Domestication of the English Language in Nigeria: An Examination of Morpho-Syntactic Trends in Nigerian English (Nge) (Published)
This paper examines certain developmental patterns Nigerian English (NgE) demonstrates in recent times, particularly at the linguistic levels of morphology and syntax. While studying these current trends, a sociolinguistic approach, as enunciated and popularized by Labov (1966), is adopted. The first part of the work provides an overview of the place of NgE as one of the World Englishes, today, while the second part which is the core of the work is an examination of the nature of foray the typology has made on the construction and use of English by Nigerians of a broad social spectrum. The study reveals that the uniqueness of NgE is considerably realized in such linguistic features as conversion, acronym, composition, redundancy, coinage and reduplication. It is, as well, observed that some NgE forms exhibit the same morphological and syntactic patterns as those of Standard English (SE) while some exhibit significant variations.
Keywords: Domestication, English Language, Examination NgE, Nigeria