ABSTRACT

This paper explored the standards in Native English and Nigerian context. It xrays the types of
English, their differences, standard and non-standard forms of English. It mirrors the Nigerian
English, its varieties, features as well as pidgin and its reason for development. Furthermore, the
paper explored the Nigerian Pidgin English, its varieties, the creole as well as varieties of creole. The
paper concluded that the forms of English language and all other standards, including our Nigerian
Pidgin and all its forms are necessary because they serve a common purpose of communication.

Page- 1
 STANDARDS IN NATIVE ENGLISH AND NIGERIA CONTEXT

INTRODUCTION
English is a West Germanic Language that originated from Anglo-Frisian dialects
brought to Britain in the 5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo- Saxon migrants from what is now
Northwest Germany, Southern Denmark and the Netherlands.
English reigns supreme, with over 1.1billion total speakers or roughly 15% of the global
population. It is the most spoken language in the world and the third-most spoken native
language in the world after Standard Chinese and Spanish. It is the most widely learned
second language and is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost
60 sovereign states. Its widespread use and prominence around the world are attributed to the
colonization and expansion of the British Empire that ruled in many parts in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries, and the political influence and economic dominance of USA from
the late nineteenth century to the present day.
The colonial era is over but its strongest legacy and heritage is clearly seen in the
presence of English as a unifying force amongst us and as it reigns after being adopted as an
international language for:
1. Trade and commerce
2. Politics and international Relations
3. Education, Research and Learning
4. Science and Technology
5. Sports and Entertainment
6. Media and communication
7. Warfare, settlement, Arbitration and Mediation
8. Legal
9. Medical and allied Services
10. Transportation, travel, tourism and relaxation
11. Religious purposes
12. Space exploration

However, though as the global lingua franca, English varies on how it is used, either written
or spoken.

Page- 2
 TYPES OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The English language has two types, they are:
a. British English (BrE)
b. American English (AmE)
Other variations such as Oxford English, Standard English, or other variants are mere
adaptations of the two types (especially for consistency or reference use, e.g. in media or
publication).

BRITISH ENGLISH (BrE)

British English (BrE) is a term used to distinguish the form of English language used
in the British from forms used elsewhere. It includes all the varieties of English used within
the isles, including those found in English, Scotland, Wales, and the Island of Ireland.
In Britain, the standard is called Received Pronunciation. The term stems from Daniel
Jones at the beginning of the present century and refers to the pronunciation of English which
is accepted – that is received- in English Society. The abbreviation RP (Received
Pronunciation) denotes what is traditionally considered the standard accent of people living in
London and Southeast of England and of other people elsewhere who speaks in this way.
This RP is also known as the Queen’s English or “Posh” English accent. Historically,
this accent has been a signal of superior social status. The indicators of this accent includes a
clear pronunciation of the “H” at the beginning of the words, an inaudible “r” sound within
words (like “heart”), and long vowels (making “darling” sound like “dahhhling”).

AMERICAN ENGLISH (AmE)

American English is the most prominent form of English Language used today all over
the world. It is characterized by archaisms (words that changed meaning in the UK, but
remained in the colonies) and innovations in vocabulary. The American English has been
consolidated further through technology. Giant American firms such as Microsoft, send
millions of computers and accessories to different parts of the world. Each is equipped with
language devices in-built command, codes, interpretation and instructions which of course are
the American variety. These have contributed greatly to the growing popularity and
worldwide acceptance of the established denigrated American English.

Page- 3
 Generally, the American and British varieties are the most widely used around the
world but other variants, such as the Australian and Canadian Varieties also exist.
Both the American and British varieties are acceptable in local and international
examinations. The candidate is only required to be consistent in spelling and vocabulary,
within a specific text. The same acceptability prevails in local and regional examinations
organized by the West African Examinations Council (W.A.E.C), the joint Admissions and
Matriculations Board (J.A.M.B), and the National Examinations Council (N.E.C.O).
In the Oxford and Merriam Webster’s collegiate dictionaries, entries that differ in both the
American and the British varieties are marked as:
a. BrE or Brit var….after words preferred in the British Variety
b. AmE….after words preferred in the American variety.

DIFFERENCE IN BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

The most common of English Language varieties are those spoken in United Kingdom and
United States. These two are different in many ways such as in;
1. Spellings
2. Pronunciation
3. Vocabulary
4. Punctuations
5. Dates
6. Structure (of sentence)

SPELLINGS
There are many minor spelling differences between both the English languages, especially in
the prefixes and suffixes. Some American variations follow a consistent pattern but should
not be over-generalized. Examples are:
Americans substitute –s for British –c
AMERICANS BRITISH
License licence
defense defence
offense offence

Page- 4
--(er) for British –re
AMERICAN BRITISH
Meter Metre
Center Centre
Fiber Fibre
Liter Litre
Theater Theatre
specter spectre

--or for British –our

AMERICA BRITISH
labor Labour
color colour
honor honour
neighbor neighbour
flavor flavour

--ze for british –se

AMERICA BRITISH
organize organise
patronize patronise
analyze analyse
recognize recognise

(e) for british (ae)

AMERICA BRITISH
anemia anaemia
medieval mediaeval
esthetic aesthetic
anesthetic Anaesthetic

Page- 5
Other variant spellings include;
BRITISH AMERICAN
Storey (building) Story (building)
grey gray
Cheque Check
cypher cipher
pygmy pigmy
draught drought
mould mold
programme program
overalls coveralls
moustache mustache

VARIATION IN PRONUNCIATION
Pronunciation also sets America and British English, somehow apart; while some British
words have more letters than American words; areas of emphases on pronunciation vary
between the one split into two languages.
AMERICAN BRITISH
Car /kar/ Car/ka:r/
Park /pa:rk/ Park/pa:k/
Twenty /twen.i/ Twenty /twen.ti/
Dynasty /dainƏsti/ Dynasty /dinƏsti/

There are some differences in pronunciation between the British and American English.
BRITISH AMERICAN
Schedule /S / /sk/
Either, neither / ai/ /i/
Mafa , Natasha / æ/ /a/

Page- 6
Pronunciation Differences;
BRITISH AMERICAN
/o/ in spot /a:/ in spot
/a:/ in fast /ae/ in fast
/t/ in better /d/ in better
/r/ sometimes silent /r/ pronounced everywhere
/i/ in privacy /ai/ in privacy

VARIATION IN PUNCTUATION
This manifest mainly in the use of the quotation marks (‘….’, “…”)
(British single quotation mark) ‘The Eagles have scored again!’ he screamed.
(American: double quotation mark)
“The Eagles have scored again!” he screamed.
The single and the double quotation marks may however, be used like the parenthesis to mark
off a quotation within another quotation.
“Once bitten, ‘I will be’ twice shy”, he declared.
‘Once bitten, “I will be” twice shy’, he declared

VARIATION IN DATES
American: The month comes before the day and year. But in British dates, the day comes
before month and year.
BRITISH AMERICAN

10th August,2001, or August 10, 2001

10th February,2001 2-10-2001, or

10-2-2001, or 02-10-01

10-02-01

VARIATION IN VOCABULARY
American and British English are different in concept. American English has different names
for same items or objects from British. Good examples are motor car parts, food items and
other things

Page- 7
 BRITISH AMERICAN
Lorry Truck
Boot Trunk
Lift Elevator
Touch light Flash light
Tyre Tire
Curriculum vitae (cv) Resume
Trousers Pants/under pants
Petrol Gas
Bonnet Hood
Hi! Hallo!
Plait Braid
Tights Panty hose
Trainers Sneakers
Full stop Period
Dummy Pacifier
Chemist Pharmacist
Football Soccer

 CARS
BRITISH AMERICAN

Bonnet /bonit/ Hood /hʊd/

Boot /bu:t/ Trunk /trᶺ

Wind screen/windski:n/ Windshield /windsi:ld/

Indicator /indikeitƏ(r)/ Blinker (tum signal) /bliŋkƏ/

Tyre taIƏ(r)/ Tire /tajƏ /

Page- 8
  FOOD
BRITISH AMERICAN
Biscuit Cookie
Butty Sandwich
Chips Fries
Fairy cake Cupcake
Peckish Hungry
Pudding Dessert
Cuppa Cup of tea

 MORE VOCABULARY
BRITISH AMERICA
Motorway Highway
Jam Jelly
Solicitor lawyer
Queue line
Post Mail
Serviette Napkin
Number plate License plate
University College

VARIATION IN STRUCTURE OF A SENTENCE

There are sentences, a British will consider incorrect, but to and American, it is perfect.
Example;
S/NO DESCRIPTION BRITISH AMERICA
1. The present or past simple can The present perfect is The post simple is more
be used for recent activities more common. eg I common. e.g I lost my
have lost my mobile mobile phone did you see
phone. Have you seen it?
it?

Page- 9
2. The present perfect or simple The present perfect is The past simple is more
past can be used with just, more common. e.g I common e.g I just
already and yet have just finished my finished my home work
homework
3. Application of both, shower, Usually use ‘have’ Usually use “take’’ with
break, etc with these words. E.g these words .e.g take a
have a bath, have a bath, take a shower, take
shower , have a break, a break, etc
etc

VARIATION IN GRAMMAR
PREPOSITIONS
AMERICAN BRITISH
I’m going to a party on the weekend I’m going to a party at the weekend
What are you doing on Christmas? What are you doing at Christmas?
Monday through Friday Monday to Friday
It’s different from/than the others It’s different from/to the others
Go down town Visit a city centre
Raise a child Bring up a child
In the hospital In hospital
Sam just went home Sam’s just gone home
I demanded that he apologize I demanded that he should apologize
We insisted that something be done about the We insisted that something should be done
problem about the problem
Take a vacation Go no holiday

STANDARD AND NON STANDARD ENGLISH

(Formal and Informal Varieties of English)
It is important for every learner of English to discern appropriate contexts to use newly
learned structures of expression.

Page- 10
 STANDARD ENGLISH (FORMAL VARIETY)
The formal variety is often called standard written English (SWE) and it is the approved form
for most examination answers. Also, it is the only form permitted in official transactions and
record keeping. The formal variety has the following characteristics;
1. It uses formal words and structures.
2. It is elevated in style
3. Its acquisition often required formal education.
4. Its standard is cosmopolitan and may be used in a wide variety of educated society.
5. It is preferred in most formal written works. E.g public service announcements and
newspaper of record, etc.
It is important to use formal languages in written works. Formal writing does not permit
“chatty or extremely witty expressions, too. It is precise.

NON STANDARD ENGLISH (INFORMAL VARIETY)

This is also described as the colloquial form. It is the preferred form in friendly conversations
and informal writing, such as friendly letters, on line chats, short messaging systems (sms)
and reported conversations. This variety is mostly frequently used in interaction outside the
office and examinations. It has the following characteristics.
1. It utilizes informal words (slangs, contractions) and structures.
2. It does not strictly follow the rule of grammar.
3. Its standard is usually regional (many areas of the UK and the US have their own
regional words).
4. It is preferred in most unofficial interaction.
It is important to use informal language in informal writing and in conversation. The formal
variety is often stilted in informal situations.
STANDARD VERSUS NON STANDARD
STANDARD (FORMAL) NON STANDARD (INFORMAL)
Thank you, ten thousand, money Thanks, ten grand, bucks
Perhaps, telephone Maybe, Phone
Father, friend Dad, Pal/Buddy
Did not, is not Didn’t, isn’t
I am, settled/resolved I’m, fixed
Persons Fellows
Complimentary copy Free copy

Page- 11
Party Gig
Parents/People Folks
Examinations Exam
Girl friend/girl Babe
Resolve Sort out

NIGERIAN ENGLISH (NE)

English due to its long stay in Nigeria, has been adopted and appropriated by Nigerians
and is used as the language of education and made to fulfill all the roles normally reserved for
the mother tongue (MT). This has made most Nigerian families to force their children to
acquire English as their first and second language. In Nigeria, a second language variety of
English has been institutionalized according to kachru (1986). As a former British Colony,
Nigeria has experienced a long interaction of English and indigenous languages, and this has
led to indigenization or nativization of English in Nigeria.
Thus, the nativization of English in Nigeria according to Bamgbose (1995), is not
limited to the usual features of transfer of phonological, lexical, syntactic and patterns of
Nigerian languages into English, including the evolution of distinctively Nigerian usages,
attitudes and pragmatic use of the languages. Therefore, the nativization of English in Nigeria
reflects the peculiarities of the Nigerian situation and its people.

THE EVOLUTION OF NIGERIAN ENGLISH

England and the southern parts of the Scotland are the homes of the oldest and most
authentic Speakers of English as the first language (Eka, 2007.P.7). But as mentioned above,
English left its original home since 5 th century to spread to other parts of the world. It came to
Nigeria and other West African countries due to the activities of British traders and later
Christian missionaries, among them were the colonialists from the 16 th through the 19th
century. It is noteworthy that the early contact of the Europeans and the Portuguese on the
coastal shores of west Africa produced the variety generally known as pidgin and Creole
(Eka, 2000; Ogu, 1992, udofot, 2007).
But when the colonialist “settled down” they came with the Standard English which
became “the language of government, commerce, education and general official (sometimes
private) intercourse with the indigenous languages still intact (Eka, 2000 p.14).

Page- 12
 English language which came into Nigeria during the colonial era is no longer the
same. It has lost a measure of its foreignness which led to the birth of another form of English
that is widely acclaimed and popularly called Nigerian English.
According to Eka (2000 P.15), it is that variety of world English learnt ,spoken and or
written by Nigerians who are born and/or brought up within the Nigerian environment.
Adegbiya (2004 P.20) referred to this process of rebirth of English to suit the Nigeria
environment as ‘domestication of English in Nigeria.’ in his words, ‘the term domestication,
in the context of English in Nigeria, connotes ‘home-grown’, ‘made native’, ‘adapted and
tamed; to suit the Nigerian environment; Udofot traced the reason for the nigerianization of
the English language to its co-existence with over 400 local languages in Nigeria as well as its
use for expressing Nigerian experiences and situation (2002 P.7). Also, Bamgbose (1995 p.
26) has earlier observed that the English language has been pidginize, nativized, acculturated
and twisted to express unaccustomed concepts and modes of interaction.
From the foregoing, it is safe to say that Nigerian English has a robust history as there
have been many analytical studies to synthesize its lexis, semantics, phonology, syntax and
communication form. This form of English is widely accepted and has developed features
which distinguish it as an identifiable and legitimate subset of world English.

THE VARIETIES OF NIGERIAN ENGLISH

This depends on the level of education, exposure to world standard. English and the extent of
mother tongue transfers. (Banjo1995). An obviously attractive parameter for determining
varieties within NE is the ethnic one, i.e. distinguishing the various kinds of English that
result from the influence of mother tongue (Jowitt 1991:38) we could then talk of hausa
English, igbo English, Yoruba English etc. Ethnic dialects of NE are determined by way of
associating particular phonological, grammatical or semantic usage to particular ethnic
groups. What this means is that there is no one acknowledged variety of NE. what we have
instead are varieties of NE.
Due to the many years that the English language has co-existed with indigenous
Nigerian languages and its use for expressing Nigerian experience and situations, it has
developed linguistic patterns which have identified it as a distinct variety of world English
(Udofot, 2007 p.7).
The retention of the English language is necessitated by the Nigerian multi-lingual reality. So
with an estimated number of over 400 languages spoken in the country, English, which act as

Page- 13
a second language to most Nigerians, is bound to be affected by the cultural peculiarities of
the Nigerian social environment.
In the words of Eka (2000 P. 70) it is an established language and communication truth
that whenever a language leaves its original home and settles down in another geographical
region, it must acquire the local color of its new environment .
The above view is true about Nigerian English. Due to diverse ethnic and cultural orientation,
there are too many varieties of English that have developed in the country.
On the spoken Nigerian English aspect, many linguistics have carried out studies on its
features including Eka (1985, 1993, 2000), Bamgbose (1982, 1995), Udofot (1997, 2002,
2003, 2004, 2007), among others. Many of these linguists based their classification on formal
education with Banjos (quoted in udofot, 2007, P.15) classification acclaimed to be very
realistic. He classified spoken English into four varieties.

1. Variety one is spoken by people with elementary school education and semi-literate
people. It is marked by high rate of negative transfer from the phonological system of
the mother tongue and so, it is not acceptable even by Nigerians.
2. Variety two is spoken by post primary school leavers. In this variety, mother tongue
interfering is minimal but the speakers do not make vital phonemic distinctions. The
bond is largely intelligible and nationally acceptable.
3. Variety three is associated with university education. The speakers make vital
phonemic distinctions and the variety is accepted and understood nationally and
internationally
4. Variety four is described as being identical with standard British English but is
ridiculed in Nigeria for being artificial.
In a classification carried out by Udofot (1997, 2002, 2003 and 2004), he grouped the
varieties of spoken Nigerian English in three classes with emphasis identifying the segmental
and non-segmental features. Apart from the spoken varieties of Nigerian English, the NE is
also used for different purposes as dictated by different social contexts and environments.
Furthermore, different dialects essentially form varieties of language. For instance, In Nigeria
we can comfortably talk in hausa, igbo, Yoruba, Warri, Ibibo, Efik, Lagos varieties of
Nigerian English, to mention just a few.

Page- 14
Examples of the varieties of Nigerian English showing class distinction include the
following:
UPPER CLASS LOWER CLASS
Procrastinate Defer
Toilet Latrine
Serviette Napkin
Sitting room Parlor
Nice Good

English language in Nigeria has formal and informal varieties of words

expressions:
INFORMAL FORMAL
We have a deal We have an agreement
The man has seven kids The man has seven children
She is my boss She is my employer
Sarah is Joy’s buddy Sarah is Joy’s companion

There are also the non-standard varieties of Nigerian English identified with all manner of
imperfection, and they are not so much recognized. These include: slangs and pidgin
expression.
As mentioned earlier, Pidgin English developed from the early contact of the Portuguese and
European traders along the coastal regions of West Africa. It is a mixture of local dialects
with English words.
Examples of English expressions include:
a. Come chop
b. No talk say na me talk oh
c. Wetin dey worry that man sef. Make you commot for road make I pass

Also, there is a creative variety of Nigerian English known as slang. This is a very
informal variety whose meaning and use is among particularl groups of people. According to
Eka (2007:7a) ‘the creative usages are also a testimony to one dimension of enrichment of the
English language’.

Page- 15
Examples are:
SLANG SOURCE OF DEVELOPMENT
Fast guy Smart person
Cool down Be calm, take it easy
Groovy elegant
Bad boys Criminals generally in society
What’s up (wassup) How is it
Jambite (jambito) A fresh undergraduate
To be broke To have run out of cash

There are so many varieties of Nigerian English as schools research into the Nigerian
varieties of English have identified sub-variety within the major variety which is traceable to
extent of mother tongue interference, educational attainment, and social intercourse among
other things. Let us look at the features that are common variety of Nigerian English which
makes it recognizable as an acceptable variety of world English.

FEATURES OF NIGERIAN ENGLISH

Syntactic Feature of NE
Syntactic variation in Nigerian English: According to Jowitt (1991) there are many ways
of carrying out a survey of Nigerian English syntax. One could take the grammatical
categories of parts of speech one by one and examine the common variations from the SBE
that occur in each of these areas or the variations could be assigned into two broad groups.
Wrong insertion and wrong omission, wrong selection and wrong ordering.
Every language works within a system, which is peculiar to it. Second-language speakers of
English, Like Nigerians, learn the language after acquiring their natural first, so the natural
habit is to learn through the application of logic. This could be seen under some part of
speech.
NOUNS
Variations have been observed in the use of nouns. For instance Dadzie (2004) asserts that in
Nigerian English, the general rules of nominal behaviors are followed. However there are
some tendencies, which depart from the norms some of these, are:
a. Omission of appropriate article before nouns where they are otherwise mandatory in
British English.

Page- 16
NE SBE
He received award he received an award
I have headache I have a headache

It is a rule of the English syntax to use “a” before all count nouns whose pronunciation begins
with consonant sounds. Similarly, “an” is also an article which modifies all singular count
nouns or article which pronunciation begins with vowel sounds.

NE SBE
Have bath Have a bath
Make effort Make an effort
Get contract Get a contract

The Definite Article

This is also omitted where it is expected to be used in SBE
NE SBE
Principal travelled to village The principal travelled to the village
University magazine is on sale The university magazine is on sale

Word (nouns) treated as countable in NE

NE SBE
Accommodations Accommodation
Furnitures Furniture
Machineries Machinery
Equipments Equipment

Jowitt (1999- 112) observes that most of the nouns are;

a. Pluralized by Nigerians e.g (equipments , machineries e.t.c)
b. Preceded in the singular by (a) or (an) (an information, an evidence etc)
c. Preceded in the singular by “another” instead of “more” (another money, etc)

WRONG CLASSIFICATION OF NOUNS

Page- 17
Re-classification of a noun or an adjective or an adverb e.g. – ed are added, auxiliaries “do”
and “have” are put in front which results as false verbs.

Examples include:
NPE SBE
She backed the baby She is carrying the baby on her back
He pregnanted her He made her pregnant
I was not opportune to see you I don’t have the opportunity of seeing you.

WRONG USE OF PREPOSITION

NE SBE
She is sitting in the car She is sitting on the car
They prefer rice more than beans They prefer rice to beans
She was absent in school She was absent from school
At alert On the alert
Asked a favour from me Asked a favour of me
Leave Aba to Enugu Leave Aba for Enugu
Congratulate for Congratulate on

Prepositions introduced where they are not required;

1. NE: They comprises of many system
SBE: They unit comprises of many systems

2. NE: They are advocating for a new library

SBE: They are advocating a new library

3. NE: He emphasized on the importance of rest

SBE: He emphasized the importance of rest

WRONG USE OF VERBS

NE SBE
I am seeing I can see
I am hearing you I can hear you
We are understanding you We understand you

Wrong Use of Irregular Verbs;

Page- 18
 1. NE: The news was broadcasted yesterday
SBE: The news was broadcast yesterday

2. NE: He casted his vote yesterday

SBE: He cast his vote yesterday
(In SBE regular verbs form their past tense forms by adding –ed or –d while we cannot
predict the past participle form of irregulars from their base forms).

Systematically redundant use of words. Interlanguage is double marking for the past tense. It
may be compared with double making for the negative in negative verbs-forms. E.g
1. NE: I am having malaria
SBE: I have malaria
2. NE: I have just open a bank account
SBE: I have just opened a bank account

3. NE: she has just finish cooking

SBE: she has just finished cooking
4. NE :he use to work in the hospital
SBE: he used to work in the hospital.

WRONG ORDERING
NE SBE
Page what What page
Plate number Number Plate

Use of object as subjects of a sentence

1. NE: Me and my brother bought the boat
SBE: My brother and I bought the boat

2. NE: She and her mother will go to church tomorrow

SBE: She will go to church with her mother tomorrow.

PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES IN NIGERIA ENGLISH

Many scholars have carried out research work on the way in which English in Nigeria has
been domesticated in terms of pronunciation. Examples include: Eka 2000, Udofot 2001,
2003, among others. Some of their observations revealed the following features.

Page- 19
  A reduced vowel system
 A reduced intonation system
 Non differentiation in some aspects of length where native varieties would differentiate
 Absence of gloltalization in some contexts in which it would have been obligatory in
native English environments.
 The voicing of non-voiced consonants endings e.g. thumb.
 The insertion of vowels in syllabic consonants, the absence of consonants clusters in
words like strength, trees, sprite.
 The insertion of epenthetic vowels in some consonant clusters.
 The substitution of fricatives for interdental fricatives, etc.

SUBSTITUTION OF /ð/ CLOSE-MID CENTRAL UNROUNDED VOWEL AS /æ/

Open-Mid Fricative Unrounded Vowel:
1. Brother / brǝthǝr / as / brǝða:/
2. Teacher / ti:tʃə / as / ti:tʃɑ/
3. Sister / sis:tə / as / sis:ta /
4. Farmer / fa:mə / as /fa:ma /

Substitutions Of /Ʒ:/ as /E/

1. Early /Ʒ:li/ as /eli/
2. Skirt /skƷ:t/ as /sket/
3. First /fƷ:st/ as /fest/
4. Girl /gƷ:I/ as /gel/

Articulation of /p/ and /f/ as a problem among the Hausas:

1. Follow /Fɒl.ǝu/ as /pol.ǝu/
2. Park /pȧ:k/ as Fark /fa:k/
3. Force /fƆ:s/ as Pause /pƆ:z/
4. Please as Flease
5. Speak as sfeak
6. President as fresident
The /ʧ/ AND /ʃ/ sounds among the Yorubas and Warri (IJAW)
1. Cheat Sheat
2. Chop Shop

Page- 20
 3. Church Shursh
4. Chain Shain
5. Cheap Sheap
6. Ship Chip
The /ʤ/ and /ʝ/ among the Ibibios

1. Jump as /y˄mp/
2. Junction as /yunction/
3. Jam as /yam/

The Realization OF /ʃ/ as /S/ amongst the Ijaws

1. Fish /fiʃ/ as /fis/
2. Sheep /ʃi:p/ as /si:p/
3. Shop /ʃƆp/ as /sƆp/

INSERTION AND OMISSION OF /h/ COMMON AMONG THE YORUBAS

Insertion
Eat /i:t/ as /hi:t/ Eight as hate
Expect as hespect hate as ate
Hour as /heur/ hair as air

Omission
Heat /hi:t/ as /i:t/ eat
Hate /heit/ as /et/ ate

STRESS MISPLACEMENT
SBE NE
BATHroom bathROOM
adVICE adVICE or ADvice
MAdam maDAM
conGRAtulate congratuLATE

As regards stress, intonation and rhythm, NE is also different from SE. NE is more of a tone
language than intonation patterned. This is because most Nigeria local languages are tonal
while English is a stress timed language. Nigeria languages are syllable timed.

Page- 21
MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE NE
FAULTY CLASSIFICATION
1. Class or Category Shift: A word that is supposed to be in a noun class charges to an
adjective or an adverb as a verb. This is because of MT transfer.
Examples;
WORDS SBE CLASS NE SENTENCE
Senior Adjective Obi seniors Nduka
Off Adverb Off the light. He offed the light
Naked Adjective He naked himself
Jealous Adjective She jealoused her elder sister

2. Countable and Uncountable nouns: NE use nouns everyday as countable unlike the
SBE. (Mass nouns).
- Behaviours - informations - properties
- Cutleries - issue (mean children)
- Personnels - Movies
The replacement of Past Participle –en of some irregular verbs in writing.
Examples e.g.
Been as Being
Given as Giving
Taken as Taking
Pluralized nouns ending in -fe by adding -s.
Wife - wifes instead of wives
Knife - knifes instead of knives

LEXICO- SEMANTIC FEATURES OF NIGERIAN ENGLISH

The rapid expansion in the vocabulary used by Nigerians to translate their thought into
language has brought about different Coinage and expressions to suit the situation and context
usage. The incapability of the English Language to perfectly incarcerate aspects of Nigerian
culture has led to importation derived from Nigerian English lexis and culture –Specific
Vocabulary items and creativity to reflect the Nigerian Experience. Ogunsiji (2001 p. 157)
posits, new words and expression are coined daily to express the Nigeria Linguo- Cultural
realities. In agreement, Alo (2006 p 26) also states that coinages are newly invented words
and expressions in English resulting from the prevailing socio-linguistic factors in Nigeria.

Page- 22
Examples are:
 June 12 (the date of the annulled 1993 Presidential election)
 Step aside (an expression used by General Ibrahim Babangida to describe his style of
quality office)
 Four-one-nine (high class fraud)
 Operation Sweep’, ‘Operation wedge’, ‘Presidential strike force’ (security outfits).
Jowitt (1991) also noted a very large number of words that belong to registers of food, dress,
transport, religion, and traditional customs: (Loan Words).
 Akara (Yoruba) – fried cakes made with bean flour
 Buka (Hausa)- a cheap eating place
 Ogbonno (igbo)-name of a soup
 Agbada (Yoruba)- a large gown worn by man.
 Danshiki (Hausa) – gown with wide armpits worn by men.
The Lexico- Semantic features in the Nigerian context can be categorized into four:
1. Error in usage.
2. Cultural influences.
3. The relevance of change
4. Coinages

ERROR IN USAGE
According to Daramola (2001), the primacy of lexis to grammar does not seem to be in doubt.
After all, any clause or sentence is first of all made up of clausal lexical items before a
consideration of grammatical relevance in the process of explicating meaning. To him, there
are three types of lexical error. These are error in spelling, preposition and wrong choice of
lexical items.
a. SPELLING
SBE NE
Occasion Occassion
Accommodation Accommodation / Accomodation
Harassment Harasment
Necessary Neccessary
Professor Proffessor
Beginning Begining
Pronunciation Pronounciation

Page- 23
Nigerians have challenges with words that consist double ‘c’, ‘m’, ‘s’, ‘n’, single ‘s’, ‘r’, ‘c’,
etc and addition of ‘p’, ‘f’, ‘t’, ‘o’ in certain lexical items.

b. PREPOSITION
Wrong forms Addition/inclusion Correct form
Comprise of of Comprises
Request for for requests
congratulation for Congratulate on
Look up to up Look to
Start from the scratch the Start from scratch

c. VARIANT CHOICES OF LEXICAL ITEMS

Wrong forms Wrong/Redundant words Correct forms
Return back back Return
Reverse back back Reverse
Senior brother senior Elder brother
Mr. Chairman Mr The chairman
Conclusively In conclusion

There are certain lexical items which cannot be transliterated or translated into English .
E.G Oba/ Obaship, Obi/ Obiship, Emir/ Emirate, Akara, Juju music, etc.

CULTURAL INFLUENCE
Nigerians exhibit cultural influences or cultural interference in two area: the use of kingship
terms for friends and relations and tiles used for people
a. Use of kingship terms
A speaker of NE may regard his siblings as a brother or sister but may also extend his usage
to his acquaintance and friends. Similarly, he/she may also regard any man or woman as
parents, father or mother to show deference.

Page- 24
 b. Use of Titles
Titles are very important to Nigerians. No other country values titles so much like Nigeria.
Examples are;
- Chief John
- Chief Dr. John
- Chief Dr. Alhaji John
- Chief Dr. Alhaji Rotarian John
- Chief Dr. Alhaji Rotarian Professor John

THE RELEVANCE OF CHANGE

This has to do with replacing certain lexical items with never and trendy lexical items.
SBE NE
Tennis Lawn Tennis
Tailoring or Tailors (dress makers) Fashion designer

COINAGES AND NEOLOGISM

Words coined from English to construct or form an entirely new meaning. Zaddy, money bag,
tight friend, no-go- area, walking stick, cash madam, go-slow, bush-meat, co-wife, junior
brother.

SEMANTIC IDENTIFIERS IN THE NIGERIAN ENGLISH

Semantic Reduplication:

NE SBE
That is my personal opinion what I said is personal
I said repeat what you said again Say it again please OR could you please repeat?

Semantic Shift:
The meaning of a word that denotes a general term is shifted to specify an entity:
 Her machine broke down at Jos junction-(machine for motorcycle)
 PHCN has taken the light- electric power source-(light)
 I am coming (whereas, he/she is leaving or still sitted) will be back soon.

Semantic Extensions:
1. I gave the police man kolanut (bribe) before I was released
2. Joy hears English Language very well ( understands)

Page- 25
 3. He has a stranger this evening (visitor)
Also, the exclamation ‘OK’ has been fully incorporated into Nigerian English to mean several
things such as ‘acceptable to me’, ‘yes’, ‘everything is fine’, etc.

Nigerianisation Of Idioms And Proverbs:

SBE NE
One swallow does a make a summer One tree cannot make a forest
Cut your coat according to your cloth Cut your cloth according to your size

Ambiguity:
NE SBE
School demands Change The School demands (ask for /requires)
a Change.
Sheep talk at Lagos Conference Sheep was talked about
(discussed) at the Lagos
Conference.

SEMANTIC NARROWING
Meanings of exactly English words are semantically named to have a contracted Scope as we
can see.
 Kerosene is more expensive than fuel (petrol).
 The family has a boy, now they are expecting a baby (baby girl).
 My globe shines brighter than yours (electric bulb). Fuel is narrowed to mean ‘Petrol’,
baby to mean baby girl, globe is connected to electric bulb.’

CODE SWATHING AND CODE MIXING

This is another feature of NE which has to do with switching from one language to another in
the course of Speech making or mixing two different languages in the speech. According to
Udofot (2003:130), hardly any educated Nigerian can make two Sentences in any Nigerian
Language without English words being inserted into them or without Switching from the
Nigerian language into English and Vice Versa a This is mostly common among the igbos.
Examples of switching and mixing include:
a. The Pastor’s sermon today ‘di’, powerful.
b. My roommate ‘bu onye aka abuo.’
c. Obong will not eat ‘tutu mkpong’

Page- 26
 d. You are late to School; ‘biko’ walk fast.

Repetition of Words
a. Quick quick : Come to the house quick quick
b. fine fine : How are you? I am fine fine
c. fast fast : The boy was walking fast fast.

PIDGIN
The term Pidgin was first recorded in English in 1807, as English was adopted as the
business and trade language of canton (Guangzhou), china. At the time, the term business
English was often written as pigeon English, a spelling that reflects the local pronunciation.
Pidgin is a type of simplified language which came into existence as a result of contact
between two or more languages in order to find a means of communication. This situation
mostly occurs in trade, plantation and colonization. Pidgin is said to be language with
simplified syntax, word order, etc because it is constructed in an unplanned way or it is given
birth to or been developed by unintelligible languages, Bikerton (1984), though not all
simplified languages are pidgin. Todd (1974. P.1) defined pidgin as “A marginal language
which arises to fulfill certain restricted communication needs among people who have no
common language”. Pidgin came into existence through colonization, plantation and/or trade.
The languages that played major role during such period were the ones responsible for
the emergence of pidgin. Such languages were: Spanish, French, Portuguese, English and
Dutch. There are some terms in relation to pidgin and creole. These terms are; ‘superstrate’,
‘substrate’ and adstrate’. The major language in which pidgins are based and has large
number of vocabularies (dominant language) is called superstate. Minority languages that
contributed less in terms of vocabularies (subordinate language) are the substrate. Language
that is neither dominant nor subordinate, mostly come into pidgin after the initial contact has
taken place. For example, English language is the superstrate in the case of Nigeria pidgin
English, while other minority languages that were in contact during the pidginization are
serving as substrate e.g. in the case of Nigeria, Benin languages. Igbo, Yoruba among others.
The present language in the area where pidgin is spoken and later their vocabularies
were borrowed into the pidgin are the adstrate –using the Nigeria situation again, Hausa
language is adstrate because it was later that it’s vocabularies were borrowed into the pidgin.

Page- 27
Varieties of pidgin are classified according to their lexifiers (parent language) English based
pidgin, French based pidgin etc.
REASONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PIDGIN
When people were taken from Africa as slaves to North America to work on the
plantation and mixed with other people from other part of the world with different tribes, and
there was a need to communicate among themselves and their masters, so, pidgin was
developed because there was no common language to share between them. This issue has
been reported by Smelser et al (2002) that, it took place in nineteenth century and they
publish it in international encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences. The reason
behind the development of this language was so that they could come up with idea to escape
back to their land.

STAGES OF PIDGIN DEVELOPMENT

Once a pidgin has come into existence, it may develop further with respect to its
grammatical structure and range of communicative functions. These developments depend on
the communicative needs of the pidgin speakers. Here, pidgin may reveal a developmental
continuum. There are particular stages of pidgin development which are universal for all
pidgins. The stages are characterized by different degrees of stability and complexity in the
pidgin’s grammar and in the communicative functions the pidgin serves,
The developmental stages of pidgin are:
1. Jargon
2. Stable pidgin (tertiary hybrid)
3. Extended/expanded pidgin

JARGON
This is the most basic and least structured phase in the development of a pidgin. The jargon
characteristically, lacks stable linguistic norms of usage. It is not clearly determined what is
grammatically and lexically part of the jargon. Thus, the jargon stage is characterized by high
grammatical and lexical instability or a high degree of grammatical and lexical variation
among the speakers of jargon. This variation is based on the influence of the speaker’s native
languages on the structure of the jargon.
a. It has a the most limited range of social functions (example, restriction to trade)
Tertiary hybridization: This refers to the use of the jargon as the primary means of
communication between groups of speakers who do not speak the original target language.

Page- 28
In such a situation, the jargon (or secondary hybrid) will stabilize and thus develop into a
stable pidgin tertiary hybrid.
b. The jargon in its connection is the result of secondary hybridization, a term which also
describes the interbreeding of species. Thus, the jargon or secondary hybrid-emerges
during the interbreeding of, for example, a European language-the superstrate-with an
indigenous language-the substrate. When this contact language is adopted by a third
group of speakers, this process is referred to as tertiary hybridization. The tertiary
hybrid or the stable pidgin has developed.
STABLE PIDGIN (TERTIARY HYBRID)
a. This is characterized by a reduction of linguistic variability. It has stable or established
linguistic norms of usage in fields of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. These
norms are often independent and distinct from the hybrids source languages.
b. It is characterized by an overall structural simplicity compared to its source languages.
c. Its use is restricted to specific communicative functions.
EXTENDED/EXPANDED PIDGIN
a. In the expansion phase, the range of communicative functions increases for which the
pidgin is used.
b. The expansion of communicative functions is accompanied by an overall structural
elaboration of the pidgin in both vocabulary and grammar. Its initial structural
simplicity, becomes much more complex in the process.
At any of these developmental stages, Creolization of the pidgin may occur as soon as it
acquires native speakers.

NIGERIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH (NPE)

Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE), originated and developed its “standard” form during
the period of 300 years that elapsed between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is
broken English like patois and creole, spoken along the coast of West Africa and it has
extended to the Diaspora, due to Nigerian migrants. It’s vocabulary is drawn mostly from
English, with Portuguese probably the source of such common words as: sabi (to known),
pikin (child), dash (give), palaver (problem), some words of pidgin reflect older English
usage, such as yonder and quench, and sound archaic in modern British English. The syntax
of pidgin, in contrast, has been heavily influenced by the languages of southern Nigeria: in
the lack of inflexion, for example, or the absence of a distinction between masculine and
feminine pronouns.

Page- 29
 Pidgin served as a language of trade for communication between Englishmen and
Nigerians living along the Nigerian coast, and like pidgins elsewhere was useful because it
could be learnt quite easily by both races. Trade during this vast period was the only concern
of each side, and Europeans did not penetrate into the interior. In the nineteenth century,
when Europeans develop additional concerns, religious and political, and did penetrate into
the interior, it was natural for pidgin to serve as an important means of communication
between indigenes and intruders. However, a class of educated Nigerians began to develop,
that is in the western sense, educated to take up positions in missionary work, teaching,
journalism, the legal profession and eventually politics: and the indispensable element in such
an education was proficiency in standard English (SE).
Hence, pidgin acquired a stigma as the language that debased English, used or spoken by
uneducated people, which a person aspiring after higher things must firmly resist, in case it
should contaminate his own speech. Stigmatization did not stop pidgin from spreading far and
wide through Nigeria and from acquiring a new important function as a lingua franca for use
among Nigerians.
Though NPE is mostly used in informal situations and English is used for official
purposes, and the medium of education, NPE is the most widely spoken language as it is not a
native language of any tribe in Nigeria but the only language everyone understands and
regards as the easiest form of interaction amongst the population. The Federal Republic of
Nigeria has three major languages namely igbo in the (East), Yoruba in the (West) and Hausa
in the (North), having English as the official language alongside other 500 different spoken
dialects. Even though NPE is considered as a bastardized language as it is yet to have a
standard written from University of Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria both
undergraduate and Postgraduate levels, department of English and drama are now offering it
as a course and many struggles have been put up for NPE to be considered Nigeria’s official
language as it is highly used by the masses, high school students, postgraduates and
undergraduates, politicians and business people.
The progress of pidgin was particularly marked in the south, its original home. The
situation today is that pidgin flourishes as a medium of inter-ethnic communication,
especially among less educated people, especially in the south and big cities with many non-
indigenous residents (Lagos, Benin, Port Harcourt, etc.) or throughout states with many small

Page- 30
ethnic groups (Rivers, Bendel, Cross River). It is also considered important enough for some
broad casting services to give the news in it, as it is done in some states in Nigeria.
Typically, it is learned by children of less educated parents, after they have acquired
the mother tongue (MT) and before they began to learn Standard English (SE) and the
learning of English is the likely to be marked by Interference from pidgin as well as from the
MT. Pidgin often serves as a lingua franca for children from different ethnic backgrounds
attending school together, though if the parents of some children are educated, they are likely
to be active in discouraging its use among their children. Pidgin also serves as a lingua franca
in higher institutions and to an extent among graduates, though at this level, it is difficult to
be certain that this is the only reason for its use. The development of proficiency in SE brings
with it the ability to distinguish the linguistic system of English and the linguistic system of
pidgin, so that educated Nigerians of different ethnic backgrounds meet, they can choose
between two separate codes, and if they choose pidgin, they do so because of its association
with informal contexts. Adetugbo (1970a) points out that ‘even among the highly educated
teachers of English in Nigerian Universities, there is always a recourse to pidgin English as
the vehicle of information communications’, and adds that since most Nigerians do not make
a market distinction between formal and informal varieties of English, Many Nigerians regard
pidgin English as the informal variety of the English Language.
Pidgin may also be used between educated peers as a sign of intimacy, or for some
kind of jocular or humorous effect, for example, the common man’s problems and his
defenselessness in the face of authority are shared by the educated also. The use of pidgin also
overflows with the potential symbolism and it is not surprising that its resources have been
exploited by Nigerian writers as well. Examples are: Wole Soyinka’s The Interpreters, The
Road and The Jero Plays. Here pidgin invariably helps in the delineation of uneducated
characters and the effect on readers or listeners is always one of amusement. NPE is also
gaining popularity in some formal domains like communication and media: Radio stations:
WAZOBIA: adverts, posters, billboards. BBC launched BBC news pidgin in 2017 Lagos.

Example of some Nigerian Pidgin English

NPE SE
 Commot Go
 I no sabi I do not know
 Pikin Child
 Dem they come They are coming
 Pikin they cry The baby is crying.

Page- 31
 How far na? How are you
 Better yan Interesting story
 Come chop come and eat
 Levam like that Allow it
 I sabi I know
 Go slow Traffic Jam

K-Leg Questionable Your story get K-Leg Your story or gist sound
suspicious or exaggerated.
Vex Upset Make you no vex me Don’t upset me
Wayo Trickery That man be wayo That man is a fraud
Butter my bread Answered God don butter my God has answered my
prayers bread prayers

WORDS IN ENGLISH YOUTHS USAGE ADULTS USAGE

Die Delete, Fall Die
Sleep Crash Sleep
House Cabal, crip House
Thief Omila Oleh
Madness Ment, Kolo Crase
Money Bar, Mola, pepper Money
Woo Chike,toast, razzel Spin
A child Smallie Pikin
Relax Kpomkpi Sufree
Go Remove Commot
Indian hemp Monkey tail, kmop Igbo
Mother Male, Momsi Mama
Father Popsman, pale, Papa
popsi,fatherly
Trouble Gbege Wahala
Move roll waka

Page- 32
Superstrate and substrate influences on NPE
LEXICAL SOURCE NP LEXICAL ITEM NP MEANING
English Pale Pal/friend
Veks Vex
Maintain Be calm
Obstacle Meat
Remote control witchcraft

Protuguese Palava Problem/trouble

Pikin Child
Dash Gift
Sabi Know
Brusia flirt
French bókû plenty
kampe fine/durable
pantalun bogus pair of trouser
randevu reckless/ spending
Nigerian English Go slow Hold up
Machine Motor cycle/new car
Watchnight Night watch man
Houseboy Male servant
upstair Story building

Igbo ókóró An igbo man

Inyángá Show off
ógógóró Locally brewed gin
ógbánje Reincarnated birth

bikó Please

Hausa Adámu A foolish person

Wáláhi Believe me/ I swear
Námá Meat
Aboki Friend
Káyá Luggage

Page- 33
 Hábá Really
Yoruba ógá Boss/husband
óyá Let’s go, comeon and get ready
Tókunbó A fairly used item
Ajebotá Pich spirit kid
Warri slang Yáwá Trouble
Kóló Mentally deranged
Tomáshánkó Locally brewed gin
Calabar slang Cháirman A boss
Brós Clipped form of brother
Ebói A wayward child

VARIETY OF NIGERIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH

NPE varies in written and spoken form, depending on which part of the country the
speaker is from, as the language is spoken differently in each state of the country.
Each state tends to add words from their dialect into pidgin making it more interesting to the
ears and understanding by everyone. Nigeria pidgin remains the only language that unifies the
186 million populations as it is the language of the educated and uneducated irrespective of
their linguistic backgrounds
Many of the 250 or more ethnic groups in Nigeria can converse in the language,
though they usually have their own additional words.
For example: the Yoruba’s use the word “sebi” and “abi” when spoken in pidgin. They are
often used at the start or end of an intonated sentence or question. “You are coming right?
Becomes: sebi you dey come? or you dey come abi?

Page- 34
The Igbos adds the word “Nna” also used at the beginning of some sentences to show
camaraderie:

For example: Man, that test was very hard becomes: Nna mehn that test hard no be small.
Another Igbo word that has gotten precedence in pidgin is Una derived from the Igbo word
Unu which means the same thing as you people

For Example: ‘Unu dey mad’ in pidgin translated to you people are crazy’ in English. Biko
is also used in NPE which means please in Igbo language.

For Example: one could say in a pidgin sentence ‘Biko’ free me’ which translates to ‘please’
leave me alone’ in English.
The Hausa added the word ‘ba’ at the end of an intonation sentence or question. For example
‘you wan come ba’ which translates to ‘you don’t want to come right?’ Nigerian pidgin also
varies from place to place. Dialects of Nigerian pidgin may include Warri, Sapele, Umualia,
Benin city, Port Harcourt, Lagos (Ajegunle), Onitsha varieties.

 Wafi: spoken predominantly in Warri and Sapele (marehase & schunkal,(1982)

 Ajegunle: spoken in lagos and its environs (Jowitt 1991)

 Una: spoken in Southern Cross River state (Mensah 2011)

 Special English: Spoken in Port Harcourt and Onitsha e.t.c

CREOLE

Creole language is a stable natural language developed from a mixture of different languages.
It is a complete language, used in a community and acquired by children as their native
language. Creole arises where the people in contact are in need of a common primary
language for the purpose of communication.
Developmental Stages of Pidgin/Creole
Social Situation Linguistic Correlate
1. Marginal contact Restricted pidgin
2. Naturalization Extended pidgin

Page- 35
3. Mother tongue development Creole
4. Movement towards standard language Decreolization
(not necessarily input language)

REASONS FOR CREOLE DEVELOPMENT

Creoles may arise in one of two basic situations. One is where speakers of pidgin are
put in a situation in which they cannot use their respective mother tongues. This has risen in
the course of the slave trade (in the Caribbean and the southern united states) where speakers
were deliberately kept in separate groups to avoid their pidgin which they had developed up
to then and pass it onto future generations as their mother tongue thus, forming a transition
from a pidgin to a Creole.
A second situation is where a pidgin is regarded by a social group as a higher language
variety and deliberately cultivated, this is the kind of situation which obtained in Cameroon
and which does still to some extent and Papua New Guinea. The outcome of this kind of
situation is that the children of such speakers which use pidgin for prestige reasons may end
up using the pidgin as a first language, thus rendering it a Creole with the attendant
relinquishing of the native language of their parents and the expansion of all linguistics levels
for the new creole to act as a fully-fledged language.

The evolution of a creole out of a pidgin is of great significance. Linguists call this
process creolization. Holmes defines creole as ‘pidgin’ which has acquired native speakers,
(2013:90). Aitchiso opined that creoles arise when pidgins become mother tongues
(2003:177), while Wardhaugh says ‘a creole is often defined as a pidgin that has become the
first language of a new generation of speakers’ (1986 p. 59). For Holmes, ‘a creole is a pidgin
which has expanded its structure ad vocabulary to express the range of meanings and serve
the range of functions required of a first language’. (95).

In as much as the following typifies that for there to be a creole there must be a pidgin
in existence, however the processes of pidginization and creolization are diametrically
opposed to each other. In this, Wardhaugh opined that pidginization process involves the
simplification of the structure of the languages involved-via-a-viz reduction in morphology,
syntax, functions, as well as phonological variation. On the other hand, creolization witnesses
the expansion of morphology and syntax, regularization of phonology, extensive borrowing
of words from the local/mother tongue, etc. simply put, the language has no elaborate
grammar while creole has a high transparent derivational process. Pidgins and creoles are

Page- 36
found in speech communities in Nigeria. While creole exists in the south-south region of
Nigeria (Warri, Sapele, Delta, Edo), pidgins exist in the south east regions (Imo, Rivers, Abia,
etc).
CREOLIZATION
This is a process by which a pidgin acquires the status of MT. i.e., becomes the MT of
a speech community. The above analysis draws its intellectual strength from sebba (2002)
who states that a creole comes into being when children are born into a pidgin speaking
community and acquire the pidgin as a first language (L1).
According to earlier researchers: Musyken and Smith (1994) creole is of the three kinds such
as:
1. Plantation Creole: Plantation has been a place where the African slaves worked and
together formulated a common language that bound them such as the Atlantic area,
northern Australia with slaves from New Guinea, Senegal, Angola and other Africans.
2. Forts Creole: A number of creoles existed in some areas such as the islands of
Annobon , Sao, Tome, Southern parts of north America etc Creole developed in these
areas known as Forte, such as fortified post of some west African coastal areas where
the European had initial contact with people of different linguistic background.

3. Marronage Creole: This is another type of Creole which originated out of socio-
historical context that gave birth to the genesis of creole language. Here the earlier
escaped from the plantation and at times begin their own communities in their new
interior domain and isolated themselves from the other colony. Such Maroon
communities are seen in some area of the new world like Jamaica, Columbia and
Surinam to the extension of Sao, Tome. Arends opines that most of these communities
have been absorbed by the main stream culture of the societies within which they
exited the surinam mansons which are distributed over several tribes, have preserved
their own traditions and their languages up to the present day.

NIGRERIA CREOLE
Nigeria Creole also existed even to the extent of decreolising, which has rise in certain
speech communities as Barikana existed in the military Barracks especially in the North as a
means of Hausa pidginised Creole. At the southern area, especially the coastal areas, The
heart of Port Harcourt city, Benin city, riverine areas like Ijaw, Urhobo, which do not have
unifying languages that binds them, languages have been creolized and the issue of
decreolising them , media houses, some cults in Nigerian universities, groups like kegite have

Page- 37
also up graded to the status of the Creole that unites them, as Elugbe and Omamor(1991)
assert that:
This claim cannot be ignored. The influence of Yoruba on Nigerian pidgin may be
traced to the influence of Krio on Nigerian pidgin. Since krio is known to contain a large
Yoruba element, and since the Yorubas in Nigeria were not the original source of Nigerian
pidgin, krio appears to be a good explanation for Yoruba influence in it.
Creole language, especially in Nigeria environment does not have the adequate systemized
vocabulary and drop morphological attempts unnecessarily; it has its special way of using
preverbal tense/mood/aspect particles which is usually limited. Its syntactical placement is not
and constantly not well structured.
A Creole therefore, when developing, results to what the linguists call a post-creole
continuum which means a post Creole continuing to emerge. This gives rise to de-
creolezation which is a situation where by the standard language (the lexifier) exerts much
influence on the Creole with the Creole acquiring most of its lexical items from its lexifier.

VARIETIES OF CREOLE
There varieties or otherwise referred to as the lectal level include: the basilect, mesolect and
acrolect. It is in the study of these lectal levels that one can possibly.post that a diglossic
situation is at work.

BASILECT
A basilect is regarded as the broadcast form a Creole with the highest number of speakers. It
is the most colloquial amongst the three and the least prestigious variety of Creole spoken by
people of low economic status, majority of who are mostly uneducated. For Deumert, (2004)
word in the basilect are considered colloquial or slang expression. For Nigerian Creole, here
are a few examples:
 Na mi tel am ----------------I told him
 You no wan chop----------- do you not want to eat?
 See dem----------------look at them
 I go see una tomorrow ------------ I will see all of you tomorrow
 Dem kom now now----------------- they just arrived.
MESOLECT
For mesolect, sebba (2002) views as any variety of language in a Creole continuum which is
intermediate between the Basilect and Acrolect. Mesolect is the process of indigenous

Page- 38
language (substrates) comes to play .This means that words are borrowed from the indigenous
language into the standard English.
Example includes:
 Yu bi wayo person---------------You are a cheat
 Mai oga---------------- My supervisor / My Master
 Dis girl na leppa shandi---------------This girl is slim

“Wayo” is a word in Hausa language which means ‘a cheat’. “lekpa shandi” is a Yoruba
origin which means a ‘slim person’, while oga is of igbo which means my master.

ACROLET (H variety)
The acrolet has a great similarity with the Standard English. Escure (1997) defines it as a
linguistic innovation characterized by the incorporation of linguistic feature which have origin
in contact situation. This entails that acrolets derive most of its linguistics features and
innovation from the language in contact. It is in this that some linguistics tend to situate the
Nigerian English. The use of acrolets in Nigeria depends on the formality of the situation.

Examples are;
I am coming – This is an expression said when one is actually going
He is not on seat – Said when the person being looked for is not in the office.
She is the only lekpa on campus – Refers to one’s body structure.
Let us break early morning kolanut – Refers to offering a visitor (kolanut) in the morning.

From the above varieties and lectal levels of Creole, one can analyze these diglossic situations
that while the basilect and mesolet function as ‘L’ variety, the acrolet is the ‘H’ variety of this
post-creole continuation. Since these varieties exist in the Nigerian Creole, and diglossia is a
situation where varieties of the same language have the ‘H’ and ‘L’ status accorded them,
therefore, the basilect as well as the Mesolect of the Nigerian Creole functions as ‘L’ variety
and the acrolect as the ‘H’ variety.

Page- 39
 CONCLUSION
Considering the importance of language as the most effective means of
communication, English language to a large extent is of utmost importance as it enhances our
status in diverse ways. Serving as a unifying force amongst us, English language reigns after
being adopted as an international language for trade and commerce, politics and international
relations, education, research and learning, science and technology and many other areas.
However, the various forms of English language and all other standards including our
Nigerian Pidgin and all its forms are necessary because they serve a common purpose and that
is communication.

Page- 40
 REFERENCES
Adegbiya E. (2004). “The Language situation in Nigeria and a Tentative language register”. In

Adegbiya, F. Multilingualism: A Nigerian case study.

Adegbite W. (2009). Language, elite-masses citizenship and the challenges of education in Nigeria. A

paper presented at the 26th Annual conference of the Nigeria English studies Association

(NESA), Tai Solarin University of Education, Ikebu Ode, Nigeria. 2ff.

Akimade T.A. & Oladipo L.S (2010): Use and Altitudes towards Nigerian Pidgin English Amongst

Nigerian Univsersity students (Access on 2-03-2018).

Adetugbo, A. (1979), “Nigerian English and Communication competence” in Ubahakwe, ed Varieties

and functions of English language in Nigeria.

Brann. (M.B (2006). “Mother Tongue, other Tongue and further tongue: In Language in education

and society. An Anthology of selected writings of Brann (1975-2005).

Bamgbose A. (1971). “The English language in Nigeria”. In: Spences (ed) Pp. 35-48.

Bamgbose A. (1995). “English in the Nigerian Environment in: A. Bamgbose, A. Banjo & Thomas

(eds) New Englishes. Ibadan. The British Council Pp. 9-26.

Creole Languages linguistics Encyclopedia Brotannica Retrieved 2021-05-21.

Deumart Ann (2004) Languages standardization and language change: The dynamics of cape Dutch-

Amsterdam John Benjamins.

Elugbe, B. & Augusta O. (1991) Nigerian Pidgin Background and Prospects.

Escure Geneveve 91997). Creole and Dialect Continuum. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Fakoya .A.A (2006) Nigerian English: Morpholectual classification.

Ekpenyong B. Oiacy in Nigerian English-Based Pidgin as a product of Colonial Encounter //Internet

Zeitschrift fur kulturwissenschalften Ne 17,2010 – Url: http//IRANSNR. 17 1.3 – Baseey

Ekpenyong Oracy in Nigerian English based pisgn as a product of colonial encounter/

html.

Eka. .D. (1994) Pp. 53-54 Elements of Grammar and the Mechanics of the English language Uyo.

Effect of Nigerian Pidgin. Sites.google.com/view/Nigeria-pidgin-english/home/ retrieved 2019-12-06.

Page- 41
Jowitt, D. (1991). Nigerian English usage: An Introduction Ikeja: Longman.

Kouwenberg, S.S. Singler, J.V. (2009). The handbook of Pidgin and Creole studies.

Lyons John (2003). Language and Linguistics.: An Introduction. United Kingdom

Olajide B & Olaniyi O. (2013). “Educated Nigerian English Phology as core of a Regional “RP”.

3/14: 277-286.

Olaniyi O. (2011). Articulation as a means of identifying educated Nigerian speakers of English: A

Phono-Sociolinguistics study. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis. Department of English,

University of Ilorin, Nigeria.

Osisanwo A. (2013). Phonological interference among Ondo speakers of English. Unpublished

Manuscript.

Ogu (2002). The English language to sociolinguitics England.

Ogu, J. (1992), A Historical survey of English and the Nigerian Situation. Lagos. Kraft Books Ltd.

Pidgin English origin – English pidgins include Nigerian pidgins. Moisten - verliebt.com (in finnish).

Retrieved 2021-05-21.

Schiffman Harold (2015). Diglossia as a Sociolinguistics situation. Retrieved from

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/-harolds/messeas/diglossia/handbuk.html

Task, R.L (2007). Language and Linguistics: The key concepts routle ledge.

Udofot .I. (2007) English and the Nigeria situation: Trends and imperatives, 18 th Century University

of Uyo, Inaugural lecture uyo.

Udofot .I. and Udo Udom, J ed (2011). English usage in Nigeria since 1842. Patterns changes – A

festuschrift for Prof. David Eka. Ikot ekpene. Devonsort Services Ltd.

Udofot .I. (2004). Stress and Rhythm in the Nigerian Accent of English. A preliminary investigation.

Engl. Worldw. 24 (2): 201-220.

Page- 42