Introduction
It is now common knowledge that the English language has become part of Nigeria's linguistic family, albeit as a second language that has been ‘home-grown…adapted and tamed to suit the Nigerian environment’ (Adegbija, Reference Adegbija, Awonusi and Babalola2004: 19). Summarizing Alamin A. Mazrui (2004), Akere (Reference Akere2006: 9) describes this domestication as ‘the transformation of English as an alien medium, to make it respond to local imagery, figures of speech, sound patterns and the general cultural milieu of the region’. This has been the practice of many writers where English is the colonial masters' language and is now adopted as a second language, but with ‘local colour’, as noted by Emenyonu (2006: xi). This dynamic and creative variety has helped Nigerians express their world view in a more international medium. In addition, there are more ‘pragmatic’ sub-varieties, including what Omolewa (Reference Omolewa and Ubahakwe1979: 14–15) calls ‘working English’. This is, however, different from the widespread Pidgin English, which continues to serve as the linguistic bridge across the linguistic Babel of Nigeria. While Pidgin is greatly influenced by the immediate local languages, thus making uniformity difficult to achieve, the emerging Nigerian English (henceforth NE) is not as heavily dependent on indigenous local languages. According to Igboanusi (Reference Igboanusi2002: 4), ‘NE has its origin in British English, and the lexicon of NE has therefore shown a strong British influence.’ In other words, while Pidgin is common among the uneducated and spoken by the educated when necessary, NE is spoken by the educated and the level of education determines the variety of NE used by individuals. NE should be seen as an autonomous variety, showing acceptable departures from the rules of standard diction, pronunciation and grammar. The contact of English with indigenous languages in Nigeria is bound to lead to greater deviation from the standard in the future. Since Nigeria has one of the largest populations of speakers of English as a second language in the world (Akere, Reference Akere2009; Jowitt, Reference Jowitt2009), this is bound to have implications for English as a global language.
This study attempts to flesh out claims regarding the indigenization of English in Nigeria. More specifically it aims to (a) identify the contributions of NE to the ever growing vocabulary of International English; (b) identify the morphological processes leading to new words in NE; and (c) assess the degree of independence of NE from international varieties like standard British English. The features which constitute the data for the present study are gathered from two sources: (a) common written texts in Nigeria, such as newspapers, magazines and popular creative literature, and (b) field notes based on public talks, sermons and conversations that I listened to. A mobile phone with dictionary software was handy to help confirm words, on the spot, that sounded part of NE, but not standard. As a branch of linguistics, morphology ‘refers to the mental system involved in word formation or to the branch of linguistics that deals with words, their internal structure, and how they are formed’ (Aronoff & Fudeman, Reference Aronoff and Fudeman2005: 1–2). This definition led me to stress the cognitive system of word formation, as Nigerians put their mental linguistic competence to use. Some of the words generated go beyond the realm of ‘potential word’ which Aronoff & Fudeman (Reference Aronoff and Fudeman2005: 213) define somewhat provocatively as an item ‘that could be a word, but is not, because it is not yet in the dictionary’. Although these words have yet to find their way into regular standard dictionaries, their use in texts read with wide intelligibility suggests that some, perhaps many, eventually will.
Morphological processes of NE in Nigerian writing
In this section I will exemplify some of the striking examples in my database based on morphological processes evident in them.
(a) Compounding: This is the most common process, leading to new forms that go beyond the forms permissible in Standard English. As we shall see, it is not that the patterns of compounding differ structurally from the standard; rather the range of forms that are generated by these rules are somewhat in advance of international norms.
(1) There are many views, even in the north, that are pro-breaking agreement [pro = ‘in support/favour of’]. Breaking agreement in the Nigerian context is not keeping to the terms of an agreement.
(2) …they are being multiple-tongued in dealing with this matter of zoning the presidency [= ‘insincere’].
(3) The principal tongue-lashed him for his rude behaviour [= ‘reprimanded, gave a tongue lashing to’].
(4) There is a terrible end for Christians who backslide [although this is an old term in Western Christian discourse, and in applied linguistics, it is perhaps more common in colloquial NE than other varieties, and gives rise to related verb forms like backslid and backslidden].
(5) Ferdinand could have talked to the big people in the police and I could not get justice [= ‘influential people, top brass’].
(b) Affixation: Although NE shares its core of prefixes and suffixes with L1 varieties in meaning and form, there are some instances where their distribution would occasion surprise to native speakers. This applies especially to suffixes. Some prefixal combinations that are worthy of note in NE are outlined below.
Whereas NE combinations like de-freeze, de-list or de-robe occur in Standard English or are fairly transparent to those who might not use them, the form de-she (‘to make less dignified as a lady’) is not. The prefix dis- may be extended to form items like dis-virgin ‘to deflower’, dis-annul ‘to cancel an annulment or reverse an annulment’. The term uncustomary, though transparent in Standard English, is unusual: in NE it is a regular item meaning ‘not in line with laid down rules or custom’. The form less is prefixed to adjectives with the semantics of negation, rather than mere diminution: hence less-privileged (‘not privileged, under-privileged’), less-concerned (‘unconcerned’) and less-influential (‘uninfluential’).
(6) With more care from Nigerians, the less-privileged would have positive mental attitude and feel wanted and loved.
(7) Nigerian politicians are less-concerned about the plight of the citizenry.
(8) Being less-influential, he could not approach the Police Commissioner.
In contrast, suffixation patterns are more striking in NE. Below is a list of elements that favour the suffix –able in ways that may seem unusual to many users of English outside Nigeria. In the first (and largest) subset the pattern is ‘Verb + able = Adjective’
• danceable (‘able to be danced to – of music’)
• hearable (‘able to be heard’)
• walkable (‘within walking distance’)
• bendable (‘able to be bent’)
• digable (‘able to be dug’)
• cuttable (‘able to be cut’)
• poundable (‘able to be pounded’)
• preparable (‘able to be prepared’)
• pushable (‘able to be pushed’)
• rewindable (‘able to be rewound’)
• writable (‘able to be written’)
Further examples of the extended use of –able in NE show its use with compound verbs or prefix + verb:
• subletable (‘able to be sublet’)
• unbendable (‘unable to be bent’)
There is a large miscellaneous set of noun-forming suffixes in Standard English. Some of these show a wider range of application in NE.
• -ist as in superstitionist (‘one who believes in supernatural influences’)
• -ness as in charitableness (‘tolerance in judging others’)
• -ness as in unreadiness (‘state of unpreparedness’)
• –ship as in twinship (‘two things related to each other or which cannot be separated’)
The use of –less in the following example is standard, but would need explaining to an international audience, since the base term is unfamiliar outside NE: koboless (‘very poor’). Since the kobo is the lower denomination of Nigerian currency, the term is used on analogy with ‘penniless’.
(c) Back-formation: These refer to new base forms formed by depriving an older word of its affix. In Standard English to commentate is one such example, being derived from commentator historically, rather than the other way round. The earlier form was in fact to comment. In NE the example of to tongue-lash given above under compounds follows this pattern. Another striking example is to overblow meaning ‘to exaggerate’, based on the participial form overblown.
Semantic process in NE writing
(a) Semantic shift differs from the above three categories insofar as it signifies a change in meaning without a change in form. It thus applies to semantics rather than the morphology of derived forms. Thus there are terms in NE which mean something different from what they commonly mean in Standard British or American English. Here are some examples:
• big people (‘influential people’). That this meaning is transparent in Standard English can be seen in informal international terms like big-shot.
• godfather (‘financier’), rather than the international meanings of ‘male godparent, powerful man at the head of a criminal organization’.
• tout (‘miscreant’), rather than the international meaning of ‘somebody who sells things unofficially’.
• expo is used in Nigeria to refer to the practice of letting students have advance knowledge of a yet to be written examination paper. It is an abuse of office by those who are supposed to be custodians of live questions, but betray that trust by selling them. The consequence is cancellation of the examination result in question. Another word for this term, common in the southwest part of the country, is origo [ᴐriʤǝᴜ], from the English word ‘original’.
(9) A situation where students rely on expo to succeed in examinations is not good for our educational development.
(10) The school gets origo straight from Council officials.
(11) Get all Exam expo, directly to your email.
(12) Students who pass public examinations through expo are not known to do well in their further studies.
• bogus (‘big/elaborate’), rather than ‘counterfeit/spurious/pretended’
• lanky (‘huge, hefty’) rather than ‘tall and thin’
• troubleshooter (‘troublemaker’) rather than ‘peacemaker’
• garage (‘a designated place for commercial vehicles to take passengers to their destinations, motor park’), rather than ‘a building for keeping cars’
(b) Semantic narrowing occurs when words are restricted, to some extent, in meaning. For example, drink is sometimes restricted to ‘alcohol’ leaving out some other things that can be drunk, even water. This sense is perhaps the trend internationally too.
(c) Semantic extension refers to widening the scope of meaning of a word. For example the word ‘mineral’ in Nigeria is used to refer to non-alcoholic beverages such as Coca-Cola and 7UP. This is extension rather than shift, because other meanings of mineral are still known, including mineral water. This use of the extended meaning is actually an archaism, since British English once had this meaning.
(d) Local coinages: Unsurprisingly, given what we have said about the prominence of Nigeria's indigenous languages, their influence is felt in NE. For example, ido-osi is fast becoming another word for ‘scam’, arising from the allegedly dishonest conduct of a re-run election in 2009, in Ido-Osi Local Government Council in Ekiti State.
(e) Deliberate satirical neologisms: In the sphere of political reporting some ironic neologisms are evident, which speak volumes about the reputation of politicians:
• militician (‘former soldier venturing into civil governance’)
• politrickcian (‘deceitful politician’)
• executhief (‘dishonest and greedy executive’)
Conclusion
Okoro (Reference Okoro, Awonusi and Babalola2004:167) proposed that ‘Nigerian English is simply English the way Nigerians speak and write it!’ and that we cannot continue, forever, the debate on the existence of NE; otherwise, what else do we call English to express situations which are intelligible, contextually, as used by Nigerians who have never stepped out of the shores of this country, let alone interacted personally with native speakers? To suggest that a regional English such as NE must necessarily be aboriginal (Uhunmwagho, Reference Uhunmwangho, Adegbite and Olajide2009) is to say Nigerians have not influenced the English language in any way, when indeed there are creative and pragmatic expressions that do not exist in British or American English but are traceable to Nigeria because of their unique Nigerianness. Svartvik & Leech (Reference Svartvik and Leech2006: 121) say that since independence, when colonial masters no longer hold sway in the administration of government, ‘regional varieties of the language, sharing some characteristics with the local languages, tend to develop their own prestige values, and some kind of standardization – or convergence of local varieties – begins to take place’. This is also Adegbija's (Reference Adegbija, Awonusi and Babalola2004) position; that Nigerians respond naturally to particular linguistic and sociological needs by domesticating the English language, creating new ideas and modes of thoughts in new ways that are not generally available in British and American varieties, but are peculiar to the features of Kachru's Outer and Expanding Circles.■
DARE OWOLABI (PhD), a Senior Lecturer in English, was formerly of the Department of Modern European Languages, The University of Education, Ikere Ekiti, Nigeria. He is now at the Department of English and Literary Studies, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. His research interests include: English for Specific Purposes, Applied Linguistics and literature and literary criticism. Email: dareowo2006@yahoo.com
