The Communicative Implications Of Nigerian English Usage

CHAPTER FOUR 4.0

Analysis of Nigerian English Variants/Features

4.1. Implications of Nigerian English Syntax

The Nigerian English syntax outlined in the preceding chapter three offers remarkable differences between its variety and the standard English. In the expressions: Birds of the same Feather, More grease to your elbow; and There are prophets and there are prophets, etc; we notice peculiar case of unnecessary expansion. Some Nigerian users end up expanding the standard English idioms in their attempt to make them clear or simply to “Nigerianize” them. Other instances of unnecessary expansion or deletion of one conventional lexical item and outright substitution with another is also found in the expressions; “nooks and crannies” and the “proof of the pudding is in the eating”. In these expressions, Crannies and proof are interchanged with corners and taste respectively. Their meanings are however retained but the expansion is quite unnecessary. Idioms should remain as sacrosanct as they are used by the native speakers. They should not be subjected to any kind of distortion syntactically. Moreover, we notice in such Nigerian expressions as: deal on, to my hearing, a bird at hand etc; a flagrant substitution of the correct prepositional particles. The preposition “in” is interchanged with on and at in the expressions deal in and a bird in the hand, and with “to” in the expression in my hearing.

The same thing is done in the expression “in the hope”. The preposition in is removed and in its stead, “with” is added. No linguistic reason whatsoever is given by such Nigerian speakers for such interchanges. Such users are simply careless and complacent over correctness. Equally very striking is syntactic distortion arising from the incomplete conjugation of the verb “has” in “has taken in” (meaning has become pregnant in Nigerian sense). If the verbal group in the phrase is completely conjugated in, for example, the woman has been taken in, meaning has been deceived in standard English usage, it would have been acceptable as a standard expression. Further damage is done to the expression by such Nigerian users, by assigning completely different meaning to it. The usage in this sense by such careless users poses double linguistic problem. One is syntactic and the other a semantic anomally. Also worrisome is the tautological feature of some Nigerian English syntax. The expressions. “meet up with”, “must have to” “on my way going” are all Nigerian expressions showing redundancy of some items in their structural patterns. In essence therefore “up with” “to have”, and “going” are sheer tautology in the following expressions by some Nigerian users.  The government could not meet up with ASUU’s demands.

You must have to do it  On my way going to Awka I met robbers All these are syntactically deviant yet no reason has been adduced for the redundancy or for the use of the added lexical items. Direct transliteration is another syntactically deviant expression common to some Nigerian English usage. Transliteration is a clear instance of code-mixing, in the expression: wait me, a careless Nigerian speaker uses English to codemix. The correct English expression has a preposition “for” in between. If syntax, as we have already pointed out, is related to order, specifically word order, that is, the combinatorial patterns of words in a sentence, a breech of such principles surely will create a world of disorder. This invariably will affect communication. This, perhaps, explains why a critic once said that the poet resembles a mad man in a way. Like the mad man, he picks up his words from virtually every human activity and experience. But unlike the mad man, he arranges his words in a pleasing, meaningful pattern. What makes the utterances of a mad man incomprehensible is that he flouts the syntactic principles of word ordering. The syntactic distortions of English expressions by some Nigerian users often result in distortions in the meaning of these expressions. 4.2. The Implication of Nigerian English lexis Nigerian English lexis reveals obvious peculiarities of the items. First we identify items that are outright lexical inventions. These include - 58 - Belgium, Taiwan, Okada”, lookry, Touchry, corper, gossiper Churcheous etc. The first three – Belgium, Taiwan, Okada are neologisms invented in relation to the socio-economic situations in Nigeria. Belgium is a country in Eastern Europe from where most of the fairly used products are imported into Nigeria. Nigerians therefore invented this word to mean a second hand material such as cars, televisions, radios, or any other item already used and imported into the country. Once the item has been used, a Nigerian buying it is getting it Belgium. Consider the following exchange. A. I saw Joseph in a Mercedez Benz car B. When did you see him ? A. Yesterday! Was he using the car before? B. No. He bought it Belgium Similarly, Taiwan industrial products are not regarded as good as Japanese, hence, any product of substandard quality is Taiwan for Nigerians. The expression, I bought a Taiwan carburetor for my car makes meaning for a Nigerian English user. Okada is yet another word invented by Nigerian English users. Etymologically, the word entered into the lexicon of Nigerian English usage around the 1980s. During this time there was one private airline that challenged Nigerian Airways. During the time also, commercial motorcycle business flourished following the austere economic policies of the then - 59 - government. Ever since then a commercial motorcycle operator has come to be known as “Okada man” or “Ochakpa” in some states in the North. The words lookry, touchry, corper, gossiper and churcheous look very strange but yet they are recurrent lexis in the vocabulary of some Nigerian users of English. Perhaps by analogy with adultery, anyone who casts amorous looks at a woman or touches any part of her body is deemed to have committed “lookry” or “touchry” Christian religious adherents are warned in the Bible against such illicit sexual advances to the opposite sex. The use of these items is very common among zealous but uninformed Christian faithful preaching in commercial buses and public places. The use of churcheous is also common among such people. Furthermore, if a mischief maker could be said to be mischievous and worshippers derived from worship, then corper and gossiper should be allowed into the lexicon without qualms to mean a corps member and a gossipy fellow or a gossip. Also common in Nigerian English vocabulary are items that however exist in the standard variety but have been assigned with completely different meanings.

According to Akindele and Adegbite (42), such items have “semantic contrast”. Troubleshooter, dupe, academician, escort etc, though exist in world standard variety but are in contrast with different meanings Nigerian users ascribe to them. While a troubleshooter detects problems in a machine, he rather foments troubles for some Nigerian English users. While an academician is a member of an academy, for example, Nigerian Academy of Science, he is, to a majority of Nigerian speakers, a person who specializes in academic matters, for example our university lecturers. Moreover, while a dupe is someone cheated or tricked, he is rather the one who cheats or tricks others as found in some Nigerian English usages. Loan Words or loan creation is yet another feature of Nigerian English lexis. In this aspect, loan words or expressions are directly translated into English with obvious or conspicuous traces of the linguistic traits of the vernacular languages. Linguists refer to this as transliteration. We notice this in the following expressions by some Nigerian English users.