SYNCHRONIC ACCOUNT OF SUBSTITUTION AMONG EDUCATED OHAOZARA SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH

Abstract

Substitution is a natural experience among second language speakers because it occurs in a situation where the target language presents segments that do not exist in the native language of speakers. Native speakers, therefore, unavoidably try to overcome the linguistic problem of having to articulate sounds that are present in the foreign language but unavailable in their mother tongue. It is against this linguistic pedigree that this study explored the synchronic account of substitution among educated Ohaozara speakers of English using the Natural Phonology Hypotheses (NPH) as its analytical tool. The study aimed to identify and account for the particular cases of phonological substitution as it affects Ohaozara educated speakers of the English language and thereafter, recommend workable and sustainable remedies that would mitigate the problem. Data for the study were collected through the use of audio recorder and a reading comprehension passage. One hundred (100) educated Ohaozara speakers of English, who were drawn at random, using the stratified random sampling technique, participated in the study. The data were analyzed quantitatively in accordance with the tenets of NPH. The results showed that the speakers exhibited acts of phoneme substitution in most of their spoken discourses in English as evidenced by both data.   The study offered a good number of recommendations and suggestions to mitigate the problem.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

A paraphrased Newton’s Law of Inertia might say that an object would remain stationary or inert until a greater force displaces it. This was the state of language before twentieth century when traditional grammarians held sway. Language as a system of communication remained rigid and inelastic, sternly averse to change or dynamism. Those early linguists permitted no form of fluidity in linguistic analysis. Prescriptivism was their watchword. To them, as it was in the beginning, so it should be and should ever remain world without end. They championed a linguistic analysis that should cut through the entire historical trajectory, otherwise called diachronicism. Any attempt to relax any linguistic strand was to them, an outrage on grammatical sanctity, a “corruption” (Palmer, 1974) of the original which should be rejected. Written language had ascendancy over spoken language as the latter was lightly esteemed. There was a pervading sense that written language retained its purity while the spoken version was somewhat intractable and thus, deserved less emphasis.

The synchronic sound change which was an accompaniment of structuralism is the focus of this study. There can be no linguistic change that does not affect the phonological processes in any natural language. Such processes include: syllable structure processes, assimilation, substitution and dissimilation. The penultimate process is the major concern of this study as it has assumed a nightmare scenario to second language speakers. It, indeed, becomes a “can’t help” situation for second language speakers to use what they have and substitute for what they do not have. In a predicament where the target language presents a phoneme that is not available in the mother tongue, a second language speaker is pushed to a tight corner and might resort to substitute a similar segment present in their native language for the one absent. In a nutshell, substitution is “a

type of auditory based change involving the replacement of one segment with another similar

segment” (O’ Grady, Dobrovolsky & Katamba, 1996).

It sounds perfectly plausible to say that half of the builders of the Tower of Babel came to Nigeria and settled after the project was halted by linguistic proliferation. The result was that virtually every community has a language that is either partially different and intelligible to others or totally different and unintelligible to others, thereby, making her a hubbub of ethno-linguistic multiplicity. The latest figure of 513 languages and dialects was put forward by Eka (2002) citing Bamgbose (1978). The same source citing Elugbe (1999) had earlier put it between 394 and 400 languages. (Gittal, 1978) put the figure between 400 and 500. However, the figures thinned out with each older research. For instance, it was 400 in (Bamgbose, 1982) 394 in (Hansford, Bendor-Samuel and Stanford, 1976), 374 in (Otite, 1990), 250 in (Coleman, 1958), and 150 in (Tiffen, 1968). Each successive research yielded higher figures that indicated either that some remote linguistic communities abound that escaped the count of earlier ones or that new languages were still progressively evolving. So it goes without saying that Nigeria is chronically a multilingual nation. A position vehemently supported in (cfEmenejo, 1990; Eka 2000; Josiah 2014). Then the synopsis of the multilingual reality in Nigeria was aptly furnished by Josiah (2014) citing Emenenjo (2003).

The truth of the matter is that English language arrived as an uninvited guest to many native Nigeria languages and dialects. This contact turned most Nigerians into bilinguals, compelled as it were, to learn the English language in addition to their mother tongue. Some people say it was an imposition, others say it was a voluntary adoption of a necessary evil, supplanting relic of colonialism. At any rate, English language has come to stay in spite of whatever opinion people hold about it. On arrival, English language declared it assets which included some phonemes that are alien to native languages. However, most speakers of English as a Second Language found

substitution handy as a potent antidote to the linguistic lacuna. A practice that involves “the replacement of one segment with another similar segment within the same phonological environment (O’ Grady, Dobrovolsky and Katamba, 1996). However, in spite of the huge justification for substitution, Onuigbo submits that:

We should, therefore, note the distinctive characteristics of each consonant and pay special attention to the three consonants which do not occur in Nigerian languages. These consonants are /��/ð/and /3/ and experience shows that they are usually substituted with other consonants which occur in the learner’s mother tongue. This kind of substitution should be avoided (Onuigbo, 1990:66).

This forms the major preoccupation of the researcher as he sets out to investigate the incidents of substitution among Ohaozara educated speakers who responded during the experiment. The overriding objective is to locate and account for the particular cases of substitution and thereafter, recommend workable and sustainable remedies to the linguistic malaise.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

It is a commonplace problem in most second language utterances for speakers to replace or substitute one phoneme for another, especially those that are contained in the target language(foreign language) but lacking in the source language(local language). In fact, Josiah (2017) established that phoneme substitution is not a completely strange phenomenon. In his words, it is “an inevitable normative at least in the majority of second language utterances (sometimes including acrolectal variety), for speakers to alternate or substitute one phoneme for another, particularly, those that are present in the target language but absent in the mother tongue”.

So, this research does not set out to solve the general problem of substitution because it will always be there inspite of countless studies and recommendations on it. This study makes a solemn discovery – an entire civilization had been left out by previous researchers. Substitution as it affects the whole community of Ohaozara educated speakers, vis-à-vis their peculiar ethno-linguistic environment, had not been brought into perspective by any of the previous studies. This, the researcher sees as a scholastic gap that needs to be filled.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The general objective of the study is to identify and account for the particular cases of phonological substitution as it affects Ohaozara educated speakers of the English language and thereafter, recommend workable and sustainable remedies that would mitigate the problem. The other specific objectives of the study are:

(a) to identify the prominent sources of phonological substitution among educated Ohaozara speakers;

(b) to describe instances of phonological substitution in utterances by Ohaozara educated speakers;

(c) to ascertain if phonological substitution by Ohaozara educated speakers can hamper their communication with the outside world;

(d) to establish whether or not substitution of some phonemes by Ohaozara educated speakers are as a result of dialectal interference.

1.4 Research Questions

In order to effectively achieve the objectives above, the study seeks to provide answers to the following questions:

i.      What are the sources of phonological substitution among educated Ohaozara speakers?

ii.      Are there instances of phonological substitution in utterances produced by Ohaozara educated speakers?

iii.       Does   phonological   substitution   by   Ohaozara   educated   speakers   hamper   their communication with the outside world?

iv.      Does dialectal interference necessitate the substitution of some phonemes by Ohaozara educated speakers?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The educated people, who are indigenous to the home town of the researcher, Ohaozara, are the direct object and instant beneficiaries of this exposé. They might not be conscious of the issue of substitution in their utterances, even when they were, it would sound trivial. An average user of English language in our part of the world believes that once meaning or message is sent and received, other linguistic nuances ought to be ignored. This is more pronounced among people who are educated in other fields of study other than English language and their Ohaozara counterparts are no exceptions. However, the researcher feels strongly that with the subject of substitution among them established, and its determinants identified by this study, it is most expected that members of the target audience would advertently embark on personal and/or collective speech enhancement exercises to ameliorate the situation.

Schools in Ohaozara and beyond would readily join in the scramble for the scholastic treasure presented by this work for pedagogic purposes. Much as English language remains a compulsory

subject for admission into all levels of education in Nigeria, little or no emphasis is placed on the phonological quality of the spoken form. Even when the planners of National Curriculum made sure that speech features at least thrice a weak on English language timetable, teachers of the subject ignore that aspect because they are no good models. Consequently, children go through education with a linguistic experience that is far away from the standard variant. Catch them young is a popular dictum. It is much better to feature phonics regularly on schools’ curricular and start early impartation to young people than trying to bend an adult later.

The Nation as a whole, stand to benefit immensely from this work. Though Nigerian English is still at its nascent stage, consciously evolving a domesticated variant, there is general striving towards a uniform, national standard that will neither be strange to her nationals nor too grotesque to foreign or native speakers. Any variant that panders to the phonological desires of both locals and foreigners must have placed the issue of substitution in its right perspective. There must be a determined effort to minimize the continuous interchange of segments by the native speaker in interactive utterances and strike a phonological balance. This study is, no doubt, hugely complementary to this effort.

The society at large is not left out in view of the fact that globalization thrives on the improved international communication. Thus, the emphasis that second language utterances by Nigerians should attain a standard which will not only make them socially acceptable but also internationally intelligible, cannot be exhausted. Communication would suffer grave breaches at international level if there were no phonological comprises by interlocutors. When speakers or users of different language come in contact, phonological innovations are realized and the foreign language may be domesticated or indigenous language foregnized for mutual understanding. It is on this premise that this research becomes a magnificent work of scholarship.

1.6 Scope of the Study

The study only attempts to explore issue of replacement of segments that are available in the English language but absent in the mother tongue with other similar segments by educated Ohaozara speakers within a particular point in time. It intends to identify and explain such instances of substitution that are observable among second language users from Ohaozara who are moderately literate and living within a specific period, with a view to proffering phonological solution for teaching and learning purposes.

1.7 Explanation of Salient Concepts and History in the Study

1.7.1  A Glimpse into the Meeting  of Migrant English  Language with  Nigerian  Native

Languages

The incursion of the English language into Nigeria was caused by lots of factors like trading, slavery, colonization and missionary activities in Nigeria by the Europeans and this was done in phases. English as a language is a borrowed blanket which has been converted to a personal use by the borrowers so as to suit their purposes. It is commonplace knowledge that the culture of a people is embedded in the language they speak. As such it is said that language and culture cannot be divorced. So when languages meet, then two cultures have met and there is likely to be a lot of changes in that society. The changes will affect the culture and the language of the recipient society or speech community, and the effect will impact on the entire recipients’ society, which in this instance is Nigeria with its citizenry. This insight is unmistakably buttressed by the following studies: (Banjo, 1971; 1996; Bobda and Chumbo, 1999; Harrington, 2004; Mannel and Cox, 2004; Hausa, 2006; Brann, 2006). Nigerians became familiar with western ideas, culture, values and ideals.

When the initial friction thinned out, English language and the indigenous Nigerian languages got intertwined the more and a locally-based English identity emerged, and then entered a log blending process of nativization or Nigerianization or what Adegbija (2002: 20) calls ‘Domestication of English language in Nigeria. People started expressing English language naturally in a way that reflects their socio-cultural norms without unnecessarily sounding bookish. ‘Nativization was also listed by Schneider in his schematic analysis as one of the phases of the developmental process of the acculturation of non-native varieties of languages in contact situation Schneider (2003). Substitution is part of nativization process which was not only limited to lexis and syntax but also the phonological level which seems to be the most troublesome. Other phonological problems include the monophthongization of diphthongs, simplification of clusters by insertion of intervening vowels, total neglect of differences between voiced and voiceless consonants; long and short vowels; stressed and unstressed syllables; and rising and falling tunes. These are all elements of localization or what Ekpe (2004: 1) calls ‘glocalization’ (adaptation of a global outlook to local condition). These are ongoing dynamism, renovation and creative processes in the English language in Nigeria to suit our local context and world view. The contact of English with Nigeria indigenous languages has inevitably resulted in the domestication of the English language in Nigeria, producing hybrids that rendered the Nigeria English variety peculiar in its own right Josiah (2017).

1.7.2 Diachronic and Synchronic Analysis Juxtaposed

Apart  from  fathering  structural  grammar,  Agbedo  (2000)  expounds  more  on  de  Saussure’s

contributions to formal linguistics. In his words:

Ferdinand de Saussure equally formalized two fundamental dimensions of linguistic study; synchronic and diachronic. In the former, languages are treated as self-contained system of communication at any given time; in the latter, the changes to which languages are subject in  the course of time are treated historically.  In modern  linguistics,  emphasis  is  on synchronic description which implies that historical considerations are irrelevant to the investigation of particular temporary “states” of a language” (Agbedo, 2000:27).

It is a shared view among linguists that there exists a dichotomy between a diachronic and a synchronic study of language (Wells, 1982:72; McArthur, 1995:264; Trask, 1996:347). As a lecturer, Ferdinand de Saussure pioneered the discourse as one of the great Saussurian Dichotomies contained in his book made public after his death. He drew the famous analogy of vertical and horizontal cutting through a tree trunk to contrast between diachronic and synchronic studies. In his exposition, vertical cutting through a tree trunk signifies historical or diachronic study while horizontal cutting through the trunk denotes synchronic or study of language anchored at a given point in time. However, Hansen (2006:1) finds the word “longitudinal” coterminous with vertical cutting while “latitudinal” captures horizontal cutting. Diachronism has the sympathy of many empirical studies which establish that “phonemes of any natural language may undergo changes in the course of time or through time that is historically: Josiah (2017) citing (Gimson,

1970; Brook, 1979; Lamberts, 1972).

Conversely, synchronism in sound mutation refers to those modifications that occur within the sound systems of a language at a given point in time Josiah (2017) citing Gunison, 1970; Hyman,

1975; Schane, 1973; Wells, 1982; Hansen, (2006). When a linguistic study is focused on the variations that take place within the phonemic environment of a language at a particular point in time which could be in the past, present or future, then a synchronic approach had been adopted. It is, in other words, an approach that circumscribes linguistic investigation to a definite period of time. For instance, in this study, the researcher is exploring the phonological realities perceivable when educated Ohaozara people speak the English language at the present – the period is now.

Diachronic approach pales in comparison with synchronic approach. The latter is gaining more relevance and preference among linguists for its precision and effectiveness. A good case in point is Awonusi (2004) which studies Nigerian English Accent (NEA) using a synchronic approach to describe the existing accents as they are. The study expressly observes that with regards to Received Pronunciation, the historical (diachronic) approach can hardly be productive; therefore, a synchronic analysis is preferable.

1.7.3 Synchronism and Hunjo’s (2002) Periodization Experiment

Language is a continuum and time is not different. Synchronic approach has therefore necessitated the segmentation of language into periods or placing historical boundaries on different stages of development of a language for precise analysis. This is what Hunjo (2002) sets out to do – to categorize Nigerian English into periods otherwise known as Periodization of the Nigerian English variety. That effort produced three major epochs of the Nigerian English, the Old Nigerian English (ONE), the New Nigerian English (NNE) and the Future Nigerian English (FNE). According to Hunjo (2002), the Old Nigeria English is nearest the Native English and shares a lot of characteristics with the Standard British English (SBE). It also reminds one of the Received Pronunciation (RP) which was a variety of English taught in the Nigerian public schools in the

1950s (Jibril, 1982). This variety was nicknamed Victorian English by Bamgbose (1995) and the

timing was placed between 1914 and 1958 by Hunjo (2002). That was in the remote past and therefore outside the domain of interest to this study.

The New Nigerian English was found by Hunjo (2002) to have characterized the period between

1958 to the present. It was further subdivided into earlier New Nigerian English – 1958 to 1979; and later New Nigerian English -1979 to the present. It is the period from 1979 to the present that is most relevant to this study and therefore constitutes the focal point of its analysis. Substitution among contemporary educated Ohaozara speakers is the object of investigation. The last epoch according to Hunjo (2002) periodization experiment is a futuristic period with an anticipated variety of English which is located beyond the purview of this study.

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