THE USE OF CRE ATIVITY AND DEVIATION IN NIGERIAN ENGLISH IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERN ATIONAL INTELLIGIBILITY AND ACCEPTABILITY

ABSTRACT

This study investigates  the use of creativity and deviation in Nigerian English,  and the implications  it  has for international intelligibility and acceptability.  It  examines  these deviation and creative forms in sounds, lexemes, syntactic forms, semantic forms used in Nigerian English in comparison with similar forms as used in Standard British English. The study reclined on interlanguage and languages-in-contact theories as the basis for the investigation. Data for the study were gathered basically from existing literature on both Nigerian  English  and  Standard  British  English.  At  each  level  and/or  sub-level  of linguistic organization,  5  to 10 items were selected from each of Nigerian  English and Standard British English. Adopting Standard British English as control; these items in the Nigerian variety of English were analyzed and compared with those in Standard British English,  and the areas of divergence noted.  Findings of the study indicate that at all the levels of linguistic  organization;  significant  deviation  exists  in Nigerian  English  from Standard British English.  Findings  also  show that the peculiar  features  of sound  and syntax, and the nativized words and expressions used in Nigerian English are perfectly understood  and acceptable  in the Nigerians  sociolinguistic  setting but  are not readily understood  by the native speakers of English,  due to differences  in context,  worldview and culture.  The research thus affirms that Nigerian English is a legitimate variety in its own right. It further concludes that although international intelligibility and acceptability are important so as to establish a standard  local norm,  local considerations  take pre• eminence over international considerations.  The study encourages intensive development of literature on Nigerian English.  With this and familiarity,  Ll speakers of English and other visitors will get accommodated in this variety of English just as Nigerians who visit other English speaking countries do with British English, American  English  and other varieties where usages also differ. By so doing, communication will be facilitated.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background to the Study

English is one of the most widely used and spoken languages in the world today. Ferguson  in his Foreword  to Braj  Kachru points  out that,  ‘…  there has never been a single language which spread  …  over most of the world,  as English  has done in this century’  (Kachru, ix). According to Charles Barber, English is spoken by well over four hundred million native speakers and roughly about the same member of people speak it as a second language (236). It is also generally said to be a world language because it has spread to other continents of the world through trade, colonization and conquest.

In Nigeria,  for instance,  English  is spoken  as a second  language.  It was  first introduced to Nigerians during the middle of the  16″  century when the British came to Nigeria   for  purposes   of exploration,  trade,  and  colonization.  Before  English  was introduced to Nigerians, Nigerians  had had their native  languages, which they used to satisfy their  linguistic  needs.  The  introduction  and use  of English  created  a contact situation, that is, a situation where two or more languages are used alternatively by an individual.  This  situation  resulted  in  interference  defined by Uriel  Weinreich  as:   ‘ … deviation from the norms of either language which occur in the speech of bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more than one language’ (1).

Going by this long period of usage,  it is normal to expect it to develop linguistic features which are different  from those of the Ll speakers of the language.  Such features which are usually  influenced by the mother tongue and the socio-cultural  environment have marked out Nigerian English from other varieties of World Englishes.  In Nigeria,

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English has become nativised to accommodate  the culture and tradition of the people,  and to  be  able  to  carry  the  sensibilities  peculiar  to  Nigerians.  It  has  acquired  some  local colour,  which differentiates  it  from the native  variety used  in England  and other regions of  the  world.  Inyang  Udofot   explains  that  nativisation   in  the  context   of  the  New Englishes entails

The process through which a language  external to a community  adapts to  the  culture  and  languages  of the  community  which  uses  it  as  an additional  language  but retains  many  features  of the language  as it  is used   by  the  native   speakers.   In  other   words,   it   is   a  process   of integrating a language into the culture of a community  where it is used (42).

This  process   often  leads  to  the  development   of  features  at  vanous  levels  of linguistic  analysis  that  are  different   from  those  of Ll  speakers  of the  language.  Ayo Bamgbose   sees   it   as   ‘innovation  in   language   form   and   language   use’  (16).   Such innovations tend to hinder a free flow of information particularly  when communication is carried out with the native speakers of English.

Nigerian  English  has  developed  its  own  distinct  and unique  features  due to the mode of acquisition  of the language  and the Nigerian socio-cultural  setting.  Some of the speech  acts  obtained  in Nigerian  English  deviates  in meaning  from those  of the native speakers  of English.  Thus  it  is possible  to  have  words  with  the  same  morphological shapes expressing  different  meanings or sometimes  attracting  additional  meanings. Also, certain  expressions   in  Nigerian   English  are  created  to  depict  Nigerian   values.  These linguistic  items  and  expressions  which  are peculiar  to the Nigerian  situation  constitute hindrances  to intelligibility from the point of view of the Ll speakers of English.

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On this  issue  of creativity,  Barber  notes  that  “In  countries  where  English  is spoken as a second language,  new words are often introduced  from the local languages, and existing English words and phrases given new meanings” (256). He further adds that these innovations in words and expressions have made their English distinct and unique. In  a  second  language  situation,  many  lexical  items  and  linguistic  expressions  have meanings,  which  are tied to the culture,  values,  ideas,  and concepts  of the particular environment. Such usages are usually different, non-existent or sometimes equivalent to usages in English native environment. Nigerian English has such features. Its vocabulary contains a large number  of words which are either not found in British English or are used in ways peculiar to the Nigerian sociolinguistic environment. Barber’s position re• affirms the explanation  on deviation given by David Eka in English and the Nigerian Situation. Here, Eka explains that ‘deviation- a common feature ofNigerian English – is not merely a difference  in usage, but also usages which deviate from, and sometimes, apparently  contradict  usages  in  British  English.  The  source  further  notes  that  the difference may not necessarily be negative, but essentially productive and adoptable in a given environment (77).

This deviation which exists in Nigerian English could be explained in terms of a large number of factors,  one of which is the relationship between language and culture. The relationship  between  language  and  culture  was  first  discussed  by Edward  Sapir (1884-1939) and Benjamin  Lee Whorf (1897-1941).  Sapir (1929) as seen in Eka notes that

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The  fact  of the  matter  is that  the  real  world  is  to  a  large  extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group — we see and hear and other wise experience very largely as we do because the language  habits  of our  community  predispose   certain  choices  of interpretation (6).

The implication of Sapir’s statement therefore, is that the linguistic choices we make     lexical,  phonological  or semantic – are to a large extent made according to the language/cultural  habits of individual groups. As applied to the Nigerian  situation, this linguistic fact explains why Nigerian  English is distinct and has certain choices whose meanings are peculiar to the Nigerian  environment.  In Nigerian  culture, concepts exist which do not exist in English.  If English is to be an effective mode of communication  in Nigeria,  it is essential that it adapts itself to the Nigerian situation so as to able to express these concepts.  It will then become the kind of English which Achebe advocates for the expression of African Experience. Peter reports Chinua Achebe as saying:

I feel that English  language will be able to carry the weight  of my African  experience.  But  it  will  have  to  be  a new  English,  still  in communion with its ancestral home, but altered to suit its new African surroundings (389).

Therefore,  what Achebe is advocating is the variety of English that agrees with the standard variety in terms of structure but which varies slightly in form to be able to express African thought and peculiar cultural imperatives. It is from this need that variant forms arise in Nigerian  English. English Language  in Nigeria  has remarkable  features which mark  it  out as a legitimate  variety,  as compared  to all other World Englishes. These features are prominent  at the phonological, morphological/lexical, syntactic, and semantic  levels.  Udofot  notes  that  ‘it  is  at  the  morpho-semantic  level  that  Nigerian English is most (creative) productive and noticeable’ (45).

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All these stem from the fact that English is a ‘tool’ language, and the constant use of the English language in the day- to- day activities prompts the learner/user to strive to use it like the native speaker. But however the learner tries, he may not be able to use the language as the native speakers. This may necessarily result from the fact that a leaner or user of any second language (L2) (English in this case) has to study the system by which it operates in order to function appropriately.  In the process of doing this,  learner/users are  likely to  encounter  problems/difficulties.  In  a bid  to  overcome  these  difficulties, creativity and deviation necessarily arise, in line with Albert Baugh and Thomas Cable’ notion that

In language,  as in other things,  necessity  is the mother of invention, and when our means are limited we often develop unusual resourcefulness  in utilizing  those means to the full.  The language  in this stage shows great flexibility,  a capacity for bending old words to new words (64).

Thus,  in the  face of such  ‘unusual  resourcefulness’,  the challenge  of Nigerian English -with  its many deviations  and creative  forms –  is that of non-intelligibility  or being misunderstood by an Llspeaker of English or a foreigner just arriving Nigeria.

As more Nigerians  from different  ethnic and linguistic backgrounds  now write and speak English,  and English is taught at the various levels  of education,  it becomes very important to bring out in a reasonably organized manner the divergences which exist at the phonological,  lexical/morphological,  syntactic  and semantic/pragmatic  levels  in Nigerian  English.  It is equally important  to know what  implications  such divergences may have on the global scale of intelligibility and acceptability.

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1.2      Statement of the Problem

As L2 users of English, Nigerians have deviated greatly from the native speakers in the use of the language. The English language, when used as a second language, differs in a number of ways from native speaker variety.  Following these deviations which exist in the Nigerian variety of English,  several research efforts  have been made to study the areas, reasons and effects of these deviations on meaning and communication.  However, most  of these  research  efforts  have  been  focused  on  individual  levels  of linguistic analysis    phonological,  lexical,  syntactic  or semantic.  No attention has so far been paid to an integral view of the situation.  Moreover,  no significant studies have been made on the  implications  of these  deviations   in  Nigerian   English   on  the  global  scale  of intelligibility and acceptability.

Thus,  this study aims to take a full view of the situation,  taking into cognizance the  inextricable  relationship   that  all  the  levels  of linguistic  analysis  share  in  the enhancement of communication.  The study also considers that fact that whatever variety of the language we speak,  must, to large extent, be intelligible and acceptable to speakers of the English language in other regions of the world.

1.3      Objective of the Study

The study  has the  following  as its basic  objectives:  to  examme the areas and degree of deviation (departure) in words and expressions between Nigerian English usage and usages  in  standard  British  English;  to  examine  the root  of these  deviations  and creative  forms,  and attempt  an explication  of these  departures;  to  assess the peculiar features  of Nigerian  English  which  differ  from those  of standard  British  English;  to

determine whether these deviations in Nigerian English are significant enough to inhibit intelligibility  in communication  with native speakers and speakers of other varieties of English; to assess the degree of acceptability (nationally and internationally) or otherwise ofNigerian English.

1.4      Significance of the Study

This study on the use of creativity and deviation in Nigerian English is bound to be helpful not only for scholars generally but also for linguists in the area of Nigerian English whose business concerns the level of work studied. More than this, this study will lend ‘a voice’, alongside those of several other scholars such as, Bamgbose, Jibril, Jowitt, Ogu, Eka, Udofot, etc. in proving the legitimacy ofNigerian English as a variety of world Englishes.  The result  of this  study will also  forge a re-orientation  for skeptics  about Nigerian English, that the peculiar  forms and features of language commonly found in Nigerian English are by no means ‘evidence of failing standards’ but clear indicators of the influence of culture on language use.

1.5      Scope/Delimitation

The study focuses on creative forms and deviation in Nigerian English usage at all the levels of linguistic analysis as opposed to usages in standard British English.  Only significant deviations are covered.  The scope stretches across all the levels of linguistic analysis     phonological,  lexical,  syntactic and semantic. However, at the phonological level, the study focuses more on segmental features deviation. Also, at the semantic level, the study places  greater  emphasis  on deviations  in word  and sentence meaning  at the exclusion of utterance  meaning.  Due to limitations such as time,  cost implications,  the

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large number of ethnic groups in Nigeria, the unresolved issue about ‘standard’ and ‘non• standard’ Nigerian English,  study makes use of published sources on all the varieties of Nigerian English as well as those published on standard British English.

1.6      Definition of Terms

In any research  work,  clarity  is of utmost  importance.  To  ensure such clarity therefore, certain terms in the research topic must be defined. The definition of terms also helps to confine the meaning of these key terms to a specific limit of application.  Thus, this study attempts the following definitions for the key terms as follows:

Creativity:  Creativity in the context of this work refers to the ability of language users to coin a novel expression from a conventional expression,  or construe the same situation in alternate  ways using  different  linguistic expressions  (Zek,  21).  The use of a novel expression  involves  creativity  because  the  speaker  has  to  find  an  already  existing expression or pattern in the language on the basis of which the new expression can be produced.

Deviation:  Deviation refers to a difference in language usage which may not necessarily be negative but productive and adoptable in a given environment (Eka, 77-78).

Intelligibility:  Intelligibility  is a situation in which speakers of different  languages or different   dialects  of the  same  language  can  readily  understand  each  other  without intentional study or special effort (Katzner,  105).

Acceptability:  Acceptability is a sociologically- based linguistic concept which refers to the tendency for language structures, forms, constructions, sentences and expressions to

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be accepted because their meanings  conform to world views,  and are perfectly natural and immediately comprehensible  without being bizarre or outlandish (Borsley, quoted in Taye Lamidi, 27)

Nigerian English: Nigerian  English  is a variety  of English that has developed  in the Nigerian   non-native   environment   with  characteristic   variation  at  the  phonological, lexical, syntactic and semantic levels of language.

Standard British English: This is the variety of English spoken by a small percentage of British natives and other English people, which is intelligible and acceptable,  and usually used as a yardstick for measuring performance of speakers from other regions.

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