishes is the theory of language variation and change. According to

Timothy T. Ajani (2007), Uriel Weinreich (1955, 1968) has postulated a systematic framework

for the classification of the mutual influence and mixing that takes place when languages come

in contact. Each national variety of English has distinct features with unique linguistic and

cultural identities orchestrated largely by the different historical development/event/experience,

political, geographical and socio-cultural factors. This accounts for why Nigerian English will be

different from South African English, Indian English or Ghanaian English. However, because of

the multilingual nature of some of these societies, each variety will also house other sub-varieties

that reflect its multilingual nature.

A peculiar issue with the new Englishes as pointed out by Ajani is the several problems they

pose. Among them are those of definition, identification, classification, norm and intelligibility.

He went further to analyse and question the designation “Nigerian English”. He reasoned that a

typical Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo speaker of English do not speak exactly the same way. He then

inquired into what constitutes the Nigerian English. He summed up by the fact that “there is

really no consensus opinion yet as to what constitutes Nigerian English”. Some persons out

rightly reject its existence, while some take it for granted without defining it. It is important to

note that Nigerian multilingual nature cannot but have sub-varieties of the Nigerian English as

the different ethnic groups do not speak exactly speak English the same way.

It is comforting to note Jibril’s (1982) assertion in which he warns that there is no unanimity in

the assessment of Nigerian linguists as to the “citizen status” of Nigerian English. He also argues

that Nigerian English does not have to possess a common linguistic feature to qualify as Nigerian

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because even the British English also has local variations and dialectal characteristics.

Odumuh(1987) has also argued that English language does not have to be homogenous to qualify

as being indigenous to Nigeria.

Ayo Bamgbose (1982) posits that the concept of Nigerian English need not be questioned at all

because it is an established fact that when there is language contact, the second language

compulsorily gets influenced by its linguistic environment.

Odumuh (1987) identifies distinguishing features of Nigerian English in relation to lexical,

semantic, syntactic and phonological usages. Adegunju (2009) also identifies the idiomatic

features of Nigerian English. Anchoring on these scholarly parameters, we shall raise cogent

issues on the concept of Nigerianisms as it features in the Nigerian English usage as variances

and not errors.

Nigerianisms at the Lexico-semantic Level

At this level, there are adoptions and adaptations from the local Nigerian languages. These

appear in form of semantic extension, semantic shift, coinages, and loan words which are used to

substitute expressions that are not readily available in the English language. For instance the

following words: Ewedu soup, ponmo, akara, egusi, eba, fufu, gari, amala, tuwo, etc. are words

that do not have an exact equivalent in the English language as such words do not exist in their

vocabulary and sometimes equivalents that are used will not express the real meaning behind the

words. Also, there are some English words or expressions which acquire new meaning in the

Nigerian English. Consider the sentences below:

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a. My daddy sent me some amount

b. Her admission was by arrangement

‘Amount’ as used above means money and arrangement means preferential treatment. The

meanings of these words have been extended beyond how a typical native English man would

use them. Other examples of semantic extension abound in Nigerian English. For instance,

minerals is used in Nigerian English to mean all types of soft drinks, father is not restricted to

just one’s biological father but elder male relatives and non-relatives old enough to be one’s

father. The same explanation goes for the use of mother, uncle and child. One can also refer to

his brother’s wife as “my wife”.

Semantic shift occurs when there is the rendition of the characteristic patterns of a word within

the semantic field so that its central context becomes marginalised. For instance, when minerals

is used to mean soft drinks, its Standard English meaning as ‘natural resources’ is marginalised.

The use of coinages to construct Nigerianisms shows richness in the ability of word formation.

New words are derived through predication, suffixation, reduplication, or compounding.

Consider the highlighted words in the sentences below:

a. Have you paid her bride price? (dowry)

b. She is my tight friend (intimate friend)

c. She likes bush meat (game)

Other common coinages include: go show, headtie, been to, naming ceremony, known faces,

long leg, chewing stick, bottom power, khaki boys, sugar daddy, etc

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Nigerianisms at the Phonological Level

Nigerianisms also feature at the phonological level in the English language by reflecting the

unique phonological features of the native languages. While the English language has twelve

pure vowels and eight diphthongs, Nigerian languages like Yoruba, has seven pure vowels and

no diphthongs. Also importantly, the English language differentiates between long and short

vowels while Nigerian languages do not. Therefore, while “heat” is realised as /hi:t/ and “hit”

as /hIt/ in English, these different words would be pronounced the same way by most Nigerian

speakers of the English language.

Also, differences abound in the consonants of the English language and that of Nigerian

languages. Sounds like /t/, /ð/, /tʃ/, /ŋ/ are not available in Nigerian native languages. This

necessitates the substitution of the English consonants with the nearest equivalent in the native

languages. This is why sometimes ‘thought’ would be /tɔt/, ‘church’, / ʃɔʃ/ or /sos/, ‘federal’

/pedral/ (for Hausa speakers), etc.

Nigerian English also lacks the voiced and voiceless quality; /z/ in inter and post vocalic position

is to be devoiced, while /t/ following a voiceless sound is to be voiced, but they are not properly

pronounced. Consider the examples below:

Word English pronunciation Nigerianism

Missed /misst/ /misd/

Wished /wiʃt/ /wizʃd/

Boys /bɔiz/ /bɔis/

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Benches /bentʃz/ /bentʃs/

It should be noted that while the English language is stress timed, the Nigerian English is

syllable timed due to the transfer of aspects of our tonal languages. The common practice is to

stress every syllable.

The consideration of Nigerianisms at the phonological level as variants and not errors is largely

justifiable due to the existence of phonological variances in some forms of Standard English. For

instance, the native American articulates the word ‘often’ as /oftun/ while the British speaker

articulates it as /ofun/, the same can be noticed in the word ‘schedule’, which the American

articulates as /skejool/ and the British as /shedyool/. Therefore, if phonological features of native

Nigerian languages are filtered into the English language and we come up with unique

pronunciations, they should be termed as variants and not errors.

Nigerianisms at the Syntactic Level

At the syntactic level, due to the transfer of linguistic features from the native languages, we

have the reduplication of some lexical items and syntactic structures. For instance, the Yoruba

make use of repetition for emphasis or intensification and when such expressions are

transliterated into English; it evolves into Nigerianisms that are peculiar to the Nigerian English

variant. Consider the example below:

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- You must complete your work fast fast. (The Yoruba equivalent of “kia-kia”).

Also, there is a common tendency in Nigerian English to substitute “Isn’t it” as answer to all

kinds of question tags:

- You will come to my house tomorrow, isn’t it?

- You didn’t take the pen, isn’t it?

Nigerianisms at the Idiomatic Level

The following are idiomatic usages in Nigerian English:

Idioms Meaning

Son of the soil Indigene

Sick upstairs Insane

Public dogs Prostitute

Carry one Fail a course

Join the ancestors Died/dead

Put to bed Given birth

Be a 419 Fraudulent

Settle a person Give a bribe

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Wash something Celebrate

Untouched Virgin

Other examples are: let me land, national cake, brown envelope, black market, tokunbo,

minimum wage, smell pepper, wet ground, step aside, woman wrapper, no man’s land, black

assurance, eye a person, be in soup, show you pepper, etc.

Nigerianisms at Discourse/Communicative Level

At the discourse level, many forms of Nigerianisms are transferred into Nigerian English. Most

times, this is done so as to adhere to rules of appropriateness of speech which may vary from

culture to culture and from society to society (Ajani 2007). For instance, in Standard English,

there are stipulated forms of greetings which stick to precise details such as “Good morning”,

“Good night”, etc. However, in Nigerian English due to the influences from the native cultures

which lay important to extraneous details in their patterns of greetings, we have extended forms

of greetings such as “Good morning, I hope you woke up well?”, or “Good night, may we wake

up one by one”. These expressions are transliterated from beliefs and norms of the native

Nigerian cultures in which greetings are tied with unique or peculiar details.

Also, indirectness of speech is noticed in the speech of Nigerian speakers of the English

language. This indirectness of speech is linked to cultural norms which require certain discourse

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strategies. For instance, the use of proverbs is a common preliminary used by Nigerians in

speeches made in their mother tongues. When these proverbs are transliterated into English, it

creates linguistic features that are distinct from the Standard English language usage, for

example:

- The snake does not run in daylight except something is after it

The expression above can be used as a preliminary or introduction to a discourse on the absurdity

of a particular incidence. The use of such preliminaries in speech is absent in the speech of L1

speakers of the English language.

It is also very important to note that educated Nigerians speak what has been termed “bookish

English”. They use the lexical and syntactic forms usually found in textbooks. They could also

be unnecessarily verbose on issues. They also make use of high-sounding words which could be

avoided.

Nigerianisms that occur at the discourse level can be rightly classified as variants and not errors

as long as they conform to the grammatical rules of Standard English.

Errors in Nigerian English

As much as we hold the belief and argue strongly for the existence of an English language that

can be termed Nigerian, we should not fail to point out that certain linguistic forms that are

passed off as Nigerianisms are outright errors.

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At the grammatical level, one cannot justifiably attest to the presence of valid Nigerianisms for

the following reasons; first, Nigerian English has not yet achieved standardisation, therefore the

rules of grammar that guide its correctness are taken from the standard British English language

which is used officially. Odumuh (1987) emphasises this issue of standardisation and posits that

for Nigerian English to be considered as standard, its expressions must align to local

acceptability and international intelligibility. Second, in order to prove the premise that Nigerian

English is a standard form of English which is used by educated Nigerians, Nigerianisms must

conform to the grammatical rules of Standard English.

The dialectics of the existence or non-existence of standard Nigerian English has engaged

scholars such as Akere (2009) who identifies four phases of research on English usage in Nigeria

as contrastive and error analyses; variety differentiation in Nigerian English; nativisation;

codification, elaboration and re-inventing.

The focus of the first phase is on the description of errors and the influence of mother tongue on

English at various levels of language: phonological, syntactic and lexical. The frameworks

utilised are mostly those of contrastive and error analyses. The procedure involves a contrast of

expressions in British English and Nigerian English and the identification of deviations from the

British norm as errors that must be avoided or minimised. However, some key issues have been

raised concerning the contrastive and error analyses; what should constitute the valid and reliable

sources of data for analysis of errors? That is, should the same standard of analyses be given to

spoken and written English, formal and informal English, uneducated and educated English?

And also, what are the parameters to distinguish between errors/deviants and

non-errors/variants?

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The second phase in Nigerian English studies marks a shift from the perception of it as deviant

or interference English by scholars to its recognition as a substantive variety or set of varieties

whose features can be characterised. Varieties of Nigerian English have thus been categorised

and described in different ways by scholars (Ubahakwe 1979, Jibril 1982, Afolayan 1987,

Bamgbose, et al. 1995, Akindele and Adegbite 1999, Udofot 2003). These scholars have

categorised Nigerian English from the geographical/regional perspective, the social perspective,

psycho-sociolinguistic perspective, registeral perspectives, etc.

The third phase involves drawing between the errors and non-errors. According to Bamgbose

(1995), nativisation or domestication occurs in Nigerian English at three levels: linguistic,

pragmatic and creative. At the linguistic level, Nigerian language vowels and consonants are

substituted for English ones; the pragmatic involves the modification of language rules to fit into

native situations motivated by the Nigerian environment; the creative involves the coining of

new expressions to reflect a unique Nigerian experience.

The fourth phase in Nigerian English studies involves the tasks of codification and elaboration

which are the current issues of contention among scholars of Nigerian English. The requirement

here is the description of a structure or behavioural norm in reference books such as dictionaries,

grammars or usage guides or their inclusion in the specified target of language instruction in

schools. The main guideline that has been agreed upon by scholars at this point relates to the

acceptability and intelligibility of Nigerianisms.

The examples given below are common grammatical features of Nigerian English; however we

have classified them as errors and not variations due to their questioned acceptability and

intelligibility.

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Errors at this level are expressed in the omission of functions like article ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’. This

is why we have expressions like:

a. He died of stroke (He died of a stroke)

b. I have cold (I have a cold)

c. I have class (I have a class)

d. Don’t make noise (Don’t make a noise)

e. I’m going to church (I’m going to the church)

There is also the unnecessary use of prepositions:

- They demanded (for) 8 million naira.

Prepositions are also wrongly applied, consider the following expressions:

- I was in the bus.

- I’m going for vacation

Where ‘in’ and ‘for’ have been used, it is clear that ‘on’ is the most appropriate word to use.

Nigerians also use some adjectives in a verb-like form:

- I bought a coloured television

- She has matured

The highlighted words are not verbs but they have been given tense features which apply to

verbs with the addition of the ‘ed’.14

Nigerians also use the reflexive pronouns themselves/ourselves defiantly:

a. Bidemi and I like playing with ourselves (each other).

b. They saw themselves (one another) at the party.

There is also a redundant pluralisation of some nouns in Nigerian English:

a. They bought the equipments (equipment)

b. I love your furnitures (furniture)

c. I have some informations for you. (information)

Other incorrect usages and their acceptable forms are listed below:

Incorrect usages Acceptable forms

1. The principal took me and the senior girl to

the conference

The principal took the senior girl and I to the

conference

2. She is good in literary analysis She is good at literary analysis

3. Let by gone be by gone Let bygones be bygones

4. Please borrow me your note Please lend me your note

5. More grease to your elbows More power to your elbow

6. The last but not the least The last but not least

7. The next meeting will hold on Monday The next meeting will be held on Monday

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8. I called to condole him I called to condole with him

9. Publicise it in every nook and corner Publicise it in every nook and cranny

10. Please kindly help us Please help us/ kindly help us

Conclusion

Having considered the various levels at which Nigerianisms occur in the English language

spoken in Nigeria, we have arrived at a consensus that not every slang or jargon from the native

Nigerian languages constitutes valid forms of Nigerianisms. Nigerian English has yet to achieve

standardisation and its usage still depends on standard British English to distinguish its

expressions as variations or errors. Therefore, it proves a herculean task to distinguish between

errors and variations in Nigerian English. However, since it has been agreed by a large majority

of scholars that Nigerian English refers to the English language utilised by educated Nigerians,

therefore, in this paper we have taken the position that Nigerianisms which occur at the lexico-

semantic, phonological, syntactic, discourse/communicative levels are largely variations which

are informed by unique experiences in the Nigerian environment and such experiences are

irrevocably absent in the standard form of the English language.

Essentially, in the re-inventing of Nigerianisms as variations, all forms of expressions in

Nigerian English which do not conform to the grammatical rules of Standard English should be

rightly classified as errors and not variations.

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