Internet-Induced?: A Re-examination of Sources of Writing Errors in Educated Nigerian English

Abstract

This study examines writing errors in the written discourse of Nigerian university-educated users of English (sophisticated variety). The aim is to determine the extent to which non-standard usages attested in the writing of Educated Nigerians are manifestations of the impact of internet language. The population of this study comprised three hundred (300) respondents who are university educated users of the English language. They were selected by a stratified random sampling technique from six universities in South- South Nigeria. Usage features considered distinctively internet features which occurred in the studied texts were identified and coded using the principles of Content Analysis. The analysis shows that internet language features like Alphanumeric features, initialisms respelling, shortening, and symbols occurred in varying frequencies in the subjects’ productions. Moreover, the analysis shows that these internet language features are not necessarily induced by the electronic medium alone, but by other factors like inconsistencies in the linguistic system as well as the inability of English language users to discern the requirements of specific writing contexts.