Nigerian English

There are three main dialects of Nigerian English: Hausa English (spoken by the Hausa), Igbo English (spoken by the Igbo) and Yoruba English (spoken by the Yoruba). Nigerian Pidgin English is very commonly spoken in the South-South region of Nigeria (Edo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, et-cetera), and is spoken alongside the corresponding dialectical renderings of Nigerian English [which exists in mediated form throughout all of Nigeria and on a(n) anecdotal, social level are arguably far better-known than the Hausa rendering of it]. Although Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba happen to be the three main political entities of Nigeria (based on population-numbers), pidgin English, a local 'patois' that represents a casual variation of Nigerian English, is known to be far more characteristic of the South-South region of Nigeria than anywhere else in the country and is known to be more concentrated than the pidgin spoken in the city of Lagos, which is occasionally seen as merely an urban-Yoruba-mediated version of Nigerian English. Warri, Sapele, Port Harcourt and Bini City are examples of major Nigerian cities wherein truly concentrated pidgin English is spoken, especially relative to others.

Nigerian English is a nativized form of English. Like South African English, its nativization and development as a New World English corresponds roughly with the period of colonization by Britain and afterward.[3] Nigerian English became a nativized language that functions uniquely within its own cultural context.[4]

Nigerian English has long been a controversial idea in that the idea of a "Standard Nigerian English" (SNE) is difficult to establish,[5] considering the fossilization that has occurred in the formal instruction of English in many regions of Nigeria, for a variety of factors largely including "interference, lack of facilities, and crowded classrooms".[6] Contact between British Standard English and Nigerian English, which have two very different sets of grammatical, pronunciation, and spelling rules has caused there to arise a predominant occurrence of "faulty analogy" (the assumption that because one grammatical feature resembles another in usage, the rules applying to the former also apply to the latter) in what Okoro refers to as "substandard" varieties of Nigerian English.[6]

However, a few features have united across communities that bridge the differences between different varieties even within Nigerian English, all pertaining to cultural values that are expressed uniquely in English terms. Two prevalent examples are "sorry" and "sir".[4] The literal meaning of "sorry" usually indicates some sort of responsibility on the part of the person saying it, but for all varieties of Nigerian English, it is used to express sympathy in a unique way, or to show empathy to whoever has experienced misfortune. "Sir" or the replacement of names with titles indicates respect and a high value for politeness. The tacking on of "sir" to another title ("Professor sir")[4] illustrates a greater level of prestige than normal or an instance of being more polite than the norm.

Though the exact levels of Nigerian English usage are contested, one suggestion indicates there are four levels of usage within the nativized (but not indigenous) English:[6]

• Level 1: Pidgin, spoken as the casual language
• Level 2: A step above, and the most spoken. Spoken by those with elementary education[6]
• Level 3: Marked by more expansive lexicon, fluency and use of the features that Level 1 speakers "avoid" spoken by those with "secondary education"[6]
• Level 4: Proposed as the NSE as its features are very similar (but still characteristically Nigerian) "to Standard English", spoken by those with a college education[6]

The system of levels is only one of the proposed differentiations of the pragmatic realizations of Nigerian English. Because of the nature of its presence in Nigeria, the English language has been a point of contention among Nigerian residents who strive for a more nativisitic lifestyle (returning to the predominant speech of indigenous languages of the country).[7] However, the nature of the introduction and the role of English in exerting the values of colonization on a post-colonial Nigeria have caused some to call English inseparable from the nature of language in the region.

As the literature currently stands, most phonological studies have analyzed a plethora of Nigerian English speakers from a wide range of backgrounds (region of origin, current profession, social class, etc.). There has been special focus on such regions as those pertaining to the Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, respectively.[5] Nigerian English can be thought of in a similar way to American English in this approach: just as in American English, Nigerian English varies from region to region, and as such, phonological variables are realized in different ways in different regions.[5]

Some common features across Nigerian Englishes include:

• Voiced -z sounds in which the "s" is present in spelling become voiceless, i.e. "boys" is pronounced /ˈbɔɪs/.[13]
• Fronting of /ɪ/ vowels into /e/, exhibited in words such as "expect", pronounced /ekˈspekt/ in NE.[13]
• Because voiced palato-alveolar fricative /ʒ/ is not present in most Nigerian varieties, any words including this phoneme are converted into the -sh /ʃ/ sound, such as in the word "conclusion", pronounced /kənˈkluːʃən/ in NE.[13]
• Common suffixing of phrases with the word “now”, especially when making an example of something. E.g. (1): “like you, now” (take you/yourself as an example), “for example now” (for example), “say you’re the one who’s going to be celebrating the birthday tomorrow evening now” (suppose for a minute that it’s your birthday tomorrow and you’re having some party/celebration). E.g. (2): “let me not even put mouth now” (I don’t want to end up saying something I regret so I won’t talk too much about it, at least not yet); “you people should have told me that you’re coming, now” (I wish you’d have let me know that you were planning on visiting).

In July 2019, Google announced its new Nigerian English accented voice for Maps, Google Assistant, and other Google products.[15][16][17] It is based on work of speech synthesis created by a team at Google led by Nigerian linguist Kola Tubosun.[18][19][20][21] In January 2020, Oxford English Dictionary added over two dozen new words of Nigerian English to the Oxford Dictionary.[22][23]

•  Nigeria portal
•  Language portal

• Kortmann, Bernd (2004). A Handbook of Varieties of English: Morphology and syntax. Vol. 2. Walter de Gruyter. p. 813. ISBN 3110175320.
• Cheshire, Jenny (1991). English around the world - Sociolinguistic perspectives. Cambridge University Press. p. 514. ISBN 0521330807.
• Faraclas, Nicholas G. (1996). Nigerian Pidgin. Routledge. p. 2. ISBN 0415022916.
• Ngefac, Aloysius (2008). Social differentiation in Cameroon English. Peter Lang. p. 19. ISBN 9781433103902.
• Ihemere, Kelechukwu U. (2007). A Tri-Generational Study of Language Choice & Shift in Port Harcourt. p. xvi. ISBN 978-1581129588.
• Farooq Kperogi: Glocal English: The Changing Face and Form of Nigerian English in Global World. New York: Peter Lang, 2015. ISBN 978-1433129261