INTRODUCTION
This unit is an overview of the sociolinguistic situation in Nigeria. It is used to further drive home some of the important points that were made earlier on Bilingualism. Nigeria is a linguistically complex nation with several languages. In this unit, we shall be seeing how the country manages the linguistically complex situation. We shall also examine the concept of Nigerian English, the localised variety of English. Also, we shall be seeing the role of language in education in Nigeria
3.1 A Brief History of Nigerian English
The Portuguese were the first Europeans who traded pepper and slaves from the Nigerian coastal area. They first arrived in Benin (city) at the end of the 15th century. From the mid- 16th century, the British took over as major trading partners. With the abolition of the slave trade at the beginning of the 19th century, British colonial interests shifted to agricultural production for exportation to Europe.
In 1842 and 1846 the first missionary stations were established in Badagry (near Lagos in the Southwest) and Calabar (in the Southeast) respectively. The missionaries were mainly interested in spreading Christianity among the African pagans. In the schools they established in the Southern part of Nigeria (they were not allowed to settle in the Islamic North of the country), they also taught agriculture, crafts and hygiene. In order to easily reach the population, the language of instruction was usually the mother tongue of the natives; but the Africans refused to send their children to school because they needed them to work in the house and on the farms. Consequently, the missionaries paid compensation to the parents. All the same, the first generation of students was made up mainly of children of slaves who the village communities thought they would not miss much.
The British colonial government increasingly felt the need for Africans who were literate in English and would serve British colonial and trade interests (for instance as teachers, interpreters and clerks for local native courts and the trading companies). Therefore, missionary stations were ordered in the 1880s to teach English in their schools. In the long run, however, the missionary schools were unable to meet the demands for educated Nigerians, and the colonial government began to establish state schools from the turn of the century on. The first state school was in fact founded in 1899 as a result of pressure from Muslims in Lagos who had no access to missionary schools and felt they were at a disadvantage.
3.2 Multilingualism in Nigeria
Nigeria is a nation of about 140 million people. The country is made up of people from different ethnic groups, which speak different languages. According to Ethnologue.com, the number of languages in Nigeria is 510. Among these languages, 3 are known to have very large numbers of speakers. These three languages are located in three of the geo- political zones of the nation – Hausa in the North, Igbo in the East and Yoruba in the West. These languages, because of their widespread use as lingua franca in these regions, are tagged as regional languages. There are several other languages that have appreciable number of speakers in their domains of operation. They are Edo, Urhobo, in the mid- western area, Igala, Idoma, Tiv in the Middle Belt, Anang, Ibibio, Efik, Ijaw and Kalabari in the South-south, and Kanuri and Fufulde in the North East. There are several other hundreds of languages spread across the nation.
The language situation is so complex that in some states, there are several competing languages, and there is hardly a language that commands a majority of speakers. Such states include Edo, Kwara, Niger, and so forth. However, some states have a particular language that is dominant, e.g. - Osun State (where Yoruba is the dominant language, Kano State (where Hausa is the dominant language; Abia, Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu (where Igbo is the predominant language).
In some of the coastal states, namely Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states, a variety of English generally referred to as the Nigerian Pidgin English is commonly used as lingua franca because of the linguistic heterogeneous nature of the areas. This variety of English first emerged as trade language between the early residents of these communities and the British traders, but it later became widely accepted as a form of communication among the people of different cultures. This form of English is also fast becoming a Creole as it is now acquiring a group of native speakers. The variety is also gaining wide acceptance in the nation as it is fast becoming one of the means of communicating across different cultures. The government also seems to have embraced it, as some national agencies now see it as a veritable tool for jingles on radios and televisions.
Nigeria is a creation of the British colonial rulers. The country Nigeria was created for easy economic and political management. English, the language of the colonial master became the language of administration and later the official language. Though the colonial rulers encouraged the development of the local languages, English inevitably became the language of unity, due to the complex linguistic situation. To attain any appreciable level of education, English became a necessary language. It was not only taught in the classroom, it was also the language of interaction for official purposes.
By the time the colonial masters left after independence, the new government adopted their policy and English became the country’s national and official language. English has become so much a part of an average Nigerian’s experience that even the people who have little or no education use a variety of the language.
3.3 Nigerian English
Nigerian English is a variety of English used in Nigeria to express the unique Nigerian experience. The standard British English has failed to express the country’s cultural artifact, so like any other language, Nigerian English has emerged to express the world-view of the speakers. In Nigeria today, there are different varieties of English, which correspond with the level of education of the speaker. At the topmost end of the scale is the standard or educated Nigerian English, which is commonly spoken by the elite. At the lowest rung of the scale is the Nigerian Pidgin English, which is common among the people with little or no education, though highly educated Nigerians sometimes also use this variety in order to ensure intelligibility. Some scholars such as Jowitt (1991), Dadzie and Awonusi (2004), Adegbija (2004) have identified some features of Nigerian English. Some of them are discussed below:
Category Shift: reclassification of noun/adjective/adverb as verb, e.g.:
1 Horn before overtaking!
2 Off the light!
3 I was not chanced/opportuned to come.
Reclassification of countable nouns as uncountable: give chance, take bribe, make mistake
Progressive in Stative Verbs:
1 I am seeing/hearing/smelling.
2 I am not having much money.
3 Let me be going.
Object Patterns:
He allowed them go.
She made him to work hard.
The child refused going to bed.
Prepositional and Non-Prepositional Verbs:
1. You should dispose your car.
2. Why did you not reply my letter?
3. The library comprises of many sections.
4. They are demanding for money.
5. He emphasised on the importance of rest.
Indiscriminate Use of Infinitive/Basic Form:
1. Yesterday they go to your office.
2. She cook delicious peppersoup.
Double marking:
1. He did not went.
2. Did she wanted him?
Wrong Formation of Parts of Irregular Verbs:
3 The car hitted his car.
4 They splitted the money into two.
5 Have you grinded the pepper?
Spelling Errors (faulty inflexions due to wrong analogy): dinning, strength, maintainance
Wrong use of prepositions:
at: at my old age
as at now
I left Lagos to Ibadan
Nobody knows the answer, unless myself
You cannot receive the money except you show your I.D. card
Object Copying in Relative Clauses:
The car which he bought it last year is already giving trouble.
Relative and Possessive Sequence:
I know the man who his father died.
Wrong ordering
this our town
Loan Words
Food: akara (Yoruba: small deep-fried bean balls), buka (Haussa: cheap eating-place), ogbono (Igbo: soup based on the seed of the Williamson tree), ogogoro, kai-kai etc. (various languages: local gin)
Dress: agbada (Yoruba: large gown worn by men, often embroidered at the neck and cuffs and with flowing sleeves that can be hitched over the shoulders), danshiki (Hausa: gown with wide armpits reaching to the knees)
Forms of Address and Titles: alhaji (Hausa: Muslim who has been to Mecca), oba (Yoruba: primarily a specific title, often used loosely to refer to any traditional ruler), obi, eze (Igbo: specific titles), oga (Yoruba: big man, master, fairly general in the South), baba (Hausa, Yoruba: father, old man, fairly general in the West and North)
Traditional Religion: babalawo (Yoruba: diviner), Ifa (Yoruba: oracle), chi (Igbo: personal god)
Interjections, Discourse Particles: a-a! (Yoruba: strong surprise, disbelief), ... abi? (Yoruba: isn't it?), kai, chei (Haussa, Igbo: strong surprise), ooo! (various languages: yes)
Source: David Jowitt. Nigerian English Usage: An Introduction. Ikeja: Longman Nigeria, 1991.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
i. Observe and record the speech of some Nigerian English
speakers in different domains of interactions. Discuss the major features of the language
ii. Write out 10 instances of the following you have noticed in the
utterances of Nigerian English speakers:
(a) category shift
(b) spelling error
(c) wrong use of prepositions
3.3 Language in Education
The major language for education in Nigeria is English. Though in the National Policy on Education, it was stated that the language of immediate environment be used for educating the child in the early years of education, this is not practiced in reality. Most children still study in their early years in English, especially with the fact that private schools have taken over the early childhood education in Nigeria. The few government owned schools are not considered good enough by most Nigerians since their running by the government has not been efficient.
The school year is not run smoothly due to labour and industrial problems between the teachers and their government employers. The attitude of an average Nigerian to the idea of early childhood education in the mother tongue is completely negative, because there is the general fear that the children trained under this system may not be good speakers of English.
The National policy on education published first published in 1977 and revised in 1981, 1998, and 2004 states the following:
(a) in primary School, which lasts six years, each child must study two languages, namely:
(b) (i) his mother-tongue (if available for study) or an indigenous
language of wider communication in his area of domicile, and (ii) English language;
(c) in Junior Secondary School (JSS), which is of three years' duration, the child must study three languages, viz:
(i) his mother-tongue (if available for study) or an indigenous language of wider communication in his area of domicile, (ii) English language, and
(iii) just any one of the three major indigenous language in the country, namely, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, provided the Language chosen is distinct from the child's mother-tongue;
(d) in Senior Secondary School (SSS), which also lasts three years, the child must study two languages, viz:
(i) an indigenous language, and (ii) English language.
This policy has not worked because people generally do not believe in it. The minority language speakers also resist it as they see it as a way of de-emphasising the importance of their languages.
The government also backs up these policies with statements in the constitution by stating the educational objectives of the Nigerian state policy. The subsection in question, viz: sub-section 19(4), says simply that
"Government shall encourage the learning of indigenous languages."
Thus, it sanctions the policy requiring the teaching at the Primary and Junior Secondary School levels of the child's mother tongue or, in the alternative, some indigenous language of wider communication in his place of domicile.
English is taught as a school subject and it is compulsory for every student from the primary to the tertiary level. A credit pass in English is a compulsory requirement for candidates to enter any higher institution. It is also a compulsory requirement taken in the first year toward from higher institutions in the country.
4.0 CONCLUSION
The language situation in Nigeria is no doubt a complex one. Nigeria is a country with a population of about 140 million people and estimated 510 languages. The language policy of the country has adopted English as the national-official language, while some of the local languages are given roles in education in the early years. Nigerians are also encouraged to learn the indigenous languages. It is however clear that in spite of the stipulations in the Nigerian Constitution and the National Policy on Education, English is still the dominant language in the various domains of the Nigerian discourse. It is the language of the media, politics, official business, and even in some homes it is the language of conversation.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit, we have examined the sociolinguistic situation in Nigeria. We have been able to identify the emergence of English in Nigeria, multilingualism in Nigeria, Nigerian English and its features, and language in education in Nigeria.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1. How did English get to Nigeria?
2. Explain the role of English in education in Nigeria.
3. Discuss some features of Nigerian English.
4. Write an essay on ‘Multilingualism in Nigeria’ .
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Adegbija, E. (2004). “The Domestication of English in Nigeria.”
In: S. Awonusi & E.A. Babalola. (Eds). The Domestication of English in Nigeria. Lagos: University of Lagos Press.
Awobuluyi, O. (nd). Language Education in Nigeria: Theory, Policy and Practice. Retrieved on 25th November, 2006 from http://fafunwafoundation.tripod.com/fafunwafoundation/id8.html
Dadzie, A.B.K. & Awonusi, S. (Eds). Nigerian English, Influences and Characteristics. Lagos: Concept Publications.
Igboanusi H. (2001). Varieties of Nigerian English: Igbo English in Nigerian Literature Centre. national de la Recherche Scientifique, France.
Igboanusi, H. (2003). ‘Knowledge, Use, and Attitudes towards Americanisms in Nigerian English.’ World Englishes 22 (4), pp.599–604.
Jowitt, D. (1991). Nigerian English Usage: An Introduction. Lagos: NERDC.
Ogbulogo, C. (2006). “Another Look at Nigerian English.” A Public Lecture delivered on November 24, at Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria.
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