Sociolinguistic consequences of language contact: English versus Nigerian languages

Abstract

The language contact situation in Nigeria in which English coexists with many of Nigeria's indigenous languages provides the context for the study of ‘language interaction’, that is, the reciprocal influences which the English language and Nigeria's indigenous languages have on each other. Studies in the bilingual situation in Nigeria have usually concentrated on either the contrastive analyses of English and Nigerian languages in phonology, syntax and usage, or the interference features of the indigenous languages found in the varieties of English used by Nigerians. The point of interest has always been the English language, and the methodological orientation has always been influenced by pedagogical reasons, that is, the need for improvement in the teaching/learning of English in Nigeria. This paper, however, focuses on some other dimensions of language interaction. It analyzes the lexical and syntactic characteristics of the utterances of Nigerians purportedly speaking in their native languages. These utterances contain several instances of English words, phrases and sentences which have been incorporated into their utterances in the indigenous language resulting in some curious morphological and syntactic structures in the ‘hybrid’ utterances. Such hybridization in speech results from the interaction between English and Nigeria's indigenous languages. In addition, the paper examines the phenomenon of code-switching between Nigerian languages and English within the sociolinguistic concept of code-usage and socio-cultural meaning. The constant switching from the indigenous language to English reveals some communicative strategies which some bilingual speakers use to effect differing shades of meaning in their utterances.