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All content in this area was uploaded by Sunday Ape on Feb 22, 2021
Content may be subject to copyright.
THE EFFECTS OF NIGERIAN ENGLISH ON THE WRITINGS OF SOME SELECTED
NIGERIAN STUDENTS OF THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, THE
NILE UNIVERSITY, ABUJA
ABSTRACT
English language has become domesticated in Nigeria, meaning that Nigerians speak the
language and write in it with the influences or interferences from their mother tongues. The
uniqueness of the speakers' mother tongues gain entrance into their usages of English; their
traditions and customs are reflected in the way they speak or write in English. This study
investigates how this phenomenon is reflected in the writings of Nigerian students in tertiary
institutions. The Nigerian-Turkish Nile University has been nominated to serve this purpose,
being situated in the Federal Capital Territory and enjoying the patronage of students from
almost all the ethnic groups of Nigeria. The course, 'The Use of English', has been selected for
this analysis because the essay part of it involves continuous writing which affords the scholar
the opportunity of analyzing the students' dialectal usage of the target language: the focus is to
distinguish their normal errors in usage from errors accruing from mother-tongue interference.
In the end, it has been established that most of the errors in Nigerian students' usage of English
accrue from their mother-tongue interference, that is, the Nigerian English variety which is a
product of the people's inter-language. It is therefore suggested that efforts should be made by
both the students and their lecturers to take their English usage beyond the dialectal level so that
they can achieve both local and international communications.
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper is a presentation of the analysis of errors and deficiencies resulting from Nigerian
English usages in the writings of selected Nigerian students of the Faculty of Science and
Engineering, Nigerian-Turkish Nile University, Abuja. As a service course, "The Use of
English", whose contents include essay writing was used in the study. It is believed that the
errors and deficiencies which bedevil the writings of Nigerian students in this course are as a
result of the effects of the domestication of the English language in Nigeria. This domestication
accounts for the variety of English known as Nigerian English, just as we have other varieties
like Indian English, Turkish English, Ghanaian English and so on.
A language variety, according to Freeborn, Langford and French (64 - 84), consists of variations
in grammar and vocabulary, and in accent of the language. Quirk and Greenbaum (1973)
distinguish between these variations as they refer to variations in grammar and vocabulary as
dialectal while those in accent are called accentual variations. Dialectal and accentual variations
1
are the constituents of a language variety. The Nigerian English varies from the standard British
English in terms of grammar and vocabulary, apart from the aspect of accent. It is the dialectal
variation from the standard British English that bears adverse effects on the writings of Nigerian
students (Attah: 1994; pp. 32 - 42). This study is necessary as it investigates the effects of the
Nigerian English dialect on the writings of the Nigerian students. It is used to answer the
question of how language variations can reflect on the students' writings. The two language skills
of listening and writing are therefore taken care of by the investigation of accentual variations
and dialectal variations.
It is worthy to note that errors in writing are categorized into normal linguistic, that is,
grammatical errors and expression errors. Grammatically, according to Appel and Muysken (83 -
92) and Adegbite (95 - 98), the second language learners of English, including Nigerian students,
often fall into the errors of overgeneralization of rules. For instance, one comes across usages
such as,
*"She bursted into laughter";
*"Eugenia casted the news yesterday";
*"I do not know what your criterias are";
*"All the stadiums in Nigeria need to be repaired".
The underlined words show the overgeneralization of rules as applied by the second-language
users of English, which is one of the things that mar the writings of Nigerian students.
In an attempt to clarify the issue of errors accruing from imperfect learning as against non-
standard forms that are legitimately Nigerian English, Attah (2000: 152 - 164) says, "The
characteristics which identify Nigerian English are, therefore, not the outright errors arising from
inadequate knowledge of the language, but the established deviations which reflect Nigerian
culture and the people's general outlook on life". Whatever the errors, whether normal linguistic
(grammatical) errors or socio-cultural deviations from the standard British English, they have the
capability of adversely affecting communication locally and/or internationally. The errors of
overgeneralization of linguistic rules and those of the variation from the standard British English
(SBE) as a result of socio-cultural deviations can generate negative response from the audience
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or the reader(s). They may reject the contents of the writing because of the poor language
carriage. Wells (1982) postulates that an unintelligible language will elicit attitude of
unacceptability from the audience: unintelligibility elicits unacceptability.
The choice of essay writing as an aspect for this investigation is significant. It is in free writing
that the language user's competence in grammar and vocabulary can be ascertained. It is required
that the scientists possess a good level of grammatical and vocabulary competence so that they
can communicate accurately, otherwise their message may fail and quackery may set in. The
society may be at the receiving end after all. That is why this study is done on the use of English
in the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
As stated earlier, it is believed that the Nigerian English has adverse effects in the writing skill of
the Nigerian students, thereby hampering their written communication. The study therefore aims
at investigating the Nigerian English in the writings of the Nigerian students of the Faculty of
Science and Engineering, Nigerian-Turkish Nile University, Abuja. The objectives are to
a) identify the normal/recurrent grammatical and/or expression errors in the students' writings.
b) identify errors that are peculiar Nigerian English usages in the students' writings.
c) make suggestions/recommendations towards effective written communication among the
students.
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
The question of the existence of Nigerian English has been the subject of several debates at local
and international conferences since 1967 to date. Many scholars like Walsh (1967), Ubahakwe
(1970), Banjo (1971), William (1981), Brosnahan (1985), Kujore (1985), Odumuh (1987, 1990),
Jowitt (1991) and Attah (2000) have made their contributions in response to the question, "Is
there Nigerian English?" Their responses have been to establish the features and acceptability of
the variety of English known as Nigerian English.
Walsh (1967: 47 - 55) tactically advises that while it is true that the modification of English has
reached a point where usage which occurs nowhere else in the world, can easily be found in
Nigeria, the distinction must be made between non-standard forms that are legitimately Nigerian
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English and the substandard forms that are simply mistakes due to imperfect learning of the
language. According to Walsh, expressions such as "Amina's co-wife", "put to bed", "let us join
hands", "motor accident on road" can be identified as Nigerian English version of the standard
British English usages for the concepts of "second wife", "give birth", "work together", and "road
accidents" respectively.
Ubahakwe (1970) lends credence to the argument that there is Nigerian English as he attempts to
distinguish its varieties into the educated or standard Nigerian English and the deviant forms
referred to as substandard Nigerian English. In agreement with Ubahakwe, Adesanoye (1976)
enjoins Nigerians and the educational institutions to subscribe to the educated variety in their
writings. In further explication of the distinction between mere errors and Nigerian English
usages, Attah (152 - 164) argues that poor English expressions are heard in Nigeria, which are
not culture-bound but common among the less educated and are characterized by poor
phonological, lexical and syntactic features. He cites the examples of "Please, borrow me your
pen" and "Please, kindly reply to this missive" as neither grammatical errors, nor peculiar
Nigerian English usages. By this it could be deduced that there should be a clear distinction
between Nigerian English usage and mere errors of grammar and expressions.
Brosnahan (1958) and Banjo (1971) attempt differing classifications of the varieties of English in
Nigeria. Their classifications identify deviant forms and viable Nigerian variations. Brosnahan's
varieties I and II represent English speech of Nigerians who never went to school and those
educated only up to primary school respectively. These varieties tally with Banjo's variety I
because they represent the poorest form of English speech in Nigeria, featuring excessive
mother-tongue interference and resulting in serious intelligibility problems.
Brosnahan's varieties III and IV tally with Banjo's varieties II and III as they represent the
English speech of Nigerian secondary school and university products respectively. They bear the
desirable Nigerianness, featuring better phonological, lexical and syntactic performances. They
are near native English speech. Banjo's variety IV is the English speech of a native English-
speaking Nigerian born and bred in an English-speaking country, for instance England.
There seems to be some kind of correlation between Brosnahan's and Banjo's varieties on one
hand and Jowitt's (1991) classification of the varieties of English on the other hand. He
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identifies the "lects" of the speakers of English into basolect, mesolect and acrolect. The basolect
speakers of English are at the base of the speech performance pyramid while the acrolect are at
the apex of the pyramid. The mesolect are in the middle. The "lect" concept was further
explicated by Brann (1994: 125 - 134) who recommended that the acrolect should be adopted as
the standard Nigerian English. The whole concept is diagrammatically presented thus:
3% acrolect (RP)
Mesolect
basolect
A diagram showing the 'lects' of English speech as adapted from Jowitt (1991)
According to Jowitt, the Received Pronunciation (RP), which accounts for 3% of the speakers of
English, occupies the position of the acrolect while those accents which vary to a great extent
from the RP occupy the basolect position. These ones are the accents of the less educated in
English, who have accidental contacts with the language and can at best speak what could be
described as broken English or pigeon English. Their accents do not come to near realization of
the RP or its British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) equivalent accent.
In the middle are the mesolect speakers whose accents are a near realization of the RP or its BBC
equivalent accent. These speakers at the mesolect performance are more educated in statuses.
They (the speakers at the mesolect performance) use English language formally and try very hard
to avoid careless errors in grammar and/or in pronunciation. They make conscious efforts to
5
speak as they have been taught in schools and to be understood internationally. The RP or its
BBC equivalent accent is at the top of the pyramid as the acrolect. The acrolect is therefore the
recommended in speaking and in writing, but Nigerians, especially Nigerian students do not
attain this expectation in their writings.
Leading up to his explication of the "lects" theory, Jowitt (45 - 51) has attempted an analytical
presentation of the varieties of the Nigerian English according to the degrees of the variations
from the standard British English (SBE). His scheme includes the English speeches of Nigerians
who are educated up to primary school, those who are educated up to class four, those who are
West African School Certificate (WASC) holders, Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE)
holders and university graduates. According to him, their variations from the standard English
are according to their levels of education, which reflect in their English writings. It can also be
said that the writings of Nigerian students in tertiary institutions will be affected by the Nigerian
varieties of English which they use. This has informed this researcher's investigation of the
effects of Nigerian English in the writings of selected Nigerian students of the Faculty of Science
and Engineering, Nigerian-Turkish Nile University, Abuja.
3.0 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
Twenty students' essays were randomly selected from "The Use of English" examination written
in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Nigerian-Turkish Nile University, Abuja. The
following were the topics:
1) The next president of Nigeria should be a woman.
2) How to marry in my traditional society.
3) Describing the city of Abuja to a friend who does not know it.
4) A story ending with "I will never go out with him again".
The essays were selected with a consideration of the students' nationality and sex. They were
marked using the West African Examinations Council's (WAEC's) marking scheme for the
marking of essay writing under English Language Paper I. The marking scheme was anchored on
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the parameters of contents, organisation, expression and mechanical accuracy. For the purpose of
this study, focus was more on the parameters of expression and mechanical accuracy, which deal
with the errors of expression or diction or register and the errors of grammar, punctuation and
capitalization respectively. Mere errors of grammar, punctuation and capitalization were
distinguished from errors of expression which reflect Nigerianness and the interlanguage of the
Nigerian learner and user of English as a second language. The data were presented on tables
showing their percentages for comparative purposes and the drawing of final conclusion.
4.0 DATA PRESENTATION
The data generated from the field work, that is, the selection of the essay writings, their marking
and the identification of the various errors in the writings are presented in five (5) tables. The
tables contain information about the essay writers, their sex and departments, the questions
answered, the number and percentages of the students that answered each question, errors of
grammar and mechanics made as distinct from errors attributable to the variety of English in
Nigeria and the final comparison of the types of errors. The tables are thus presented:
Table 1: Number of Students/Respondents
Table 1 showing the number of students whose essays were selected, their registration numbers,
sex and departments.
N = 20
Student Sex Department
1 (74209061) M Elect/Elect. Engineering
2 (71210084) M Chemistry
3 (71310058) F Computer Science
4 (74209074) M Elect/Elect. Engineering
5 (72210054) F Mathematics
6 (72410071) F Physics
7 (72210064) M Mathematics
8 (71210053) F Chemistry
9 (74209090) F Elect/Elect. Engineering
10 (71310075) M Computer Science
11 (71310048) M Computer Science
12 (71210089) M Chemistry
13 (72210081) F Mathematics
14 (72410083) M Physics
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15 (72410069) F Physics
16 (71310055) M Computer Science
17 (71310072) M Computer Science
18 (74209088) M Elect/Elect. Engineering
19 (72210085) F Mathematics
20 (71210066) M Chemistry
Table 1 shows the number of students whose essays were randomly selected for analysis in this
study. Twenty of them including twelve (12) males and eight (8) females were selected; four (4)
from Electrical/Electronic department, four (4) from Chemistry department, five (5) from
Computer Science department, four (4) from Mathematics department and three (3) from Physics
department. Though the selection was random, there was a careful consideration of the issues of
sex and population of the students in the departments.
Table 2: Questions for Data Collection
Table 2 showing the students' choice of the questions (1) to (4) as itemized under "Methods of
Data Collection".
N = 20
Question No. of students that attempted Percentage
1 6 30
2 5 25
3 3 15
4 6 30
Total 20 100
Table 2 shows a total of four (4) questions, that is, those questions listed under "Methods of Data
Collection". Six (6) of the twenty (20) students representing 30% answered question 1; five (5)
representing 25% answered question 2; three (3) representing 15% answered question 3 while six
(6) representing 30% answered question 4.
Table 3: Normal Errors of Grammar and Mechanical Accuracy
Table 3 showing the normal errors of grammar and mechanical accuracy
N = 20
8
Question No. of
errors
Percentage Examples of errors
1 40 31.7 (a) A woman president is protecting the economy
than man president.
(b) They doesn't care about there people.
(c) She love the country than him.
2 23 18.3 (a) If the man and girl love themselves.
(b) When the father pray to them.
(c) The mother start to cry for her.
3 20 15.9 (a) Abuja city have been since the time of
Babangida.
(b) Gwari people doesn't like to live in town.
(c) I didn't see a city like this before.
4 43 34.1 (a) If the father did not like the man she will
vamoose with him.
(b) The girl will loose everything.
(c) Then she bursted out in tears.
Total 126 100
Table 3 shows the number of normal grammatical and mechanical accuracy errors recorded from
the students essays. A total of 126 errors of this category were identified. Question 4 recorded the
highest of 43 errors, representing 34.1% of the whole while question 3 recorded the lowest of 20
errors, representing 15.9% of the whole. Errors such as "A woman president is protecting the
economy than man president" and "Then she bursted out into tears" are grammatical. The
omission of comma in sentence (a) under question 4 is an error of mechanical accuracy. These
errors are different from the deviations according to socio-cultural and/or mother-tongue
influence, resulting in English varieties such as Nigerian English.
Table 4: Errors Resulting from Nigerian English Usage
Table 4 showing the number of errors resulting from Nigerian English Usages
N = 20
Question No. of Percentage Examples of errors
9
errors
1 50 31.6 (a) A woman president will wake the economy.
(b) change will make us good mind.
(c) Man presidents in Nigeria are thieffing our money
abroad.
(d) Male president have cheated Nigerians economy
too much.
(e) Woman president is our mother in Nigeria.
2 35 22.2 (a) If the man cross a woman he like ...
(b) If the man and woman wants to do marriage ...
(c) The man will full her ecolak with wrapper.
(d) The woman father will collect bride prize from
the man.
(e) The chief of the village will pour wine and pray
for them.
(f) Some beautiful damsel will escort her to her
husband house.
3 18 11.4 (a) I want to gist you about Abuja.
(b) The city light is very wonderful.
(c) Every time they are always blowing siren.
(d) They still have motor accident on the good roads
of Abuja.
4 55 34.8 (a) He vamoosed together with her.
(b) The boy and girl are still moving together.
(c) He casted her away and followed another girl.
(d) She bursted out in tears.
Total 158 100
Table 4 shows a total of 158 errors attributable to Nigerian English usages. Question 4 recorded
the highest of 55 such errors representing 34.8% of the whole while question 3 had the lowest of
18 representing 11.4%. Errors of direct translation from the mother tongue (M.T) into English
10
are replete, as in "woman president", "man president", "boy and girl ... still moving together",
"man and woman ... do marriage", etc. These expressions are a deviation from the standard
British English which the stake-holders in education expect the students to use. For instance, the
expression "wake the economy" is the Nigerian's perception of a dead economy that requires
revival; in place of the verb "revive" the writer had erroneously used "wake".
Table 5: Comparison of Normal Grammatical Errors and those of Nigerian English Usages
Table 5 showing the comparison of the normal grammatical errors and those of the Nigerian
English usages
Errors Number Percentage
Normal grammatical errors 126 44.4
Nigerian English errors 158 55.6
Total 284 100
Table 5 shows that there are 284 errors identified in all the twenty (20) essays. Out of these, 126
representing 44.4% of the whole are normal grammatical errors while the greater number of 158
errors representing 55.6% of the whole accrue from Nigerian English usages. The difference of
11.2% between the two types of errors, though not significant, shows that there is the effect of
Nigerian English in the writings of the Nigerian students.
5.0 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF DATA
Table 1 is a presentation of the number of students whose essay writings were used for this study.
Twenty (20) essays written by twelve (12) male and eight (8) female students were selected from
five (5) departments of the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Out of the twenty (20) essays,
six (6) were argumentative, five (5) expository, three (3) descriptive and six (6) narrative, as can
be seen in table 2. Table 3 is a presentation of the normal grammatical errors in the writings of
the twenty (20) students. A total of 126 errors of this category were identified;
40 errors accrued from question 1,
11
23 errors accrued from question 2,
20 accrued from question 3, and
43 from question 4.
Specifically, there are errors of tense and tense sequence, comparative usage, omission of
articles, particularly the definite article, subject-verb agreement, the use of pronouns,
prepositions, singular and plural nouns, past tense and past participle formations of the irregular
verbs as distinct from those of the regular verbs. There are also errors of spelling, punctuation
and diction (expression). Usages such as:
*"A woman president is protecting the economy than man president";
*"They doesn't care ...";
*"The father pray ...";
*"The mother start to ...";
*"Garki people doesn't ..."; etc can be identified as examples of grammatical errors of tense,
tense sequence, subject-verb agreement.
The problem of the wrong use of pronouns and prepositions is grammatical. The pronoun "they"
is used most often without obvious noun antecedent, as in *"They doesn't care ..." Sometimes the
objective case is used instead of the subjective, as in; *"She love the country than him" The
correct usage should be "She loves the country more than he". These wrong usages create
semantic ambiguity like the wrong expressions in:
*"They doesn't care about there people" (instead of "their people").
*"The girl will loose ..." (instead of "lose").
Another main error of grammar is the overgeneralization of grammatical rules, as in: *"Then she
bursted out in tears" (instead of "burst"). Christophersen and Sandved (1972:34 - 64), Quirk and
Greenbaum (1980: 28 - 35) and Tomori (1976: 88 - 95) explain that the regular verb forms its
past tense (-ed1) and past participle (-ed2) by adding the morpheme (suffix) "-ed". They however
12
explain that the irregular verb forms its "-ed1" and "-ed2" differently, either by the use of
replacive morpheme or by suppletion, as in:
"take - took - taken" (replacive) or
"go - went - gone" (suppletion).
Callihan (1973: 57 - 63) observes that the irregular verbs which form 70% of the English verbal
system are the most problematic to the second-language learners and users of English. According
to him, the wrong use of the irregular verbs and the irregular nouns dominate the interlanguage
of the second-language learners and users of English.
Table 4 presents the students' errors accruing from Nigerian English usages, usages that result
from mother-tongue (M.T) interference, overgeneralization of rules and other linguistic matters
that characterize the interlanguage of the second-language learner/user of English. Ubahakwe
(1977), Adegbite (2009), Adegbite, Udofot and Ayoola (2014) identify direct translation from
M.T. to English as a major problem of the second-language users of English. In this, the users
think in the M.T. and translate the idea directly into English. The cultural backgrounds of the
users bear much effect in their English speech or writings. Usages accruing from such effects are
what we refer to as "Nigerian English errors" in the writings of the twenty students-respondents
in this study. The table presents a total of 158 of such errors accruing from the twenty essays
covering the four essay topics in this study. Of the 158 errors of this kind,
50 were derived from question 1,
35 from question 2,
18 from question 3, and
55 from question 4.
The errors can be analyzed into those involving direct translation from the M.T. to English, as in:
"woman president" for "female president";
"man president" for "male president";
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"do marriage" for "wedding";
"man cross a woman" for "man meets a woman";
"full her ecolak with wrapper" for "buying clothes into her box or wardrobe";
"escort her to her husband house" for "accompanying her to the husband's house";
"boy and girl ... moving together" for "boy and girl in relationship or in love";
"He followed another girl" for "he related or was in love with another girl"; etc.
Some of the errors can be identified as Popular Nigerian English (PNE) usages. Jowitt (1991; 34
- 51) refers to PNE as usages that are common among Nigerians despite their levels of
educational attainment. Examples of such usages in the students' essays include:
"Change ... will make us good mind" ("change" as partisan usage);
"... thieffing our economy ..." for "siphoning from the economy";
"collect bride prize" for "receiving dowry or bride price" ;
"motor accidents on roads" for "road accident";
"gist you about Abuja" for "tell you about Abuja"; etc.
Some of the errors can be described simply as the learner's or user's interlanguage, as in:
omission of the possessive case in "the woman father", "her husband house";
omission of the definite article in "the man and woman", "the boy and girl";
overgeneralization of grammatical rules as in "casted her away", "bursted out in tears".
Table 5 presents the comparison between the errors that are normal grammatical errors in the
essays and those that are as a result of Nigerian English usages. All the errors amount to 284. Of
these, 126 are normal grammatical errors, representing 44.4% while 158 are as a result of the
Nigerian English usages, representing 55.6% of all the errors. The difference is 11.2%; in an
evaluative situation, any marks below 40% is insignificant. Though the difference of 11.2% is
14
insignificant, the study has shown that there is an adverse effect of Nigerian English in the
writings of Nigerian students.
6.0 CONCLUSION
A language is not only spoken; It is also written. Communication can be either verbal (oral) or
written. The oral communication is what yields the speaker's accent, but his dialect, which
comprises of grammar and vocabulary, can be viewed in his writing. This study has been
conducted to answer the question of how Nigerian English can reflect in students' writings, not
only in their spoken English.
This study has investigated the Nigerian English usage in the writings of some Nigerian students
of the Nigerian-Turkish Nile University, Abuja. Errors identified in the writings are both
grammatical and of expression. Most of the expression errors do not merely accrue from
imperfect learning of English but from the mother-tongue interference and the socio-cultural
backgrounds of the students-writers. The students unconsciously use such expressions as they
translate from their mother tongues into their English speech or writings. Such errors are the ones
experts refer to as the Nigerian English usages in the students' writings. It suffices to say that
Nigerian English usages have adverse effects in the writing proficiency of the Nigerian students.
The study makes certain recommendations. Firstly, Nigerian students should be able to
distinguish their local variety of English from the standard usage of the language. They should be
conscious of situational contexts - formal contexts require standard usage while the less formal
tolerate deviations, such as are replete in the Nigerian English.
Lecturers of the "Use of English", as a course of study in the universities, should intensify their
professional attempts to teach their students the different varieties of English and when to use
them. It is advisable to start teaching dialectology as a course of study right from the early stage
or levels of the tertiary education in Nigeria so as to solve the problem of muddling up standard
usages with the non-standard. If these recommendations are effected, Nigerian students' writings
will gain more value or acceptability in communication.
15
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