Nigerian English has developed as a distinct variety of English influenced by its history of colonization and the multilingual environment in Nigeria. It is an outer circle variety that is still developing standardized forms and undergoing nativization. Key features include vocabulary additions through processes like compounding and affixation, as well as phonological and grammatical differences compared to British English. While English serves important functions, its dominance also threatens indigenous Nigerian languages and cultural identity. There is ongoing debate around classifying and standardizing Nigerian English.

1. Nigerian English
A presentation by Beatrice Tetteh, Holly
Slater, Laura Brooks & Megan Walters

2. An introduction…
• According to J. N. Ogu (1992), N. G. Walsh (1967) was among the first to draw attention to the existence of
a variety of EL known as “Nigerian English” (NE)
• The British Empire lead to Nigeria being exposed to the English Language and the need to communicate
resulted in it being infused it in their culture today
• Independence was achieved from the U.K. on 1st October 1960
• Nigeria is undoubtedly the most populous nation in Africa
• Nigerian English is a variety of English which is suggested to differ significantly from other varieties
• The Sale Triangle was responsible for the colonisation of Nigeria by Britain and thus the spread of English
began
• Africa has been one of the countries to which English has been spreading most vigorously
So... Is there really such a thing as ‘Nigerian English’?

3. Geographical Location and ORIGINS
• Nigeria is located on the coast in West
Africa, just north of the equator.
• In the 16th century, Spanish and
Portuguese explorers came to Nigeria
for trade and eventually negotiated for
part of the existing African slave trade.
• Unlike beforehand, where slaves were
put to work in the captors home
territories, instead they were sent to the
Americas and the Caribbean.
• In the early 1800’s, Britain and France
joined the African slave trade and
eventually the abolition of slave trade in
1807 brought forth the beginning of the
colonisation of Nigeria by the British.

4. Historical Development
Motives for colonisation:
• The British decided that they wanted to unite Nigeria into one
community and increase “British influence in the local affairs of
indigenous communities” either through “sovereign indigenous
leaders” or “direct British political control” (Falola and Heaton, 2008:
86)
• Pressure from Christian missionaries and trading interests eventually
convinced the British politicians to see the advantages from the latter
approach.
• This then brought forth the development of the English language in
Nigeria.

5. Historical development ii
• Under British rule, the aim was to unite the country and establish a new
political system
• With hundreds of languages to choose from, the natural progression was to
establish English as the lingua franca and then as the official language of
the country
• English was mainly used in politics, law, education and for trade
• However, the population of Nigeria was so great that it was difficult to
enforce a new language when hundreds already existed and were being used
every day

6. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT III
• After the decision to end the international slave trade by the British and
Americans, many of those taken across the Atlantic returned and brought
with them some trends that had been developed in the Caribbean
• British English – poke, Nigerian Pidgin – chook, Jamaican Patois – jook
• As English language use became more frequent, new varieties emerged
that had aspects of British English, Caribbean creoles and new features
completely unique to Nigeria
• English use split into two groups, Nigerian Standard English and Pidgin
English.

7. AFTER COLONISATION
• Britain gave Nigeria independence
in 1960.
• The 3 dominant indigenous
languages Hausa, Igbo and
Yoruba had an almost equal
number of speakers so English
was retained as the official
language (Falola and Heaton,
2008)
• All these events paved the way for
the recent and ongoing
development of the English
language in Nigeria

8. Current Status
• Nigeria’s population today 140 million
• There are 521 languages spoken in Nigeria including Hausa, Yoruba
and Igbo
• English in Nigeria uses BrE as a reference variety (vocabulary, spelling)
• 79 million (53%) are English speakers.
• English co-exists as an L2 with other indigenous languages
• Although English is the official language it is not used as a native language
• Approximately 60 million use English as ESL / L2 (Crystal 2003)
• English is not accessible to many of the inhabitants at a bilingual level
“The English language has been here for centuries, yet only a tiny and powerful clique, actually
less than 15% of the population, speaks the language competently” - AbiodunAwolaja

9. Domains & Functions
• English functions as a Lingua Franca in this multilingual country
• It is a norm-developing variety
• Both endo and exo-normative
• Contact variety used for communication and not as native language
• Language of government, media, education and commerce
• To a limited extent social interaction, especially among the educated elite
• In some rural areas they do not speak any English at all
• It is worth noting that it is in fact Pidgin English that is more commonly used an inter-
ethnic code available to Nigerians who have no other common language

10. Norms of Usage and changing attitudes
• British English (BrE) is the standard use of English in Nigeria
• Consequence of colonisation of Nigeria by Britain
• A target model for English Language Teaching; education is modelled on BrE
• India’s independence in 1947 lead Africa to want the same
• Creation of NE as variety to suit specific needs
• Post-independence = growing sense of nationalism and self-confidence in former colony
“What of Nigerian English? Is there such a thing as Nigerian English? If there is, how is it
different from and similar to British and American English? If there isn't why do we have such
radically idiosyncratic usage patterns that set us apart from other users of the English language?”

11. Standardisation of NE
Akere (1982) spoke of the emergence of a “Standard Nigerian English”
Odumuh (1987, 1993) recognized NE as one of the New Englishes
• Although BrE is still the reference variety used for the teaching of English in school, there are
indications NE is standardising:
“Our position is that there exists at the moment a single super ordinate variety of Standard English
in Nigeria which can be regarded as ‘Nigerian English’.”
• The existence of Nigerian literature indicates that NE is in process of standardisation
“Nigerian literature in English has raised more issues relevant to our contemporary situation than
the literature in indigenous Nigerian languages”
• Moreover, The existence of ‘Standardise Nigerian English Movement’ (SNEM) suggests that
there are prescriptive attitudes towards Nigerian English and a desire to gain international
recognition like BrE and AmE
“Due to the realities of the diversity of languages and cultural differences in Nigeria coupled with
today's development, it is pertinent that Nigerian-English which is understood by every Nigerian is
given its right position for easy and smooth communication among the people of Nigeria and
understandable with the people of the whole world at large.”

12. local attitudes
• Salami (1968) contends that what has been identified as Nigerian English is
“errors of usage”
• Some teachers in Nigeria find it ‘derogatory’to refer to such a variety
• Use of English could lead to alienation from own linguistic identity and
‘roots’and thus indigenous languages could become less and less valued
• Over 40 ‘dead’languages in Nigeria – English could be the contributing factor
• Some people don’t believe this variety exists and that it is merely ‘bad English’
“Competence in English and the use of this language signify a transmutation:
an added potential for material and social gain and advantages. One sees
this attitude in what the symbol stands for; English is considered a symbol of
modernisation, and an extra arm for success and mobility in culturally and
linguistically complex and pluralistic societies” (Kachru 1986: 1)
• The use of English as Lingua Franca unites Nigeria
• The want to be in the elite pushes Nigerian’s to learn English
• Creates opportunity and enables professional progression for speakers

13. The government wants to save indigenous languages!
• Indigenous languages in parts of Nigeria are facing extinction due to the
dominance of English in day to day life
• This is affecting the spoken ability of mother tongue users
• Urbanisation is one of the main factors that is causing this risk of
extinction
• The government’s solution for this is to enforce a law that says that
children must be taught in their mother tongue (or the native language of
their community) for at least the first 3 years of their education.

14. Indigenous cultures
Abbott (1992, 174) states that:
• “The widely perceived need to
promote technological
development through teaching
an international language such
as English overshadows an
arguably more basic need to
transmit indigenous cultures”
• English is not only affecting the
indigenous languages in Nigeria,
but the indigenous cultures, also.
Language can be closely
associated with culture.
• The sense of ethnic identity is
slowly deteriorating due to the
effect of English on the
indigenous languages.

15. Is national identity fading away?
• An article written in September 2013
by Florence Amagiya and Aderonke
Adeyeri argues that: “English
language has become the language in
many homes to the detriment of the
indigenous language.”
• There seems to be a fear, from
parents, surrounding their children
not being able to learn English
correctly if they begin to learn their
indigenous language. This shows that
English has a great influence in
Nigerian society and it can be argued
that this is potentially causing
Nigerian people to lose their identity

16. English has official status
• There seems to be little effect on Nigerian English from indigenous
Nigerian languages
• Due to English having an official status in Nigeria it is becoming
increasingly common that children don’t even begin to learn their
indigenous languages and focus mainly on the English language.

17. Where does it fit?
NE is categorised as an Outer Circle variety in Kachru’s Model. This is due to:
• Process of Colonisation
• English’s non-native status
• English did not displace indigenous languages
“In the Outer Circle the varieties of English have their own local histories,
literary traditions, pragmatic contexts, and communicative norms.” (Kachru 1992: 359)
Schneider’s Dynamic Model
Nigeria is in transition from phase 3 (Nativisation) to 4 (endonormative stabilisation) due to:
• The existence of SNEM - “Colonized land strives towards independence” (Nativisation)
• “Literary creativity” (endonormative stabilisation)
• English has gained respectable statuses among Nigerians
• Event ‘x’(in this case, colonisation) helped a growing sense of difference from the reference
variety

18. Nigerian Vocabulary
• Owolabi (2012, pp. 47—50) describes the vocabulary of NE as a system of ‘potential words’ which
could be words in theory, but are yet to make it into the dictionaries of inner circle varieties.
• Owolabi(2012) suggests that NE acquires new forms in the same way that BrE and AmE would, here
are some examples...
Compounding
• Pro-Breaking Agreement: ‘Pro’ meaning in favour of. ‘Breaking agreement’ in the Nigerian context
is not keeping to the terms of an agreement.
• Multiple-tongued: “They are multiple-tongued..’Meaning insincere
• Tongue-lashed : “ The Principle tongue-lashed him’Meaning insulted or reprimanded.
Affixation
• Prefixes: de-freeze, de-list or de-robe , dis-virgin ‘to deflower’, dis-annul ‘to cancel
• Suffixes: danceable (‘able to be danced to – of music’) • hearable (‘able to be heard’) • walkable
(‘within walking distance’) • bendable (‘able to be bent’) Largely Verb + Adj

19. How does it sound?
(Based on acrolectal usage)
Final Obstruent Devoicing
• Devoice word final consonant in normal speech
Both native and non-native speakers do this e.g. [pos, εn, as] post, end, ask or [tasi, elεtrik,
elεwfn] taxi, electric, election (Bobda, 2007). Bobda(2007) has referred to this as consonant
simplification
Interdental Fricative Stop
• th t/d (this type was found in Nigerian English)
where this may become [dɪs]
Stop Fricative
• where word final consonant would be stop it is articulated as a fricative
Vowel Shortening
• characteristic of Nigerian English, tends to happen word medially
• According to (Bobda, 2007) vowels are realised much shorter than in RP examples include
Kit and Fleece [i]; much shorter than RP [i ̃]
Vowel Raising
• Found mostly word medial, in the clip it was found in sounds [i] & [ɪ]

20. Vocabulary continued…
• According to Owolabi (2012, pp. 47—50) , NE features forms which can be commonly found in AmE and
BrE, but NE speakers change the semantic meaning of those words for their variety
Semantic Shift
• Big People: Meaning ‘Influential People’ in NE
• Godfather: meaning ‘financier’ in NE whereas could mean ‘male godparent’ or make reference to film ‘The
Godfather’ in popular culture
• bogus (‘big/elaborate’) In NE, rather than ‘counterfeit/ spurious/pretended’
Other Neologisms and Ironic blends
• Ido-osi: meaning ‘scam’, deriving from the allegedly dishonest conduct of a re-run election in 2009, in Ido-
Osi Local Government Council in Ekiti State, Owolabi (2012, pp. 47—50)
• Militician (‘former soldier venturing into civil governance’)
• Executhief (‘dishonest and greedy executive’)
• Poliktrician (‘deceitful politician’)
“To suggest that a regional English such as NE must necessarily be aboriginal (Uhunmwagho, 2009) is to say
Nigerians have not influenced the English language in any way” (Uhunmwagho, 2009) (2012, pp. 47—50)
Owolabi (2012, pp. 47—50)

21. A Theory on spelling
A theory by (Bench and Dendo, 2005) suggests that there are spellings that arise
because Nigerians pronounce two English words alike, these phenomena are
referred to as pronunciation spellings. Here are a few examples....
Dictionary of Nigerian English Circulation Draft:
• She feels her life to be sleeping away from her finger.
• He is well vast in the Igbo proverbs. ...to deep his hand in the bag ...capable of
performing impossible fits
• She turned out to develop cold fit for the husband when the going became bad.
• Nigerians from all works of life
• Pack your car here.

22. Grammar
Here are some features of Nigerian English grammar: (Ewave-atlas.org, 2014)
• Deletion of auxiliary be: before progressive
• So you Ø always thinking about where you go to work.
• Double determiners
• This our common problem is very serious.
• Use of zero article where SE has definite article
• Did you get Ø mileage-claim for that trip?; Ø main reason for their performance…
• Use of gotten instead of got
• Finbank has gotten a new career website
• Too; too much; very much ‘very’as qualifier
• It is too difficult ‘…very difficult’; i sofa tuu motch ‘(s)he was suffering very much’
• Deletion of to before infinitives
• Allow him Ø go.

23. Emails in NE
Chiluwa (2010) looked at the presence of Nigerian English in emails:
Common Forms of Address
Chiluwa (2010) found that younger speakers’ openings functioned as not only a marker of politeness, but also
an indicator of the type of message to follow and identified the recipients social /religious /professional status.
• Good day prof
• Igwe (equivalent to ‘chief ’ or ‘ruler’)
• Oga Zlie (Oga is equivalent to ‘master’) e. My dear Prof
Chiluwa (2010) also found that in adult to adult email openings such as ‘Prof my broda’ (broda is a colloquial
form of ‘brother’ ) and ‘My Prof.’ which reflect deep friendship and ‘regional pride’ (Chiluwa (2010).
• This is because it is a common for of address for an individual who may be the only professor in the town
Phonetic Spelling
• Chiluwa (2010) found evidence of phonetic spelling which supports the aforementioned theory on NE
spelling. E.g. fone, gud and wen
Use of Pidgin
• Commonly found in informal situations, speaker may code switch between pidgin and NE.g. Na Waoo (has
no formal translation but expresses suprise)
• ‘Na wa 4 u sef, u sabi wakaooooooo...’ (Meaning ‘You know how to walk’)

24. Conclusion…
Is there really such a thing as Nigerian English?
YES!
“To suggest that a regional English such as NE must necessarily be aboriginal
(Uhunmwagho, 2009) is to say Nigerians have not influenced the English
language in any way, when indeed there are creative and pragmatic expressions
that do not exist in British or American English but are traceable to Nigeria
because of their unique Nigerianness” (Owolabi, 2012, pp. 50)

25. References
• Abbott, G. (1992) ‘Development, education, and English language teaching.’ ELT Journal 46/2: 172-178.
• AbiodunAwolaja, "Language Wahala in Nigeria." Nigerian Tribune,August 21, 2013
• Accent.gmu.edu. 2014. speech accent archive: browse. [online]Available at:
http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=212 [Accessed: 10 Mar 2014].
• Akande,Akinmade T. and L. Oladipo Salami. 2010. ‘Use andAttitudes towards Nigerian Pidgin English among Nigerian
University Students’. In Millar, Robert McColl (ed.) 2010. Marginal Dialects: Scotland, Ireland and Beyond.Aberdeen: Forum
for Research on the Languages of Scotland and Ireland, 70-89.
• Bench, R. and Dendo, M. 2005. A DICTIONARY OF NIGERIAN ENGLISH. Available at:
http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/English/Nigerian%20English%20Dictionary.pdf [Accessed: 19 Mar 2014].
• Bobda, A. S. 2007. Some segmental rules of Nigerian English phonology. English World-Wide, 28 (3).
• Chiluwa, I. 2010. Nigerian English in informal email messages. English World-Wide, 31 (1).
• Ewave-atlas.org. 2014. eWAVE - 174 Deletion of auxiliary be: before progressive. [online]Available at: http://ewave-
atlas.org/parameters/174#2/7.0/7.7 [Accessed: 19 Mar 2014].
• Falola T. and Heaton M.M. (2008).A History of Nigeria. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Isichei E.A. (1993). A History of Nigeria. London New York: Longman.
• Kachru, B. (1992). ‘Teaching world Englishes’in Kachru, B. (Ed.) The Other Tongue: English across Cultures (2nd
Ed.)Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
• Owolabi, D. 2012. Potential words in English: examples from morphological processes in Nigerian English. English Today, 28
(02), pp. 47--50.
Websites:
• http://allafrica.com/stories/201309090804.html
• http://www.onlinenigeria.com/nigerianliterature/
• http://snem.weebly.com/

26. Any Questions?