6: Nigerian English

1 / 14 Background

i Nkonni Birn GoureGouré Zinder Bosso CHAD Illela Maradi Wurno NIGER Diffa Bol Dosso Sokoto Baga Lake Chad Daura Magaria Damasak gu to Nguru Komadu o k SOKOTO Katsina a So an Gumel G Kaura u g Namoda KATSINA Hadejia u N jia ad ig Birnin ade Kom e H BORNO N'Djamena r Kebbi Zamfa ra S Gusau o JIGAWA YOBE Gummi k o Kano ZAMFARA t Maiduguri Dikwa Kamba o Wudil m Damaturu a Gaya Gulbin Dutse r Ka Azare e ds Funtua KANO Potiskum Ye BamaBama KEBBI Dan BackiBacki Gulbi Kari Kandi Damboa Kandi Koko Limani

la Mora YelwaYelwaYelwa Sabon Benin o Chibok Zaria g Bajoga Gwari n Mokolo o Biu Kainj KADUNA G Kontagora BAUCHI Maroua Reservoir Kaduna GOMBE BENIN K Bauchi a d Mubi u Gombe Gombi Guider Wawa NIGER na Jos Ndali Biliri Kajama ADAMAWA Minna Kanfanchan Léré Parakou Pala Pankshin Numan Garoua Amper Lau é CHAD Ni Bida PLATEAU Bénou ger Badeggi Abuja Yola Kisi KWARA Kwolla Jalingo FEDERAL Baro CAPITAL Q Shaki NASARAWA Ganye NIGERIA u TERRITORY é

m OYO Ilorin Lafia é Ogbomosho B TARABA Tungo enue Ibi Oyo Lokoja Bali Kontcha Iseyin EKITI Wukari Iwo Osogbo Makurdi Ibadan Ife Ado-Ekiti KOGI Gboko Bohicon Akure BENUE Ngaoundéré OSUN r Ankpa Owo e Auchi Takum Abong Abeokuta g Oturkpo Katsina Ala Ondo ONDO i National capital N

Ilaro OGUN A Gembu Banyo State capital Nkambe Ore N Ikeja EDO Ogoja Town, village A Enugu Cotonou L a Abakaliki M m Major airport Porto- g ba os Benin City Asaba B Awka EBONYI M International boundary Novo R Ikom Lake a A Bamenda Bamendjing h State boundary C.A.R. Bight of Benin Sapele Onits CROSS IMO ABIA RIVER Foumban Highway Warri DELTA Owerri Umuahia Bafoussam Yoko Main road CAMEROON Railroad Aba Nikongsamba a RIVERS Calabar nag N Uyo Sa0 50 100 150 200 km Gulf of Guinea i Yenagoa g Port AKWA Kumba e Oron The boundaries and names shown and the designations r BAYELSA Harcourt IBOM 0 50 100 mi D used on this map do not imply official endorsement or e acceptance by the United Nations. l t a Bight of Biafra Buea Douala

Map No. 4228 Rev. 1 UNITED NATIONS Department of Field Support August 2014 Cartographic Section

Source: United Nations Cartographic Section -

http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/nigeria.pdf 2 / 14 Background

I Long pre-colonial history I From mid-19th century onward: British rule I 1960 independence I Some democracy, Civil war (1967–1970), Military juntas I 1999 Return to democracy I 201 million inhabitants on 924 000 km2, 215/km2 Cf. Germany: 83 million on 357,000 km2, 232/km2 I 250 ethnic groups (three largest: Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba), > 500 , wide variety of cultures

3 / 14 in Nigeria

By Ulamm - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2983770 4 / 14 English in Nigeria

I English widely used for education, business, and official purposes. I Small minority (part of the urban elite) with English as a first language I Widely refered to as the official language of Nigeria I : more common in urban centers I Cline/unclear distinctions between Nigerian English and Nigerian Pidgin English

5 / 14 Phonology

I reduced number of vowels, e.g. I short raised front vowel /æ/ replaced by low /a/: hand, carry, dat I central raised /2/ falls together with low back /O/: month, done, body, broders I diphthongs with mid-high onsets generally monophthongized: /eI/ → /e/ day, Lagos, /@U/, /oU/ → /o/ load, local I no dental fricatives: D → /d/ dere, di, dose; /T/ → /t/ month, thousand

Cf. Schneider (2011, 141–149)

6 / 14 Phonology

I produces minimal pairs I yes-no questions signalled by intonation

7 / 14 Syntax and morphology

I wey invariant relative pronoun

(1) Dr. Obari Gomba wey be lecturer for Department of English Studies,

8 / 14 Definiteness and number

(2) a. À si mòto. I saw cars/the car/the cars/a car/some cars. b. À si mòto dèm. I saw cars/the cars/some cars. c. À si dì mòto. I saw the car/the cars. d. À si dì mòto dèm. I saw the cars. e. À si won mòto. I saw a car. = (4a-e) in Faraclas (2013, 179) [c. corrected]

I optional marking of definiteness/number on the noun

9 / 14 Pronominal system

subject object 1sg mi/à mi 2sg yu yu 3sg im/ì im/àm 1pl wi wi 2pl ùnà ùnà 3pl dem dem

Table: Personal pronouns in Nigerian Pidgin (from Table 3 in Faraclas 2013, 180)

I Benue-Kwa second person plural form ùnà

10 / 14 Negation

I negation: invariant no in front of the verb phrase (3) À no bay nyam. “I didnt buy yams.”

11 / 14 Tense/aspect marking I temporal/aspectual relations expressed by preverbal markers: I go for future I don for completive I dey for ongoing actions

(4) You don read Sozaboy by Ken Saro Wiwa or The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola. (5) a. À gò go tawn. I will/would go to town. b. À dè go. I go/am going. c. À don go (finish). I have gone/went. d. A gri go. I agree to go. From Table 4. Tense-Aspect-Mood Markers, Faraclas (2013, 181) (6) Yù gò don dè chop finish. You will have been finished eating Cf. (j), Faraclas (2013, 181) 12 / 14 Copula

I copula: I identity copula I locative/existential copula I copula highlighter be, de/dey, na

(7) Di story na about how . . . (8) Di story na about one man, Mene from Dukana village and how di Biafra war affect im and im family. (9) Nà Audu we de haws, no bì mì. hl Audu rel loc.cop house neg ident.cop me It is Audus who is at home, it is not I (who am at home). = 11 in Faraclas 2013, 182

13 / 14 Various other things

I for with wide range of meanings I wetin ‘what’ < what thing I say as a complementizer (including indirect speech) I reduplication to express intensification I serial verb constructions (10) a. À manij tek nayf kot yu. I managed to cut you with a knife. b. À bay nayf giv yù. I bought you a knife.

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Faraclas, N. (2013). Nigerian pidgin. In S. M. Michaelis, P. Maurer, M. Haspelmath, and M. Huber (Eds.), The survey of pidgin and creole languages. Vol. I: English-based and Dutch-based languages, pp. 176–184. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schneider, E. W. (2011). English around the world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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