Nigerian English nativization process
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2025-3-16-24
The pluricentricity of the English language depends on its contact interaction with other languages and cultures. The purpose of the work is to identify the specifics of the phenomenon of “nativization” on the example of the current state of the English language functioning in Nigeria, through the study of modern mass media, in view of the dialect continuum and multilingualism, based on the dynamic theory of E. Schneider, which postulates a uniform process occurring with a language when it appears in a foreign land. It is established that the Nigerian English tends to the trend of linguistic homogenization. The current state of the studied variant is characterized by the stage of nativization, affecting the phase of endonormative stabilization, in view of written codification of the language, through the publication of Nigerian English Dictionaries and the publication of national literature in Nigerian English. It was revealed that language interference does not occur in a one-dimensional manner, affecting the state of Nigerian English and autochthonous languages. This situation leads to linguistic differentiation when speakers of different ethnic communities adapt English to their own linguistic peculiarities. It is determined that nativization is characteristic of the lexical, syntactic, phonetic levels of Nigerian English functioning in the English-speaking Nigerian media. At the lexical level, high-frequency interchanges of words and expressions occur, both from autochthonous languages into English and vice versa, which leads to situational code-switching among native speakers. Syntactic nativization is characterized by the construction of sentences in Nigerian English in accordance with the syntactic rules of indigenous languages. Phonetic nativization manifests itself in the adaptation of consonants’ system (replacement of consonant sounds with analogues of autochthonous languages) and vocalism’ system (quantitative reduction of vowel). A specific feature of soundpronunciation speech of Nigerian English speakers is observed by using of speech rhythm (or tone), which leads to the syllabic pronunciation of words and the stress shift.
Keywords: language contact, nativization, English, Nigerian version of English, Nigerian media
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Issue: 3, 2025
Series of issue: Issue 3
Rubric: THEORETICAL LINGUISTICS
Pages: 16 — 24
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