Language transfer and the Nigerian writer of English

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study discusses the processes of language transfer as used by Nigerian writers in English. These processes are illustrated with examples from the noun phrase, the verb phrase, and word formation. The primary focus is on two Nigerian creative writers, i.e. Chinua Achebe (Arrow of God) and Amos Tutuola (The Palm‐wine Drinkard). It is shown that the two writers represent two distinct attempts to cope with the problem of expressing a native cultural experience in a non‐native language, through the transfer of linguistic structures and sociocultural concepts expressed in the first language. Such a transfer—conscious or unconscious—is thus a valuable strategy for a creative writer. The examples show that the search for translation equivalents for culture‐bound items and form in Nigerian English is a necessary stage in the process of nativization of an institutionalized variety of English.