Nigerians speaking English often speak tonal and syllable-timed, giving Nigerians speaking American English a jerkiness, both in timing and intonation. Nigerian English is rich in proverbs and colorful sayings. Nigerians speaking American English tend to attracted to English proverbs and overuse the phrases as idioms.
What is the difference between Nigerian English and British English?
The Standard Nigerian English is a variety of the English language spoken in Nigeria by educated Nigerians. It is based on the Standard British English but contains some lexicons and similar sentence pattern of the American English due to the increasing contacts of Nigerians with Americans in recent times.
Why is Nigerian English different?
Through its contact with other native languages Nigerian English has become a distinctive variety of the English language. … According to him Nigerian English is based on four fundamental concepts: Linguistic improvisation. Grammatical errors.
Does Nigeria use British or American English?
The officially allowed language in Nigeria is the British English. It is used in all schools and organisations nationwide. In other words, British English is Nigeria’s lingua franca.
What are the features of Nigerian English?
These differential features of Nigerian English may be phonological, syntactic, lexical, semantic and pragmatic in import. This paper isolates the semantic level of language as the one that is most susceptible to creativity as English is used in Nigeria.
Do Nigerians speak English?
It is the most widely spoken language, although English is the official language of Nigeria. In addition to English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, and English Creole are widely spoken.
Who brought English to Nigeria?
The use of the English language in Nigeria dates back to the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century when British merchants and Christian missionaries settled in the coastal towns called Badagry, near Lagos in the present day South Western Nigeria and Calabar, a town in the present day South Eastern Nigeria.
How do you say love in Nigerian?
“Mo ni fe re” is Yoruba for “I love you” and literally translates to “I have your love.” Yoruba language needs little introduction as it is one of the 4 official languages of Nigeria.
What does ABEG mean in Nigerian?
Abeg. This simply means ‘Please. ‘ You could say, ‘Abeg come chop food’ which is an invitation to a meal.
What is a Nigerian accent?
Nigerian English, also known as Nigerian Standard English, is a dialect of English spoken in Nigeria. … Nigerian Pidgin, a pidgin derived from English, is mostly used in informal conversations, but the Nigerian Standard English is used in politics, formal education, the media, and other official uses.
How do u say hello in Nigerian?
Ẹ n lẹ means hello in this part of Nigeria.
What are the use of English in Nigeria?
In Nigerian schools, English is used to impart knowledge in pupils and students alike, from nursery to tertiary institution. Since English is the official language in Nigeria, it is therefore used as a medium of learning, as well as, used as a medium of teaching in schools across Nigeria.
What are the features of English?
Features of academic spoken English
- Variation in speed – but it is generally faster than writing.
- Loudness or quietness.
- Gestures – body language.
- Intonation.
- Stress.
- Rhythm.
- Pitch range.
- Pausing and phrasing.
What are the four varieties of Nigerian English?
The three major languages have in the literatures of Nigerian English earned the nomenclatures of Hausa English, Igbo English and Yoruba English as the sub- varieties of the Ninglish (Udofot, 2004). The highest level in the pyramid of Nigerian English therefore is occupied by the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba English.