Cite this article as: Opoola, A. F., & Ajayi, E. S. (2026). The national language question in Nigeria: Ninglish as a bail out. Sokoto Journal of Linguistics and Communication Studies (SOJOLICS), 2(2), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.36349/sojolics.2026.v02i02.01
By
Opoola, Ayobami Fatima (Ph.D.)
Department of Primary Education,
Federal College of Education
(SP),Oyo.
+2347031322981
&
Ajayi, Enoch Siyanbola,
Department of Primary Education,
Federal College of Education, (SP),
Oyo.
+2348068895546
Abstract
The national language question has
continued to be a recurring issue in the Nigerian sociopolitical context. This
paper examines the role of English language and the quest for a national
language in Nigeria. The paper pointed out that the amalgamation of the
Southern and the Northern protectorates by Lord Lugard in 1914 were partly
responsible for the multilingual status of Nigeria because it formed a common
community out of otherwise different ethnic groups that have different
languages and cultures. The issue of having a national language has resulted
into political instability, multilingual nature of the country and it has
seriously affected many deliberations in the national and state assemblies in
Nigeria. The objective of this is to propose a national language that will be
acceptable to all Nigerians and that will lead to mutual intelligibility on the
parts of the speakers in Nigeria. Findings from this study reveal the four
factors of driven Nigeria language policy through a cursory theoretical examination
of the causes and types of Nigerian English expressions. Some of these
expressions are deviations while some are viable innovations. In another
dimension, this paper inferred that so far, the country is divided into six geo
– political zones, where every zone would adopt one major indigenous language
as an official national language and English should be retrained as the first
official language that serves as a bridge between the geo – political /
linguistic zones. This paper proposes that the Nigerian English which is terms
as ‘Ninglish’ should be adopted as the official language for proper mutual
understanding among the various ethnic groups and English language should be
seen as a working language rather than being referred to as National language.
Keywords: National language, Nigeria English, Official language,
language policy, Nigeria languages.
1.0 Introduction
This paper is interested in
proposing a national language that will be acceptable to all Nigerians and will
be a language of mutual intelligibility that will be well understood by all
Nigerians and sees English as working language rather than being used as
official language.
1.1 Background to the Study
The global spread of the English
language as one of the most far – reaching linguistic phenomena is already an
established fact. Evidence of this phenomenon of language contact, variation
and change can be seen through such designations as world Englishes, new
Englishes, Modern English, West African Englishes, South African Englishes,
East African Englishes, Indian Englishes and many more (Akindele and Adegbite
2004). The phrase ‘Nigerian English’ has also appeared in the last four decades
and the varieties of English spoken by educated Nigerians, no matter what their
language is truly say a lot about the speakers, and these have enough features
in common to work off a general type which may be called Nigeria English.
Bokamba (1982, 1991) recognized the existence of a Nigerian English and
referred to it as a variety of what he called ‘West African Vernacular English’
(WAVE). Similarly, Jubril (1986) saw Nigerian English as part of the continuum
of ‘West African English’.
Among the different languages
spoken in Nigeria, English as a language has carved a niche out for itself. It
is a language of its own class that emerge out of a mammoth of other languages.
English language did not come to Nigeria just on its own, thus, its incursion
into Nigeria was caused by lots of factors like trading, slavery, colonialism
and missionary activities in Nigeria by the Europeans and this was done in
phases. It is an imported language from Britain and adequately modified from
time to time through the process of adaptation since its incursion in Nigeria
environment. Bamgbose (1991) attests to its dominance in government circle in
the colonial times and particularly in the 1950s to the present is an
uncontroversial fact. In fact, its dominance in recent times has reached an
unbearable peak with the increasing impact of globalization in world economy
and technology. Oriola and Olapade (2010) attest that there is aggressive
expansion and spread in English language throughout the world. He made an interesting
and impressive statement about the extent in which the English language is used
in over 70 countries as an official or semi-official language and it has
important status in over 20 countries including, Nigeria. It is evident that
one out of five of the world population speaks English to some level of
competence and it is the language of books, newspapers, airports and traffic
control, international business and academic conferences, science, technology,
sports, advertising. It is through that over two third of the world’s scientist
read in English and third quarter of the world’s mail is written in English
while 80% of the world’s electronically stored information is done in English.
Arsoba (2000), affirms to the fact that of the estimated 80million users of the
internet in Nigeria, the majority of its users communicates in English.
Despite all these attributes attached to
English in Nigeria as a country, it has its own variety which differs from that
of other countries. There is no doubt that there is Nigeria English (NE) and
have established the distinctiveness of the dialect of the language and taken
perceptions of its existence beyond the realm of fiction. Bamgbose (1991) says
that, the debate over whether NE exist as by now become a non-issue as features
of instances of its spoken and written forms have been described and the descriptions
published in outlet within the outside its territory. Ekpe (2007), writes
extensively in the emerging evolutionary of world Englishes and the varieties
that have developed especially in Nigerian English, which he says English as a
global language has developed many varieties (ranging from standard, non –
standard, dialect, national, regional, creole, hybrid, pidgin and broken),
resulting in a different classification as world ‘Englishes or New Englishes’.
A look at the various classifications polarized Nigerian English into standard
or non – standard varieties. Therefore, the scope of this paper is to
investigate the national language question and to relate it to the roles of
sociolinguistics in introducing a craft in the new Nigeria English and hence
the use of the crafted word “Ninglish” meaning Nigerian English.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Nigeria is a multi-lingual country,
that is, a country that has many languages. Various linguists have tried to
estimate the number of languages in Nigeria. Ndukwe (2015) in reference to
Tifen (1968) approximates it to be 150. Bamgbose (1991) concludes that Nigeria
has 400 languages. Hansford (1976) identifies that 394 languages are spoken in
Nigeria. Afolayan (1997) concludes that the number of Nigerian languages is
more than 450 and Grimes (2000) is of the opinion that Nigeria has more than
515 languages. In the various languages in Nigeria, it is known that some
languages are regarded as living and non – living. Based on all these
assertions, Sklar (2004) presents the issues of unity or regionalism. The
Nationalities question where he contributed to the Nigerian political thinkers
in two rival approaches to their national identity. One view has maintained
that ethno linguistic identity should be recognized as the main legal basis for
government institutions, another has resisted that idea. Not until the 1990s,
however, that a specific name of the nationality question was given to the idea
from his work.
Ndukwe (2015) presents the issues
of ethno linguistic pluralism as the base of Nigerian’s political life since
amalgamation in 1914. She agrees that language promotes loyalty and internal
cohesion and serves as a rallying point for the process of nation building.
However, she attests to the fact that language alone cannot bring the desired
unity and development in any society, but rather recommends that it is the
society and political attitude of Nigerians that will enhance its development.
Again, Arua (2017) sees Nigeria as a divided house based on ethnic mistrust and
tribal loyalty which has remained stronger than national loyalty. In his work
on ‘Ethnicity and the National question in Nigeria, the beliefs that Nigeria is
multi ethnic and the interplay of this ethnic factor has created more obstacles
to the cooperate existence of Nigeria as a nation. He recommends that political
education and training in National language should be made vital in solving the
crises of national integration and other national questions attached. This
study, therefore, explains the National language question and the roles of
sociolinguistic in promoting Nigerian English (Ninglish) as a bail out for a
language of Mutual Intelligibility and National language in Nigeria.
As such, since our variety of
English has been nativised or glocalised already to serve Nigerians the way we
want it, there is nothing wrong for Nigeria to develop a standard variety of
its English that can compete favourably well with other varieties of English
elsewhere and this variety can be called “Ninglish”. ‘Ninglish’ is a combined
words of “Nigeria and English” to have ‘Ninglish’. This may be the starting
point to standardization of Nigerian English as Fisher (1996) says, this
intervention called standardization produces a standard language where before
they were just dialects. “For a language to be standard, there must be a model
which the language must follow and they have to be prescribed grammatical and
unintelligible forms are produced which is a total deviance with the model. As
an ideal language, it cannot be perfectly realized, and we must expect that
members of different wider communities and of course Nigeria may have different
realizations operating in a continuum, but gearing towards what Kachru
(2008:33) calls “the inner core” language. Kachru corroborates Hudson’s
position when he says; ‘The concept of Standard English …… is over the
pedagogic principle or notion of Correctness, that is the educational concept
of correctness which is prescriptive and its discrimination between usages that
are acceptable or unacceptable as standard practice. (Kachru: 2008:33)
On this note, we have to be
realistic and we should not shy away from the truth that no Nigeria indigenous
language is ready for now to be used as a national language. Secondly, Nigerian
pidgin which is widely spoken has not been standardized and cannot cope
favourably well with other varieties of English at the linguistic market place.
As such, the already domesticated or glocalised variety of English conditioned
to contain some of our local words which can be used to communicate across our
socio – cultural boundaries.
1.3 Aims and Objectives
This study aims to explore the
National language question and the roles of sociolinguistics in promoting
‘Ninglish’ as a standard Nigerian English for better local content just as it
is done in other countries like China where we have Chinglish, Denmark where we
have the Danish English, Finland English where we have the Finglish,Ghana and
Kenya Englishes where we have the Ghanish and Kenglish Englishes respectively
to mention but a few as pointed out by Ajayi (2023). To achieve this aim, the
following objectives will serve as basic instruments to this paper:
i. To identify the variety of English used in Nigeria which is
quite different from the varieties used elsewhere in the world.
ii. To single out the variety of English used in Nigeria based
on its phonology, grammar, lexis, collocations, idioms, discourse, style,
code-mixing and code-switching, and a lack of homogeneity.
iii. To propose a national language that will be
acceptable to all Nigerians.
1.4 Research Questions
i. Which variety of Nigerian
English should be adopted as a national language without sentiment?
ii. How do we single out the
variety of English used in Nigeria at the levels of phonology, grammar, lexis,
idioms and other linguistic issues?
iii. What national language can we
propose for Nigeria and will be acceptable to all Nigerians?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The issue of evolving a national
language in Nigeria has continued to be a difficult task despite all the
efforts and proposal that have been made in this direction. For instance, one
of the reasons behind the language policy is to create an opportunity for
seamless emergence of a national language, but in reality, the implementation
of the policy has been everything but effective as observed above. Again, the
proposal to adopt one of the three major Nigerian languages, Hausa, Yoruba and
Igbo has not gone down well with the majority tribes in Nigeria because of the
fear of domination by the ethnic group whose language may be adopted. In
addition, the proposal to adopt what has been termed as “WASOBIA”, that is, a
hybrid of the three major indigenous languages in Nigeria has been rejected not
only because it is clumsy but also it excludes other numerous minority
languages. This is seen to have a grave consequence on the speakers of these
languages as they may likely lose their identity as Arsoba (2000) underscores
the fact that language is a very powerful means of declaring and maintaining
identity”. Also, Adegbija (2004) emphasizes that, “when a language is lost, the
whole lots of the essential characteristics of the people who own the language
are lost, and this can affect the cultural history of the people.”
Against this backdrop, only a
language which can adequately serve as the cultural, political, and linguistic
bridge between the cultural North and South of Nigeria can seriously be
considered as a candidate in the national language race. Regrettably, no indigenous
Nigerian language can satisfy this requirement. In view of this position, it
has become necessary to come up with a feasible proposal that is capable of
extricating Nigeria from the current linguistic quagmire. Therefore, this paper
proposes the introduction of standard “Ninglish”, (Nigerian English) as a
National language in Nigeria.
2.1 Literature Reviews
Previous studies have examined the
national language questions from different angles. Among such studies are:
Sklar (2004), Ndukwe (2015), Ihejirika (2017), Arua (2017), Foyewa (2018),
Sklar examines the National language question from the angle of sociolinguistic.
He points out on the areas of unity and regionalism of Nigeria. He views it
from two rival approaches to the national identity and he testifies that the
problems of national language questions in Nigeria can be seen from the area of
amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates of Nigeria together in
1914 by Fredrick Lugard. Here, he attributes this issue to the areas of ethno
linguistic self- determination and dividing lines between ethnic groups in
Nigeria. Ndukwe views the question of a national language in Nigeria by tagging
it with national development. He sees it as ethno linguistic pluralism which
has been at the base of Nigerian’s political life since amalgamation in 1914.
This is confirmed by the colonial policy along this ethno linguistic pluralism.
He points out that while steps are going on to evolve an indigenous national
language, English should continue to serve as the official language.
Albury posits that the issue of
national language in the case of Iceland by looking at it from the area of
national language policy theory. He views the policy from four co-occurring
conditions: National ideology, English in the globalization process, a nation’s
attendant sociolinguistic situation: and the internationally growing interest
in the linguistic rights of minorities. The paper examines how Spolsky’s theory
may be refined to account for non-rights-based approaches to national language
policies. Ihejirika sees the national language question as a recurring decimal
in the Nigerian context. He argues that the emergence of a national language in
Nigeria is a mission impossible because a choice of one language out of the
numerous languages would trigger agitation and may amount to relegation of
other languages. He however, suggests that Nigeria should be zoned into six
geo-political areas where each zone will have a language attached with it and
English language should still maintain the function of official language that
will serve as a bridge between the geo-linguistic zones.
In another dimension, Arua opines
that Nigeria as a house that is divided against itself based on ethnic mistrust
and tribal loyalty used perfectly for many functional purposes in the Nigerian
contextwhich remain stronger than national loyalty. He recommends that the
political education and training should be encouraged in the polity. Foyewa
examines the role of English language and the quest for a national language in
Nigeria. He points out that there are various hindrances to the choice of a
national language in Nigeria which include; political instability, multilingual
nature of the country and he emphasizes that one of the major languages should
be taken as the national language in Nigeria. This study, therefore, aims at
covering an historical gap by examine the National language question in Nigeria
by proposing Ninglish as a bail out. This is going to be the starting point to
standardization of Nigerian English and the variety of Nigerian English which
can be further developed into Ninglish which can be used perfectly for many
functional purposes in the Nigerian context.
2.2 Theoretical Review
This study adopts Bernard Spolsky’s
theory of language policy which is born amidst the complex interplay of social,
cultural, religious and political forces. Spolsky theorizes that the language
policy of any independent nation is driven at its core, by four co-occurring
conditions-national ideology, English in the globalization process, a nation’s
attendant sociolinguistic situation, and the internationally growing interest
in the linguistic rights of minorities. Spolsky(2009) proposes that language
policies at the national level are driven by four common and co-existing
forces: and these are listed as follows: i)-national (or ethnic) ideology or
claims of identity ii)-the role of English as a global language iii)-a nation’s
sociolinguistic situation; and iv)-an increasing interest in linguistic rights
within the human and civil rights framework.
According to Spolsky, National
ideology and identity refer to the infrastructure of beliefs and principles
relevant to a collective psyche that may manifest in language policy. Spolsky
reflects this through illustration that he made on Northern African nations
where post-colonial Arabisation instituted Arabic as an official language on
the primacy of the Qur’an in national and cultural identity (Spolsky 2004). He
refers to the role of English language as the tidal wave of English that is
moving into almost every sociolinguistic repertoire throughout the global
language ecology. As a language of global communication, English has come to
index a cosmopolitan social and economic mobility. In Nigeria, English is a
second language (L2) of various ethnic groups in Nigeria. However, the wave can
also create tensions between linguistic internalization and local language
interest as pointed out by Mey (2014), which means that the tidal wave may also
be resisted by way of interventions to protect the status or vitality of local
languages.
For example, in the year 2022,
Honorable Kazuare of the Federal House of Representative was pointing out to
the fraud being committed by the former C.B.N. Governor, Godwin Emefiele on the
issues of stamped duty and other taxes, but since, he lacked the basic rudiment
of language to use in presenting his arguments, the House and Nigerians ignored
him. However, until recently that the whole episodes that he was trying to
present became glaring to the whole nation. If he had been given the chances of
using code-mixing or making use of an interpreter then, may be such heinous
action would have been abated before the whole thing turned into mess.
Spolsky’s theory on sociolinguistic
situation refers to the number and kinds of languages, the number and kind of
speakers of each language both inside and outside the community being studied.
This is not just the concerned with the factual sociolinguistic setting.
However, to Spolsky, it is important in language policy research not to accept
any sociolinguistic situation prima facie because sociolinguistic arrangements
may not be ‘inevitable or logical, but rather the result of political processes
and ideologies of state formation’ should be considered as pointed by (Ricento,
2006). The final factor raised by Spolsky in his theory is the increasing
global interest in linguistic pluralism and an acceptance of the need to
recognize the rights of individuals and groups to continue to use their own
language. Spolsky (2005) recalls that the American civil rights movement led to
the awareness of minority issues which was affirmed and protects the language
of the minorities either explicitly or implicitly. Language is positioned as an
element of human rights, urging nations to offer language rights to their
minorities in some way, such as provisions for minority language-medium
schooling (Spolsky,2004). His final component therefore, sees nations as
necessarily interested in developing and implementing permissive language
rights for their minorities.
2.3 Why this theory?
This theory was chosen because, it
explains language in society universally, and it has regard to local policy
contexts. This is reminiscent of Schiffman’s (2006) view that the real language
policy of any given community comprises overt and convert policies, both of
which arise from a community’s unique linguistic culture.
3.1 Research Methodology
A qualitative approach was taken by
reviewing primary and secondary literature about the language and language
question situation in Nigeria, including books, book chapters, journal
articles, and unpublished literatures. This paper also gives attention to
discussions by scholars in the field of sociolinguistics in Nigeria. It also
drew on primary sources that provided direct insights to issues of language
question in Nigeria. The paper also evaluated the relevance of Spolsky’s theory
regarding the factors that motivate language issues, and this conceptualized on
what language issues and policy actually comprises. Having positioned and
discussed about the Spolsky’s national language theory and his definition of
what language question comprises; this paper now presents the findings of a
systematic and critical analysis of each determinant in the Nigerian context.
Thus, this paper will hereby present the analysis of the study in order of the
objectives raised in this paper.
3.2 Research Instrumentation
From this study, it is expected
that this study will be analysed on the objectives raised in this study we can
ask ourselves about the variety of English that can be used in Nigeria which is
quite different from the one being used elsewhere in the world? This brings us
closer to the views of some linguists like Foyewa (2018) who presents Nigerians
arguments for the choice of national language. Some sects in the Nigerian
circle are in full support of English language being used as the national
language of Nigeria. Another maintains that the major languages of Nigeria
which emanate from the major ethnic groups of Nigeria namely Hausa, Yoruba and
Igbo, should be the nigerian’s national language as it is known to be spoken by
over eighty million native speakers. The others advocate for minor languages of
Nigeria like Tiv, Kalabari, Igede, Jenjo, Gwari etc as its national language.
Another group of Nigerians hold the position that a language should be derived
from the existing Nigerian languages by combining them.
Looking at the first group of
people who believed that English language should be Nigeria’s National
language, it is claimed that English plays a crucial role in the life of a
country. As it is known as a language of commerce, education, communication and
a global language. Adopting it as a national language is making Nigeria at par
with developed countries of the world. Foyewa (2018) posits that “no Nigerian
language can serve scientific and technological needs…because none is
complete.” It has been acclaimed that English language is a neutral language,
since it does not belong to any ethnic group. It should therefore be adopted as
the national language of Nigeria. However, there are some sects who believe
that adopting English language as a national language still gives the nation
the impression that we are not politically independent and this will further
debase our culture and national pride and unity. Therefore, local language
should be adopted.
Adoption of a local language as the
country’s national language will eliminate the elitist society English has
created through its adoption as the language of instruction in Nigeria schools
as this will afford the children of the poor and illiterates the opportunity to
be educated. The problem now is that, which local language should be chosen
between the major or minor languages? Some scholars argue that since the major
languages have the largest number of speakers and reasonable number of
literatures which have been developed from these languages, they stand a great
chance of being adopted. Will the selection of one of the major or minor
languages not cause conflict? Due to these discrepancies that exist between the
major and minor languages choice of national language, it is recommended that a
neutral language be adopted and this study recommends Ninglish as a bail out.
Besides the above points, a
question may be raised to know which varieties of English language should be
adopted in Nigeria and why? Evidence of the worldwide phenomenon of language
contact, variation and change can be seen through some designations as world
Englishes, new englishes, modern englishes, West African Englishes, Southern
African Egnlishes, Nigerian Englishes, etc to mention just a few. It is true
the varieties of English spoken by educated Nigerians, no matter what their
language, have enough features in common to mark off a general type, which may
be called Nigerian English. Bokamba (1991) refers to Nigerian English as a
variety of what he called ‘West African Vernacular English’ (WAVE). Similarly,
scholars like Jibril (1982) saw NE as part of the continuum of West African
English. Also, Adegbija (1989), Jowitt (1991), Atoye (1991), Bamiro (1994) Goke
–Pariola (1993), Ekpe (2006) and Odebunmi (2006) to mention a few as they have
written extensively on the variety of English language in Nigeria.
However, some scholars like Vincent
(2004) sees NE as “bad English”. Likewise, Salami (2008) contends that what has
been identified as Nigerian English is in reality “errors of usage.” The duo of
Vincent and Salami are to a large extent saying the concern of a host of
English language instructors in Nigeria institutions of learning who find it
quite derogatory and rather insulting to refer to such a variety of English
language because they rather see any departure from the British variety
(imported language) as either deviant or incorrect. Wolfson (1989) asserts
that, English language has gained worldwide prominence, as it is not used
exactly the same way everywhere. From Wolfson’s assertion, one can say that the
British Imperialism made English language to be spread worldwide and to this
level, one cannot expect the English of Nigerians to be at the same level as
that of Britons or Americans, and that a continuum exists between the various
practices constituting English language usage throughout the world. Therefore,
it is a well-known sociolinguistic fact that when two or more languages and
cultures come into contact, different types of sociolinguistics interaction
take place. Sometimes, a diglossic situation may result, or language shift,
attrition or even language death. To this extent, this paper suggests that the
Nigerian English variety should be adopted in Nigeria setting because the
language has become nativised or localized by adopting some features of its
own, such as sounds, intonation patterns, sentence structures, words and
expressions etc.
At this point, we can ask the
question of the possibility for Nigeria to have its Ninglish or not. To address
this issue, Ninglish is a portmanteau name, combining the words “Nigerian” and
“English” to have “Ninglish.” This may be the starting point to standardization
of Nigerian English. It is pertinent to say that English language has come to
stay in Nigeria and our variety or dialect of English is called the Nigerian
English (NE). This is the variety of English used in nigeria and which is quite
different from the varieties used elsewhere in the world. The NE variety can be
singled out on the bases of its phonology, grammar, lexis, collocations,
idioms, discourse and style, code- mixing and code swithing and a lack of
homogeneity. At this level, this paper suggests that the Standard Nigerian
English can be given more and better local content and be called “Ninglish”
just as it is done in other countries of the world.
Consequently, certain
socio-cultural variables influence the variety of English we speak. There are
certain differences from the Standard English (SE) that are expected to occur.
Differences of this nature have produced Nigerian-peculiar words such as “Introduction”
( as in a preliminary formal meeting of families of the would be husband and
wife), “Bukateria” (as in cafeteria/ buka, a common world in Nigeria for where
food is being sold), “Bride price” (as in the items paid to a bride’s family by
the groom’s family before a marriage be allowed to hold), “Wrapper” ( a piece
of cloth tied round the waist or body), “Trouble shooter” ( a person who cause
trouble or quarrel around).
4.1 Data Analysis and
Presentation
The following questions form the
data for this study, and they will be analyzed base on the knowledge that are
gained from the field:
4.1.1 Which of the Nigerian
languages should be adopted as a national language without any rancor and
sentiment?
The question above seems loaded in
look because the question needs logical responses especially in a heterogeneous
society like Nigeria. Here, some linguists like Foyewa(2018) presents Nigerians
arguments for the choice of national language. A sect of Nigerians is in full
support of English language being the national language of Nigeria. Another
maintains that the major languages of Nigeria which emanate from the major
ethnic groups of Nigeria namely the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, should be Nigerian
national language as it is known to be spoken by over eighty million native
speakers. The other advocates for minor languages of Nigeria like Tiv,
Kalabari, Igala, Igede, Jenjo,Gwari etc. as its national language. Another
group of Nigerians hold the position that a language should be derived from the
existing Nigerian languages by combining them. Looking at the first group of
people who believes that English language should be Nigeria’s national
language, it is claimed that English plays a crucial in the life of a country.
As it is known as a language of commerce, education, communication and it is
global. Adopting it as the national language is making nigeria at par with
developed countries of the world. Foyewa(2018) posits that “no Nigerian language
can serve scientific and technological needs… because none is complete.” It has
been acclaimed that English language is a neutral language, since it does not
belong to any ethnic group, therefore, it should be adopted as the national
language of Nigeria.
However, there are some sects who
believe that adopting English language as a national language still gives the
nation the impression that we are not politically independent and this will
further debase our culture and national pride and unity. Therefore, local
languages should be adopted. Adoption of local language as the country’s
national language will eliminate the elitist society that English has created
through its adoption as the language of instruction in Nigeria schools as this
will afford the children of the poor and illiterates the opportunity to be
educated. The problem now is that, which local language should be chosen
between the major or minor languages? Some scholars argue that since the major
languages have the largest number of speakers and reasonable number of
literatures which have been developed from these languages, they stand a great
chance of being adopted. Will the selection of one of the major or minor
languages not cause conflict? Due to these discrepancies that exist between the
major and minor language choice of national language, it is recommended that a
neutral language be adopted and this study recommends Ninglish as a bail out.
4.1.2 If English language is to
be adopted as National language, which of the varieties should be adopted and
why?
Evidence of the worldwide
phenomenon of language contact, variation and chance can be seen through some
designations as world Englishes, new Englishes, modern Englishes, West African
Englishes, Nigerian Englishes etc to mention a just a few. It is true that the
varieties of English spoken by educated Nigerians, no matter what their
language is, have enough features in common to mark off a general type which
may be called Nigerian English. Bokama(1991) refers to Nigerian English as a
variety of what he called “West African Vernacular English” (WAVE). Similarly,
scholars like Jubril (1982) sees NE as part of the continuum of West African
English. Also, Adegbija (1989), Jowitt (1991), Atoye(1991), Goke-Pariola
(1993),Bamiro (1994) Ekpe (2006) and Odebunmi (2006) to mention a few as they
have written extensively on the variety of English language in Nigeria.
However, some scholars like Vincent
(2004) sees NE as “bad English”. Likewise, Salami (2008) contends that what has
been identified as Nigerian English is in reality “errors of usage.” The duo of
Vincent and Salami are to a large extent saying the concern of a host of
English language instructors in Nigeria institutions of learning who find it
quite derogatory and rather insulting to refer to English language because they
rather see any departure from the British variety (import language) as either
deviant or incorrect. Wolfson (1989) asserts that, English language has gained
worldwide prominence, as it is not used exactly the same way everywhere. From
Wolfson’s assertion, one can say that the British imperialism made English
language to be spread worldwide and to this level, one cannot expect the
English of Nigerians to be at the same level as that f Britons or Americans,
and that a continuum exists between the various practices constituting english
language usage throughout the world. Therefore, it is well known that when two
or more languages and cultures come into contact, different types of
sociolinguistics interaction take place. To this extent, this paper suggests
that the Nigerian English variety should be adopted in Nigeria setting because
the language has become nativised or localized by adopting some features of its
own, such as sounds, intonation patterns, sentence structures, words and
expressions.
5.1 Findings
The language policy of the colonial
government impacts in promoting English language in Nigeria. The language
policy has introduced by the colonial administration and adopted by Nigeria
after gaining its political independence. The colonial administration made sure
that her language policies in all its colonies were in favor of English
language. Even the language policies adopted and still practiced by many
countries in Africa is still in favor of English language as can be seen in
favor of English language as can be seen in our educational policy where
English still remains the major language of instruction in schools and it has
helped in facilitating the spread and promotion in Nigeria. Thus, this paper
suggests that the standard Nigeria English can be given more and better local
content and be called “Ninglish.”
Ninglish is a portmanteau name,
combining the words “Nigerian” and “English” to have “Ninglish.” This may be
the starting point to standardization of Nigerian English. It is to say that
English language has come to stay in Nigeria and our variety or dialect of
English is called the Nigerian English (NE), which is the variety of English
used in Nigeria and it is quite different from the varieties used elsewhere in
the world. At this level, this paper suggests that the standard Nigerian
English can be given more and better local content and be called “Ninglish”
just as it is done in other countries. For instance, “bukateria” can be used
for Cafeteria, bride –price for dowry, bush meat for game etc. There is no gain
saying to the fact that language promotes loyalty and internal cohesion. It
also serves as a rallying point for the purpose of nation building.
Language encapsulates all areas of
development but in Nigeria as a case study of a multi-lingual nation, may lead
to conflict and disunity in Nigeria, for instance, the adoption of one of the
three major Nigerian languages, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba has not gone down well with
the majority of Nigerians because of the fear of domination by the ethnic
groups whose languages may be adopted. Even the hybrid of the three major
languages has been rejected because it excludes other numerous minority
languages. This might lead to extinction of these languages if care is not
taken. Against this backdrop, only a language which can adequately serve as the
cultural, political, and linguistic bridge between the cultural North of
Nigeria and the cultural South of Nigeria can be considered as a candidate in
the National language race as pointed out by (Sofunke, 1990:43). Unfortunately,
no indigenous languages in Nigeria can satisfy this requirement and this has
been one of the major problems of Nigeria in the socio-political, economic and
religious gaps which have bewitched the country since independence. All the
efforts to bridge the gap have continued to widen it instead. The face of this
prevailing challenge, it would be a wishful thinking to hope that a national
language would one day emerge in Nigeria.
6.1 Recommendations
In view of the discussions above,
it is obvious that no indigenous Nigerian language can emerge as a national
language given the peculiarities of the Nigerian language situation. But that
is not to say that all hope is lost with regard to evolving a national language
for Nigeria. it is on this note that this paper is proposing “Ninglish” as the
potentials to fill in the gap arising from the inability of an indigenous
Nigerian language. The reason for this is that, it is an imperialistic one that
we need to stop enslaving ourselves with a foreign language as a sovereign
nation, and the culture of Nigeria should reflect in the language of the
people. Therefore, English language can be the Nigeria second and official
language and Ninglish should be the national language and the language of
education. Besides, in the political angle in Nigeria where one section of the
country is dominating others and which has been reduced considerably. This
approach can be replicated in the language situation in Nigeria by attaching a
common language to each of the six geo-linguistic zones, which should be the
same as the geo-political zones. Therefore, this paper recommends as follows: i.South-West
----------- Yoruba language
ii.South-East ------------
Igbo language
iiiSouth-South ----------- Efik and
Edo language
ivNorth-West ----------- Hausa
language
vNorth-East ----------- Kanuri and
Hausa language
vi.North-Central ------------ Tiv/
Hausa/ Yoruba language
Finally, the problem of which language will be
chosen as a national language without causing socio-political unrest in Nigeria
needs to be addressed with care. Due to these developments, this paper is
supremely supporting that Nigerian English (Ninglish), should be used as a
unified language in many facets of our national life in Nigeria. This NE will
promote harmonious living among the multi-ethnic society like Nigeria and using
it will lead to greater development in the areas of politics, education, commerce,
military, administrative ideas and so on and so fought.
References
Adeniran, O. A (2015) Nigeria
English usage: An introduction. Lagos: Longman Nigeria Plc.
Adegbija, E. (2004). The
Domestication of English in Nigeria. In Festschrift in honor of
Abiodun Adetugbo, Segun Awonuso
& E.A Babalola (eds). Lagos: University of Lagos Press.
Adetugbo, A. (1984). The English
language in the Nigeria experience. Lagos University Press.
Akindele, F and Adegbite, W. (1999,
2004). The sociology and politics of English in Nigeria. Ile-
Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University
Press.
Ajayi, E.S. (2022) Towards
proposing a national language in Nigeria:The roles of
psycholinguistics. An unpublished
seminar paper on ENG 9201Psycholinguistics: Presented at the Department of
English, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo.
Albury, N.J. (2015) National
language policy theory: exploring Spolsky’s model in the case of
Kelard. Journal of
Multilingualism Society across the Lifespan, University of OSLO, Norway
Arua, C. C. (2017). Ethnicity and
the national question in Nigeria. Middle-East Journal of
Scientific Research 25(8).
Arsoba, L. (2000) Varieties of
English: English around the world. (http||kfa. uniz
szcszczecinipl|histvar|aroun.html).
Awonusi, V. O. (2004). ‘Cycles of
linguistic history: The development of English in Nigeria
English’. Influence and
characteristics in Dadzie, A. B. K. & Awonusi, V. O. (eds). Lagos, Concept
publications Ltd.
Bamgbose, A. (1991). The English
language in West Africa. London: Longman Publishers
Bokamba, E. (1982). “The
Africanization of English.” In Baraji, B. Kachiru. The other tongue:
English across cultures. Urbana:
university of Illinois Press.
Ekpe, M.B (2007) Glocalization of
English lexis in Nigeria. Calabar Journal of Liberal
Studies (CAJOLIS), 1 (1) 29-40
Ekindayo, A.S. (2002). Introduction
to the study of languages. Nigeria: Ibadan: College Press
Fishman, J. (1988). Language
problems of developing nations London: Edward Arnold.
Fisher, J.H. (1996). The emergence
of Standard English: Lexington: University of Kentucky
Press.
Foyewa, R.A. (2018). English and
the question of national language in Nigeria. British Journal
of English Linguistics 6 (1)
72-72.
Jubril, M. (1986). “Sociolinguistic
variation in Nigeria English: In Segun Awonusi & E.A.
Babalola (eds). The domestication
of English language in Nigeria. A Festschrift in honor of Abiodun Adetugbo.
Lagos: University Press.
Kachru, B.B. (2008). The Tongue:
English across cultures. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Ndukwe, J.I. (2015). The question
of a national language in national development. Journal ofHumanities
and Social Sciences. 20 (2) 75-79.
Odebunmi, A. (2006) Meaning in
English: an introduction. Critical sphere, Ogbomosho.
Oriola, O.O. and Olapade, O.A.
(2010). Introduction to the study of Nigerian languages. Lagos:Taj-lan Printers.
Raji, I.A. (2012). Language as a
tool for peace and internal security in Nigeria. An unpublishedConference paper
presented at the 3rd National conference, School of Languages,
Federal College of Education (SP), Oyo.
Ricento, T. (2006). Language
policy: theory and practice on introduction. In T. Ricento( Edu),An
introduction to language policy; Theory and Method Malden; Blackwell. 10-23
Schiffman, H. (2006). Language
policy and linguistics culture. In T.Ricento (Edu), An Introduction in language
policy theory and method Malden: Blackwell. 111-125.
Sklar, R.L. (2004). Unity of
Regionalism. The nationalities question. Crafting the New Nigeria: Confronting
the challenges, 39-59.
Spolsky, B. (2004). Language
policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spolsky, B. (2009). Towards a
theory of language policy, working peers in Educational Linguistics, 22(1),
1-14.
0 Comments