Nigerian English, also known as Nigerian Standard English, is a unique variety of English spoken in Nigeria. Based on British English, it incorporates various loanwords and collocations from native Nigerian languages to express concepts specific to the cultures of the nation's diverse ethnic groups.
Map of Ethnic Groups in Nigeria
Nigeria, a country in West Africa, is the most populous Black country in the world, with an estimated population of nearly 220 million people. A former British colony until 1960, Nigeria is one of the six countries that make up English-speaking West Africa (the others being Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and a part of Cameroon). With an estimated 53% of Nigerians speaking a form of English, Nigeria is one of the largest English-speaking countries in the world.
In Nigeria, English is a co-official language alongside three other indigenous languages: Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. However, this is only in principle because, in practice, English is used as the sole official language in almost all official contexts, including governance, education, mass media, law courts etc. Even though the vast majority of English speakers in Nigeria use it as a second language, there is now a growing number of young Nigerians who speak Nigerian English as a first language.
The History of English in Nigeria
The history of English in Nigeria is traceable to three important historical events: first is the trade relationship between British traders and Nigerians in the 17th and 18th centuries during which a ‘contact English’ developed; the second was the Christian missionary expedition of the 19th century; and the colonisation of Nigeria in the 20th century, which consolidated the implantation of English in the country.
Read also: Decoding "Oloribu Omo Ofo Yoruba"
Before the amalgamation of the Northern and the Southern Protectorates of Nigeria in 1914 by Sir Fredrick Lugard, Nigerians from diverse socio-cultural, ethnic, and linguistic extractions had lived separately as different nations. But the amalgamation turned the various ethnic and linguistic nationalities into nation states under the British colonial rule with the imposition of English language as official language of administration, commerce/business and other official transactions. Gradually, this adoption led to a situation in which the native languages have become neglected.
Today, the prestige enjoyed by the English language because of its official status, functions, and roles as well as the currency and lingua franca status of Nigerian Pidgin, which has almost taken over from the native languages as the only language of Nigerian masses from diverse linguistic backgrounds, has worsened the linguistic situations. Thus this scenario has led both the English language and Nigerian Pidgin to become global languages in Nigeria. As a result, the state of our native languages has become so deplorable that prominent Nigerian linguists, such as Prof. Ayo Bamgbose and Prof. Oladele Awobuluyi, with far-reaching insights now think that they are, more or less, endangered and may eventually go into extinction.
Nigerian English must be distinguished from Nigerian Pidgin, which is an English-based pidgin language that developed as a result of trade relations between Nigerians and Europeans (chiefly the British and Portuguese). While Nigerian English dominates official contexts as the preferred language, it competes with Nigerian Pidgin as the lingua franca for interpersonal or interethnic communication, particularly among the less educated. Over the years, Nigerian English has evolved, continuously expanding in domains of usage, range of functions, and structural features.
Dialects of Nigerian English
There are three main dialects of Nigerian English: Hausa English (spoken by the Hausa), Igbo English (spoken by the Igbo) and Yoruba English (spoken by the Yoruba). Nigerian Pidgin English is very commonly spoken in the South-South region of Nigeria, such as in Rivers, Delta, or Bayelsa States. It is more concentrated than the pidgin spoken in the city of Lagos, which is occasionally seen as merely an urban-Yoruba-mediated version of Nigerian English.
Features of Nigerian English
Nigerian English is a nativised form of English. A few features have united across communities that bridge the differences between different varieties even within Nigerian English, all pertaining to cultural values that are expressed uniquely in English terms. Two prevalent examples are "sorry" and "sir." The literal meaning of "sorry" usually indicates some sort of responsibility on the part of the person saying it, but for all varieties of Nigerian English, it is used to express sympathy in a unique way, or to show empathy to whoever has experienced misfortune. "Sir" or the replacement of names with titles indicates respect and a high value for politeness.
Read also: ELT in Morocco: A Comprehensive Overview
The system of levels is only one of the proposed differentiations of the pragmatic realisations of Nigerian English. Level 2 is a step above, and the most spoken.
Vocabulary: As is the case with most new varieties of English, Nigerian English vocabulary emanated from the need to characterize phenomena and nuances in the users’ realities that are not adequately captured by the existing vocabulary of English. As a result, many Nigerian English words come from the country’s flora and fauna, local cuisine, dressing culture, traditional festivals and customs, means of transportation, political culture, etc.
While some Nigerian English words are semantic extensions of existing English words (e.g., severally in Nigerian English means ‘on several occasions; repeatedly’ and send-forth is a noun meaning ‘a celebration or event to mark a person’s departure; a send-off’), many of them are borrowings from the indigenous languages (e.g. tokunbo which denotes ‘an imported second-hand product, esp. a car’).
A loanword is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "a word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification". Examples include:
- akpu, banga, eba, egusi, ogbono, tuwo: ‘soup’ (in various Nigerian languages), as in: ‘Any time I eat eba, I have stomach upset’; ‘Can I eat some tuwo?’; ‘I don’t like the smell of akpu’; ‘I will like to eat ogbono soup mixed with egusi.’
Akpu and ogbono are clearly derived from the Igbo language, tuwo Hausa. Banga is mostly synonymous with Delta State (although similar dishes made with the same primary ingredient; i.e., palm fruit concentrate; exist around Nigeria, e.g., Igbo ofe akwu, Ibibio-Efik abak atama, Isoko izuwo ibiedi, Itsekiri obe eyin-ikpogiri (banga-egusi soup). One-pot banga rice is known as adesi abak in Ibibio-Efik and is often prepared with seafood. The origins of the word "banga" per-se appear to be unknown but it may be a local loanword.
Read also: Voice Translation: Igbo to English
Coinages, though similar to loanwords, function as a sort of colloquialism that is spoken in English but has a unique cultural meaning. A common example of semantic shift is in the reappropriation of the meaning of English words for Nigerian purposes and uses. A particularly expansive example of semantics in NE is the use of a variety of greetings. That stretching of meaning can change the meaning of the English phrase but also represents something from Nigerian culture.
Grammar: Similarly, Nigerian English grammar is considerably influenced by the grammars of Nigerian indigenous languages, especially those of Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, which are regarded as the major languages. For instance, these indigenous languages rarely distinguish between count and non-count nouns grammatically. Nigerian English, therefore, non-count nouns are used as count nouns. Example: The teacher gave us some advices. Other features of the grammar of Nigerian English include:
- Use of double subjects: The man he is happy.
- Use of zero article where L1 varieties would have a definite article: Ø Majority of Ø students were late to class.
- Double determiners: This our country is great.
- Use of object pronouns in subject positions: Me and my friend were asked to leave the room.
- Intransitive use of verbs that are used as transitive in L1 varieties of English: We discussed about the crisis in the meeting.
Pronunciation: As the literature currently stands, most phonological studies have analysed a plethora of Nigerian English speakers from a wide range of backgrounds (region of origin, current profession, social class, etc.). Voiced -z sounds in which the "s" is present in spelling become voiceless, i.e. Common suffixing of phrases with the word “now”, especially when making an example of something.
E.g. (1): “like you, now” (take you/yourself as an example), “for example now” (for example), “say you’re the one who’s going to be celebrating the birthday tomorrow evening now” (suppose for a minute that it’s your birthday tomorrow and you’re having some party/celebration). E.g.
Further inclusion of Nigerian English words in the OED occurred in the December 2024 update: over 20 additional Nigerian English words and expressions. These include terms such as abi, adire, eba, gele, Japa, Naija, suya, 419, yahoo boy, among others. The update also introduced pronunciation recordings by a Nigerian voice, many provided by Nigerian linguist Dr Kingsley Ugwuanyi, who serves as consultant to the OED on Nigerian English along with Kola Tubosun.
In July 2019, Google added a Nigerian accent to its Maps navigation system, further recognizing the distinct characteristics of Nigerian English.
HOW PIDGIN ENGLISH STARTED IN NIGERIA: THE EVOLUTION OF NIGERIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH
The Impact on Indigenous Languages
The bilingual and multilingual nature of the Nigerian nation may be considered a precipitous factor of this situation. This factor has led to language preference which can be considered a precursor to endangerment and threat of extinction of some native languages. The linguistic situation in the present-day Nigeria appears to be precipitously complex in terms of language preference and usage.
This is because most Nigerians now tend to use non-native languages, like English and Pidgin, more often than the native counterparts in their official and unofficial capacities. Negative social attitude towards native languages and preference for prestigious non-native official and unofficial languages such as the English language and Nigerian Pidgin have been adduced as the primary cause of the gradual decline in the population of Nigerians who speak their mother tongues. Even our traditional rulers who are regarded to be the custodians of our cultures and languages disregard them at various social occasions by speaking the English language when and where their indigenous languages would have been more appropriate.
That the grave concern over the rapidly shrinking wealth of local languages and dialects in the world prompted the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to dedicate a special day for their preservation. (In fact, UNESCO has factored the use of indigenous mother languages into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. d) That languages go extinct when they fall out of use and there are few people alive who can speak them.
That the modern phenomena of migration, urbanisation, westernization, and globalisation have wreaked great havoc on local languages, dialects, and values in Nigeria. f) That even the three majority languages - Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba - are getting endangered to varying degrees.
Language displacement usually precipitates language extinction or death. When the population of the speakers of a language begins to decline rather than grow, it may lead to the extinction of that language. This is perhaps why language displacement and preference usually underlie language endangerment which may later metamorphosed into language extinction.
The scenario in the Nigerian sociolinguistic milieu paints a pathetic picture of several local languages being endangered as a result of their displacement by the English language and Nigerian Pidgin (NP) in terms of their traditional roles, functions, and statuses. Blessing Eluan Douglas’ (2012: 2) observation of language situation in Bayelsa State is instructive here. In the institutions of learning in this State, students seem to speak NP more than English or any of the indigenous languages because it has become the lingua franca of the people living in that part of Nigeria. The worrisome reality is that most of the local languages in the Niger-Delta region have been displaced by NP.
This pathetic situation is also observable in the case of most languages, in the Middle Belt and the core north, on which the Hausa language seems to have been superimposed. Thus Hausa may be seen as a threat to the other languages of the North as they are in danger of disappearing because of the dwindling population of their speakers.
Since time immemorial, preference for one language or another has characterized the human condition in linguistically heterogeneous societies such as Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania. Scholars are showing renewed attention by investigating the indices of these variations and why one language should take pre-eminence over another in social, religious, political, educational, and economic domains.
Language preference in Nigeria is also characterized by the sociolinguistic phenomena of code-switching and code-mixing in semi-formal contexts. Code-switching is a phenomenon of making one utterance in one language and another in a different language within the same discourse e.g., eyin akeeko o ya. Let us go ‘Students, its time, let us go’ (code-switching involving Yoruba and English). On the other hand, code-mixing is a phenomenon of making use of elements of two languages in the same utterance e.g., Awon foot-ballers yen perform well ‘Those footballers perform well’: or O sure ju ‘It’s certain’ (English code-mixed with Yoruba).
The idea of language death presupposes its opposite, language birth. Where one superordinate language is imposed on others in a survival of the fittest struggle, the dominant language may swallow the ‘inferior’ ones leading to language endangerment and subsequently extinction and death. However, depending on the linguistic geography and sociopolitical structure of the society new languages may evolve as in Pidginisation and Creolization as observable in many parts of the world.
The languages of Nigeria are classified into three broad linguistic groups: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afro-Asiatic. The huge Niger-Congo group is further subdivided into nine major branches, including the Kwa subgroup, spoken in the extreme southwestern corner of the country; the Ijoid branch, spoken in the Niger Delta region; the Atlantic subgroup, which most notably includes Fula; the extensive Benue-Congo subgroup, which includes Tiv, Jukun, Edo, Igbo, Igala, Idoma, Nupe, Gwari, Yoruba, and several languages of the Cross River basin such as Efik, Ibibio, Anang, and Ekoi; and the Adamawa-Ubangi languages, such as Awak, Waja, Waka, and Tula, spoken in northern Nigeria.
The Nilo-Saharan group is represented in Nigeria principally by Kanuri, although speakers of Bagirmi and Zerma are also present in the country. Afro-Asiatic is a much larger linguistic group and comprises Hausa, Margi, and Bade, among others. Hausa was an official language of the northern states from 1951 to 1967. It is the most widely spoken language, although English is the official language of Nigeria. In addition to English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, and English Creole are widely spoken. Many of the languages exist in written form.
It is essential to note that Nigeria is a multilingual country with a complex linguistic landscape. While English serves as the official language, the preservation and promotion of indigenous languages are crucial for maintaining cultural heritage and identity.
Popular articles:
tags: #Nigeria
