Varieties of English Language in Nigeria: A Tool for Character Stratification in Wole Soyinka’s The Beatification of Area Boy.

Abstract

Language is not only a means of communication; rather it has served man in diverse ways. Wole Soyinka in his The Beatification of Area Boy has shown another role language can play in drama. It is a means of showing the various class statuses of characters in a dramatic setting. Since drama expresses the social realities of a society, the playwright has been able to bring to fore the contemporary role English language has been playing in the linguistic setting of Nigeria. Wole Soyinka, has been able to show that the language is not confined to people of a particular educational background but it is a language that everyone has been able to manipulate and found useful for communicative purposes. Thus, the varieties of English identified in The Beatification of Area Boy shows the social stratification of people in a typical Nigerian society which resulted from the different educational background of each character.