Department of English
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- ItemA bibliography of Nigerian corpus-based studies.(KRAFT BOOKS LIMITED, 2023) Akinola, Aderonke
- ItemA Corpus-based Study of Patterns of Triphthong Realisation in Educated Nigerian English(Journal of English Scholars’ Association of Nigeria, 2024) Akinola, AderonkeThe existence of triphthongs in native and non-native English varieties is a controversial topic. Therefore, this paper undertakes a corpus-based study of the patterns of triphthong realisation in educated Nigerian English (NigE) to identify the phonological processes employed in their realisation. Natural phonology has been adopted as a theoretical framework based on its practical application against formal or rule-governed phonological theories. The spoken part of the International Corpus of English (ICE), Nigeria of over 600,000 words provided data for the study. Using AntConc corpus analysis toolkit (version 3.4.4.0), 26 lexical items that contain English triphthong sounds were searched for in the ICE-Nig corpus. Only 20 of the items that occurred ten times and more in the corpus were eventually selected for analysis. These were analysed quantitatively by counting the tokens of occurrence and the number of speakers and converting them to percentages. The findings revealed that triphthongs are variedly realised in NigE, through natural phonological processes of syllabification, diphthongisation and monophthongisation as a ‘natural’ solution to the general difficulty associated with their pronunciation. This marks NigE as different from RP and validates its peculiarity and uniqueness. The study re-echoes the ongoing clamour for the codification and standardisation of NigE so that it can also occupy its rightful place as a variety of World Englishes.
- ItemLinguistic Shift among Ghanaian and Nigerian New English Native Speakers (NENS): Pedagogical Implications(International Journal of Membrane Science and Technology, 2023-11-17) Babatunde, SamuelThis study investigates the intriguing linguistic phenomenon of New English Native Speakers (NENS) in Ghana and Nigeria. NENS are typically monolingual, with some having limited ability to speak or understand their local languages. Their adoption of English as a native-like language has led to the creation of a unique linguistic subgroup and a language shift in the two countries. The research, therefore, provides insights into the linguistic shift among Ghanaian and Nigerian NENS and its pedagogical implications. A survey questionnaire was administered to collect quantitative data on participants' language backgrounds, patterns of language use, and competence in English concord usage. The overall percentages of correct responses for both countries are computed, yielding approximately 42.65% for Ghana and approximately 39.15% for Nigeria in English concord competence. Notably, Ghana exhibits a marginally higher overall percentage of correct responses than Nigeria. The findings of this investigation hold significant implications for pedagogy in both nations. In order to address the observed linguistic challenges in Ghana and Nigeria, the study advocates for the adoption of more communicative and task based approaches to English language teaching, alongside an increased emphasis on authentic language exposure. The research underscores the pressing need for more effective pedagogical methodologies in instructing English concord usage. English language teachers in Ghana and Nigeria are encouraged to acknowledge the identified challenges and devise strategies to enhance English language teaching and learning.
- ItemEmergence of English New Native Speakers in Nigeria: reclassifying the English Speakers(2022-04-18) Babatunde, SamuelThis research decolonises the concept of new native speakers to mean “those who are born in the inner circle” and establishes that, there are native speakers of English in Nigeria. More recently, a group of speakers has been identified known as; the English New Native Speakers. These speakers are mostly monolinguals, who have a good command of the English Language. They are without or with the bit of ability to speak or comprehend the local language(s) used around them. The new native speaker is a 21st-century phenomenon because these speakers have not been in existence in Nigeria before this time. This paper establishes the emergence of the New English Native Speakers in Nigeria and calls for the addition of new native speakers of English in the taxonomy of the existing classification of the speakers of English in Nigeria. This paper, therefore, advocates for the re-classification of the English speakers in Nigeria to include these new speakers. I postulate that the new taxonomy of the speakers in Nigeria should be grouped thus: English new native speakers (speakers with little or no indigenous language), English as a second language (those who developed English as a second language, English as the first language (those who speak English as the first language and later developed an indigenous language).
- ItemNigerian English pronunciation preferences: a corpus-based survey of pronunciation variants(2022) Akinola, AderonkeThis paper examines 48 lemmas that typically exhibit variable pronunciations in English in order to establish the variants preferred by Nigerian English (NigE) speakers. The data for the study were extracted from the spoken part of International Corpus of English (ICE)—Nigeria and analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency counts and percentage distribution presented on tables). The findings establish phonemic variability as a widespread phenomenon in NigE, which is conditioned by a combination of exonormative and endonormative factors. The study concludes that, although NigE is largely influenced by the exoglossic Standard varieties, it is undergoing critical norm development which deserves to be codified in order to achieve endonormative stability. The present findings are, therefore, recommended as valuable resources for a future edition of a NigE dictionary as an important step towards standardisation.