THE INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ON OUR NIGERIAN
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES: EXAMPLES OF BORROWING FROM
ENGLISH INTO YORUBA BY UNILORIN UNDERGRADUATES
KATIBI KAOSARA KIKELOMO
07/15CD105
AN ESSAY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
(HONS) IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FACULTY OF
ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORIN KWARA STATE
MAY, 2011.
i
CERTIFICATION
This essay has been read and approved as meeting part of the requirements
for the Award of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in the Department of English
Language, Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
______________________
MRS T.M. OLUJIDE
Supervisor
__________________
DATE
_________________________
DR. S.T. BABATUNDE
Head of Department
__________________
DATE
__________________________
EXTERNAL EXAMINER
__________________
DATE
ii
DEDICATION
This research work is dedicated to Almighty Allah for His mercy,
guidance and protection right from the beginning of my programme till the end.
And to my caring, loving parents Dr. Ahmad Sa’du-deen Ibrahim Katibi and
Alhaja Shuaibat Katibi who were in support morally, financially and spiritually
to make me attain this level of education. May Allah continue to be with them
(Amen).
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The journey to success in life is always rough and full of hardships, but
whosoever endures to the end will receive a crown of success. My appreciation
and profound gratitude first goes to Almighty Allah who has made it possible for
me to complete this work.
I will like to pay special respect to my hardworking and sympathetic
supervisor Mrs. T. M. Olujide whose encouragement and criticism I so much
admire throughout the duration of the project. May the glory of God continue to
shower on her and her family (Amen).
A lot of thanks, to my caring parents Dr. Ahmad Sa’ad-deen Ibrahim
Katibi and Alhaja Shuaibat Katibi for their love, caring, moral, financial and
spiritual support in my academic pursuit. May Allah continue to bless them and
shower His Mercy on them (Amin).
My deepest gratitude also goes to my darling brothers and sisters Alhaji
M. O. S. Katibi, Dr Ibrahim Katibi, Dr. Abdulrasak Katibi, Mr and Mrs
Aiyelabegan, Alhaji Saheed Katibi, Mum Seleem, Sis Muibat, Sis. Nafisat, Sis.
Sekinat, Bro. Kamil, Sis. Ramat, Ronke, Mudashir, Abubakar Mustapha, Bro.
Lukman and My step mum. (Mum abdulrafiu) who inspired me in this work.
iv
I owe much gratitude to my ‘small girls and boys’- Abdulrauf, Taofiq,
Habeeb, Abdulhafeez, Seleem, Mahmud, Aishat, Ramat, Jamal-deen Najeebat
Abdulrafiu Abdullhafeez Aiyelabegan and Rukayat; I love you all.
I also wish to register my deep appreciation to all my friends Shakirat,
Aishat, Fatimah, Nike, Bukola, Zynab, Sikirat, Bola Yusuf, Rasheedat, Rasheedat,
Jimoh,
Ummulkhair,
Habidat,
Habibat,
Maryam,
Yetunde,
Bolakale,
Abdulhameed, Muhammed Kayode, Mayowa and Hafeez you all made my stay in
Unilorin a wonderful experience, may Allah bless you all.
Lastly, my infinite appreciation goes to my darling and worthy husband
Olanrewaju Abdulkadir Abolaji, who took the pain to ensure that I obtain this
educational status. May Allah in His infinity be pleased with him and his family.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
i
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgement
iv
Table of contents
vi
Abstract
viii
CHAPTER ONE
1.1
General Introduction
1
1.2
Scope and Delimitation of the study
3
1.3
Methodology
4
CHAPTER TWO:
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0
Introduction
5
2.1
The advent of English language in Nigeria
5
2.2
Functions of English language in Nigeria
8
2.3
Language contents
12
2.3.1
Effects of language contact
15
2.3.1.1 Bilingualism
15
2.3.1.2 Multilingualism
18
2.3.1.3 Code-switching
21
2.3.1.4 Code-mixing
23
2.3.1.5 Language shift
25
2.3.1.6 Language loss
27
2.3.1.7 Diglossia
28
2.3.1.8 Transfer
30
vi
2.3.1.9 Interference
31
2.3.1.9.1 Phonological interference
33
2.3.1.9.2 Lexical interference
34
2.3.1.9.3 Grammatical interference
35
2.3.1.10 Borrowing
35
2.3.1.10.1 Types of borrowing
39
2.3.1.10.1.1 Loantranslations or calques
39
2.3.1.10.1.2
Loanblends
41
2.4
The influence of English language on our Nigeria
2.5
indigenous languages
41
Conclusion
44
CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS
3.0
Introduction
45
3.1
Presentation of data
45
3.1.1
Classification of borrowed words
45
3.1.1.1 Loantranslations or calques
45
3.1.1.1.2 Loanblends
47
3.2
English –Yoruba code-mixed sentence
48
3.3
Analysis
54
CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
4.0
Introduction
58
4.1
Summary
58
4.2
Findings
59
4.3
Conclusion
60
Bibliography
62
vii
ABSTRACT
Generally speaking, it seems unlikely that English will cease to be used
elaborately in Nigeria in a foreseeable future. This research work therefore will
find out if students in the University of Ilorin borrow words from English in to
Yoruba in their day to day interaction and if they do to identify this borrowings.
The sample population used in this work is 80 (Eighty) students of the University
of Ilorin and these students were randomly chosen from four faculties in this
University and they are all Yoruba language speakers with the use of instruments
like tape reader and audio cassette. From the data analyzed, it is observed that the
Yoruba speaker use their language predominantly during communication not only
borrow in most times a single lexical item from English and in corporate it within
their utterances. Code-mixing, as a sociolinguistic phenomenon, is a familiar
practice through out the world, most especially among bilinguals who combine
certain linguistic items is from two different languages. In this regard, it was
discovered that language contact also result in borrowing from one language to
another.
viii
CHAPTER ONE
1.1
General Introduction
It is a well established fact that English language has established itself
firmly in Nigeria thus, its importance cannot be over emphasized. Apart from
being an official language. English language is the rope that ties members of the
different speech communities together in continuing interrelationships. It is the
common instrument that they draw on for socio-cultural identification.
English language is said to be a human specific mode of expressing our
thought through the verbal (i.e spoken and written) and non-verbal means. With
this definition, we shall reiterate that English language necessarily serves humans
in a multitude of ways: English language is said to have a great impact on the
cognitive development of man: Man is able to express his thoughts and view.
The majority of world English speakers use English either as a second or
third language and exists in an environment where in the least, bilingualism is the
norm even though English may be the official language. In many countries,
including Nigeria, English is the main language of instruction in schools
(especially after primary education level) and it is used in business and other
official transactions and interactions.
English came into Nigeria through colonization centuries ago and three
main groups of people emerged from this contact of English with the indigenous
1
languages of Nigeria. These groups are the British, the new Nigerian elite trained
in Britain and the native indigenous population trained in Nigeria. A local variant
of English emerged from the mixing of those groups of people. This local variant
of English was coloured by influence from local languages. Borrowing of
indigenous words into English is a result of this contact and these borrowed words
are what we call ‘loan words’.
Today as English is used in almost every facet of life in Nigeria, it still
comes in contact with practically all indigenous Nigerian languages and when
Nigerians speak English words from their various indigenous languages occur in
their speech
This research work therefore, will find out if students in the University of
Ilorin borrow words from English into Yoruba in their day to day interaction and
if they do, to identify these borrowings.
We shall also find out the sources of these borrowings. We hope to trace
them to the various indigenous languages and which they use in a communication.
In other words, effort shall be made extensively on the scope of the study and
methodology involved in the collection of data.
2
1.2 Scope and Delimitation of the Study
This study intends to deal with the influence of English language on our
indigenous Nigerian languages. To this end , we will focus on Yoruba as our case
study. This is because Yoruba is the predominant indigenous language of the
geographical areas in which this research is being carried out. We then examine if
students borrow words from English into Yoruba and specifically if they indulge
in code mixing when they communicate in Yoruba by interspersing the Yoruba
speech with English words or phrases.
The scope of this study will also cover why and when these students codemix. This study does not concern itself with error analysis. Therefore attention
will not be focused at correcting sentences collected in the process of our analysis.
The examples of borrowing used in our data are English borrowings into
Yoruba. This is due to the fact that our data are based on Yoruba which is one of
the Nigerian indigenous languages which borrow English language into their
languages. The researcher in this research has decided to limit herself to Yoruba
language because of the geographical area she finds herself.
This research work will pay attention to whether English language has a
positive or negative influence on Yoruba one of the Nigerian indigenous
languages so has to find out whether English language aids the growth of Yoruba
language or impedes it?
3
1.3 Methodology
The sample population that will be used in this study is 80 (eighty)
students of the University of Ilorin. These students shall be randomly chosen from
four faculties in the University of Ilorin, which are:i.
Faculty of Arts
ii.
Faculty of Agriculture
iii.
Faculty of Engineering and
iv.
Faculty of Law
The students that will be used as subjects from the selected faculties are all
Yoruba language speakers.
The instruments to be used in the collection of our data are tape recorder and
audio cassette in the recording of some natural conversations of undergraduate
students of the University of Ilorin. Eighty conversations shall be recorded and
the techniques of sampling shall be used by numbering the conversations from
one to eighty. The conversations with even numbers would be selected and
analyzed.
Specifically, 400 level students of four faculties shall be studied and analyzed
because it is felt that this category of students know enough English to be affected
by the phenomenon being investigated.
4
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0
Introduction
In this chapter, we shall review available materials on the advent and
functions of English language in Nigeria and language contact and its effects
This research work will also take a sociolinguistic stance in looking at the
relationship that exists between English language and the indigenous language.
2.1
The Advent of English Language in Nigeria
The advent of English language in Nigeria dates back to the 16th century
when ports and trading posts were established on the African coasts. English
Merchants had arrived at the coastal areas like Calabar, Warri and Brass to
compete with the Portuguese who had dominated the commercial scene of Africa
before the arrival of the British. From that time on, English had started to grow
from strength to strength in the Nigeria socio-cultural milieu. But a discussion of
the advent of English language in Nigeria will be incomplete if the factors that
contributes to the survival and the advent of English language in Nigeria are not
mentioned.
The first factor to be discussed is the Portuguese, being the nearest
Europeans to African, were the first to sail down the Nigerian coast in the 15th
century in search of commerce. The need for communication resulted in the birth
5
of combination of languages and also Portuguese. Pidgin which developed from
attempts by Portuguese traders to speak ‘Sabir’-an already pidginised form of
English language. (Odumuh 1997:9). After they had stabilized in Nigeria to be
precise in Benni, they gradually imposed their language on indigenous language
because that was the only means of communication with them.
Another factors is early commercial contact. The first English people to
come to Nigeria were traders who came after the Portuguese in quest of anything
to boost their economy and this eventually led to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade
which was in a triangular format. Africans mostly Nigerian’ were extracted from
their roots to work on the plantation field in the New world (American) from
where the goods were shipped to European. As a result of this contact English
language became a phenomenon on the African soil and to facilitate trade, it had
to be learnt. In other words, the contact between the Europeans and the Nigerians
warranted communication.
The Missionaries impact is another factor. With the abolition of slave
trade, those Nigerian’ (West African) who had been slaves were repatriated to
Sierra Leone. During their stay in America plantation fields, they had learned
English and had got in contact with Christianity. The returnees served as
assistants to the missionaries in their evangelist activities. A prominent Nigerian
ex-salve was Bishop Ajayi Crowder. Having become a Christian himself, helped
6
the missionaries in evangelizing the Africans with the concomitant entrenchment
of English. He also served as a teacher and an interpreter of the English language
as a way of advancing the work of God. To be a Christian then, one needs a little
knowledge of English which was important since it was the language of the Bible.
English language spread with the spread of Christianity. The free slaves from
Sierra Leon served mainly as interpreters and teacher in this respect of
Christianization.
The impact of Colonialism is another factor. In the era of colonialism, the
British wanted the Nigerians to be able to speak their own (English) language.
They became unsatisfied with the method of the missionaries use of indigenous
language which they later found out to be more effective in evangelizing people.
Therefore the 1840 policy of educating the natives in their indigenous languages
was reversed in 1882.
In 1842, there was the founding of a set of schools by the colonial masters.
This was due to their not being satisfied with the missionary’s method of
communication and the missionaries aim which was to spread the gospel. But
with the 1882 educational ordinance, the then government made grants to school
under one condition that the grants would be given to schools whose students
speaks fine English. This also aided the growth of English language in Nigeria till
date (Ogu, 1992:69).
7
Between 1920s, till date, series of development had taken place in Nigeria
which had informed the indigenization of the language, the climax of which is
summarized in Bamgbose (1971) as cited in Adedimeji (2002:11).
“Of all the heritage left behind in Nigeria by the British at the end of
colonial administration, probably, none is more important than the English
language. It is now the language of government, business and commerce,
education, the mass media, literature and much internal as well as external
communication”.
2.2
Functions of English Language in Nigeria
After the advent of English language in Nigeria, English perform so many
functions in Nigeria.
The English language performs two general functions in Nigeria: Intra
national and international function. At the intra-national level, it is the language of
education, media science and technology. It is also an official language as well as
a lingua franca to Nigerians. It is the language of education as well as a school
subject, from the primary to the University level of education. The functions of
English language are summarized by Olujide (1998:99).
“The English language performs many significant functions in
Nigerian. These functions are diverse in nature and vary very
widely from group to group, individual to individual and social
context to social context”.
8
Also Bangbose (1991:20) cited by Adedimeji (2002:12) says:
“English today serves as the official language of Nigeria, the
language used for running the affairs of the government fostering
nationalism which is concerned with political integration and
efficiency”.
With the above submissions, we can therefore conclude that English
language in Nigeria perform some significant functions. For instance in the field
of education, Bangbose (1971:35) also says that, the introduction of English as a
subject in the last three years of the primary through higher education as a
medium of instruction means that the Nigerian child’s access to the culture and
scientific knowledge of the world is largely through English. Bamgbose went
further says that since the products of the schools will be absorbed in to different
types of employment where English is the official language of communication
and where consequently, proficiency in English is a necessary qualification, the
pre-eminent provision of English in the educational system is likely to remain for
a long time.
English as a lingua franca is considered as a rallying point for all
Nigerians. In a country that has about 400 languages (Bamgbose 1991:2) English
language performs a unifying role among Nigerians with different linguistic
backgrounds and this accounts for the reason why national activities and official
9
matters are conducted in English. Alabi (1994:87) says: “Now in Nigeria, English
is used for the official matters of the country”.
English is the language of integration or unity. Amidst compounding
complexities of Nigeria especially in relation to the language question, the only
language that indexes the spirit of togetherness is English. (Brown and Yule,
1983) more often than not, activities conducted in indigenous languages are
reprobated as being ethnic or tribal except in cultural celebrations of
entertainment displays. This explains why even during the first republic and even
the colonial era, when English had not attained its present level of ascendancy in
national and international affairs, political parties were formed in English. The
fact that they were named in English entailed their collective import. The
Northern people congress (NPC), the Action group (AG), the NCNC (National
Council of Nigerian Citizens) etc were formed to integrate all Nigerians and give
them a sense of belonging.
English also serve as the language of nationalism, concerned with political
integration and efficiency (Bamgbose, 1991:20). It is the length age that brings all
the supposed nations of Nigeria to function as one. Nation is often made of each
ethnic group being a nation on its own with the Hausa nation, the Igbo nation, the
Yoruba nation, the Edo nation etc as examples. But, the cohesion of all under the
subsuming Nigeria, nation is possible through English. In other words, without
10
English, the ubiquitous violent ethnic groups like Oodua People Congress (OPC),
the Arewa People Congress (APC) and other militant groups would have found
more justification for desiring to secede from the Nigerian federation.
English is also the language of international relations and diplomacy, is
the language that mirrors Nigeria to the world. Writing in English by Nigerian
literary artists that also create a distinctive Nigeria literature marked by its own
characteristics imbued with features of inter-cultural communication and
cooperation. All these have the effects of reducing what Adegbija (1994:150)
refers to as “deep rooted mutual suspicions that result in prejudice, stereo types
and subtle linguistic hostility among various linguistic groups.” And in fact there
are obvious national symbols such as the National flag, the national anthem, the
national day, independence day, the national associations as well as several
national monuments, all of which designed in English and of which ‘assert’ that
English is the foundation of the magnificent structure called Nigeria. If English is
removed, it is agreeable, the whole nation automatically crumbles.
At the international level, English serves as our window to the outside
world. It is the language of diplomacy and international relation. As a member of
the global continental and regional bodies, united Nation of Africa union and
Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS), the vehicle of
international cooperation is English.
11
It is also function as a language of creativity as well as language of
external international relation. As said by Ofuya (1996:139) says:
“About 90% of the text books that are available to
Nigerians in the world are written in English language”.
So far we have discussed the functions of English language in Nigeria and
it has been revealed that English language more than many languages of the world
performs more functions because of its esteemed status. But the most interesting
part of its function is its adaptability to different exigence of the continuing
existence of English in most non-native English countries where several efforts
are being made to evolve indigenous languages (Babatunde, 2001:55).
2.3
Language Contact
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000)
“Language contact is the state of touching when two substances are now in
contact”. We can therefore define language contact as a situation where by two or
more languages come together. According to Hadumod Busman (1996:120) says:
12
“Language contact is a situation in which two or more languages
co-exist within one state and where the speakers use these different
languages alternatively in a specific situation”.
Examples are found in Belgium, Switzer land, China, India, Peru, Nigeria
and other countries. Such linguistic contact can have a political, historical,
geographical or cultural basis. The mutual influences can be shown at all levels of
description. Linguists in the past have been primarily concerned with the proposal
on language planning on the development and institution of pan-regional trade
languages since such questions on language policy are dependent to such a high
degree on political, economic, cultural factors etc. their can be formed only
through interdisciplinary efforts.
Only very rarely, if ever, does a language find itself spoken in a
completely isolated environment, with no contact at all between its speakers and
the speakers of another languages. Most speakers of any given language have day
to day dealings with the speakers of at least one or two other languages and
possibly with a large member than this. Indeed, for the larger part of human
existence, the normal situation was probably for everybody routinely to learn and
use two, three even four different languages. It is though that between 70 percent
and 80 percent of the earth’s population are bilingual or multilingual.
13
Language contact is such a common phenomenon that it would be
tempting merely to illustrate its diversity in relation to lexis, phonology and
syntax. It is more informative, however, to look at the phenomenon from a range
of view points. It is important for instance, to note the social relationship between
the language in contact. Generally. In the opinion of Millar (1996:388,) we
distinguish between superstratum, substratum and adstratum contact situations.
In superstratal contexts, the language of a socially powerful element in a
society influences the language of less powerful groupings. These are common
place post colonial experience, with words from the colonizers language finding
their ways into the language of the colonized (millar 1996:388).
Adstratal influence is where two (or more) languages come into contact,
but there is no dominant community. Good examples of these would include the
contact between Scandinavian dialect and English in northern England during the
Viking period, or the contact between Frankish and Romance speakers in northern
post-Roman Gaul.
Substratal influences involves influence upon a dominant language by a
less dominant one (often on which is losing native speakers). Influences the
influence of Irish upon the English of Ireland and the influence of Yiddish (and
other IE language) upon Israeli Hebrew. (Millar 1996:389).
14
Language contact occurs when two or more languages or varieties interact.
The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. When speakers of
different language interact closely, it is typical for their language to influence
each other. Language normally develop by gradually accumulating dialectal
differences until two dialects cease to be mutually intelligible. Language contact
can occur at language borders between adstratum languages or as the result of
migrations with an intrusive language acting as either as superstratum or a
substratum.
Language contact occurs in a variety of phenomena including language
convergence, borrowing and relaxification. The most common products are
pidgins, creoles code, switching and mixed languages. Other hybrid languages,
such as English do not strictly fit in to any of those categories.
2.3.1
Effects of Language Contact
Language contact is seen as a situation where two or more languages co-
exist in the same environment. This result in to some effects such as bilingualism.
Multilingualism, code-mixing, code switching, diglossia, interference, transfer,
language shift, language loss and borrowing.
2.3.1.1 Bilingualism
In the history of the study of bilingualism, various definitions have been
proposed. There are two extreme positions to this. According to Bloomfield
15
(1933), a bilingual should possess native-like control of two or more languages.
At the other extreme is the proposition that a person has some second language
ability in one of the four language skills (speaking, listening, writing, reading), in
addition to his first language skills. From the perspective of Gregory and Kerstin
(1996), a bilingual society is a linguistic community where more than one
language is spoken. From the foregoing, bilingualism is the native-like control of
two languages and a bilingual is a person that makes use of more than one
language.
Scholars like Hymes and Fishman have proven that bilingual speakers do
not attain equal proficiency in the language they speak at a point in time. The
language interfere with each other. If at a point in time a language is not
frequently used, it ‘recedes’ towards its loss and eventually death (Crystal, 1994).
On the other hand, there is a situation where both languages are used
interchangeably as the context, or situation requires. The speakers of English in
Nigeria have their different mother tongue which equip them with communicative
ability within their regions. Learning English in a foreign context actually
promotes bilingualism. However, the individual competence and performance in
English depends largely on this educational background. The social structure that
indicate the type of bilingualism a speaker uses includes age, level of education,
sex etc.
16
The effect of two languages in Nigerian society results into bilingualism.
This is so because most individuals who make up the larger society are able to
communicate in at least, English and any of the three major languages in Nigeria
Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa, inspite of the fact that these Nigerian languages and
English language belong to different sociolinguistic contexts.
A simple statement about bilingualism and intelligence is as impossible as
prescribing one simple food for human survival. To state simply that bilingualism
has a beneficial or detrimental effect on intelligence is to be simplistic. To
understand the relationship between the two, the problem involved in the
definition and measurement of intelligence and bilingualism must be first
understood.
The problem of the definition of bilingualism is to suggest to parents and
teachers that being a bilingual person is beneficial in terms of intelligence would
among other concerns, require “being bilingual” to be in ambiguous.
Unfortunately, deciding exactly who is or is not bilingual is problematic (Mackey,
1902, Skutnabbkangas, 1981, Baker, 1985).
The initial issue is that of dimensions. To be called bilingual, is it
necessary to show literacy as well as oracy in two languages? Mackey (1962)
suggest four basic language skills: Listening, reading, speaking and writing. For
example, in speaking two languages, people may differ interms of extent of
17
vocabulary correctness of grammar and pronunciation. As defined by Mackey
(1962), there are at least 20 dimensions of language skill in each language. People
have varying skills in listening, speaking reading and writing a language.
The notion of bilingualism is firmly established in the mind of the lay
person. It may be tinged with bias, and it frequently carries either positive or
negative connotations. Yet, some of the definitions of bilingualism that have been
put forward are surprisingly vague, and even contradictory.
Uriel Weinreich, one of the founding fathers of bilingual studies and a
bilingual himself, offers one of the shortest definitions in his well known book
“language in contact”: “The practice of alternately using two languages will be
called bilingualism and the person involved, bilingual”. (Weinreich,1968:1).
2.3.1.2.
Multilingualism
There is no reason to believe that monolingualism is the normal state of
affairs in human society. In fact, bilingualism is more wide spread, since more
than half of the world’s population can claim to be bilingual. At the societal level,
multilingualism is quite common, particularly in the continents of African and
Asia. Bilingualism in the individual results from a person’s contact with two (or
more) languages. Multilingualism comes about when speakers of different
languages are brought together with in the same political entity.
18
The term multilingualism can refer to either the language use or the
competence of an individual or to the language situation in an entire nation or
society. However, at the individual level, it is generally subsumed under
bilingualism. This may be because, while there are probably more bilinguals in
the world than monolinguals, there are not perceived to be so many people who
use more than two languages habitually. There are of course, many rich
multilingualism situations in the world, for example, Khubch and ani, 1988 on
India and sondergaard, 1991, on the Dano-German border to cite only two
researched areas. For individuals, normative definitions (Van Overbeke, 1972)
requiring those termed bi-or multilinguals to have equal competence in the
languages, to have acquired them simultaneously, or to use them in the same
contexts have proved unrealistic (Haugen, 1973). Thus definitions now tend to be
general. A common definition of multilingualism would then be the use of more
than one language or competence in more than one language. This allows for
further retirement in the actual description to cover different levels of command
or use of the various languages. At the societal or national level, we have to
distinguish between ‘official and defactor’ multilingualism. For instance
Switzerland is an officially multilingual society
Multilingualism is a common phenomenon if increasing importance in
present day society which can be studied from different perspectives including the
19
use of languages in the sociolinguistic context. The diversity of languages have
important implications for individuals and societies. Multilingualism can be
defined in different ways but basically it refers to the ability to use more than two
languages. A basic distinction when discussing bilingualism and multilingualism
is between the individual and societal level. At the individual level, bilingualism
and multilingualism refers to the speakers competence to use two or more
languages. At the societal level the term bilingualism and multilingualism refers
to the use of two or more languages in a speech community and it does not
necessary imply that all the speakers in that community are competent in more
than one language.
Examples of multilingualism patterns in contemporary Europe is
Switzerland (or the Swiss confederation of twenty three cantons and three demicatons) is a small country of some six million people which has four national
languages: Gernman, French, Italian and Rhaeto-Romansch. Only the first three,
however are mentioned in the Swiss constitution, which means that Romansch
does not enjoy the same right in the federal parliament and in administration as
the other three. Since Switzerland follows the principle of territorial
monolinguals, the individual cantons are linguistically autonomous. Most cantons
are monolinguals a few are bilingual (e.g Jura and Freiburg/Fribourg) and the
Gravbunden canton in trilingual. In the sixteen German speaking cantons range of
20
regional and local dialects (collectively referred to as Swiss German. German or a
German-based dialect can be said to be the first language of more than two thirds
of Swiss people).
French is dominant in six cantons, three of which are bilingual. French is
spoken by at least 20 percent of the Swiss population. Italian dialects are spoken
by 10 percent principally in the Tiano canton. Stand and Halian is used mainly for
written purpose.
Romansch is the mother tongue of only about 1 percent of the country’s
population, perhaps even less. There are five main dialects spoken, but no
standard language.
2.3.1.3 Code Switching
Code-switching involves the alternate use of two languages or linguistic
varieties within the same utterance. According to Olaoye (1998), code-switching
refers to the successive, alternate use of two different codes or even varieties of
the same code. Mclaughlin (1987) identifies code-switching as language changes
occurring across phrase or sentence boundaries. Many contextual, situational and
personal factors influences the speaker.
Oloruntoba-Oju (1999) defines code-switching as: “a complete switch from
one code to the other. The switch may be language switch or a variety switch. In
the former, the switch is to a different language entirely while in later the switch
21
is to a different mode, style or variety of the same language”. Gumperz (1982)
defines code switching as the “Juxtaposition with a speech exchange of passages
of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or subsystems”. Hymes
(1974) also claims that code switching is the use of two or more language
varieties or even speech styles”. Hermers and Blanc (1999) describe code
switching as a change from one language to another in the same utterances or
conversation.
Code switching refers to a change over from one semiotic mode to another
in order to accommodate other kinds of varieties dialects and registers. Code
switching is governed by different norms in different bilingual community
although the norm may differ, and the communities, although the norm may
differ, and the reasons for switch are diverse. Code switching is therefore more
problematic when typologically different languages are involved than when the
languages are typologically similar. Code switching is the inevitable consequence
of bilingualism (or more generally, multilingualism).
It might be argued that code switching is potentially the most creative
aspect of bilingual speech. It has, however, also been considered as sign of
linguistic decay, i.e evidence that bilinguals are not capable of acquiring two
languages properly or keeping them apart. Sociolinguists have looked in to speech
communities, both monolingual and bilingual, trying to establish reasons for and
22
patterns of changes of style and language switching. The bilinguals who have
received their attention often include immigrant groups like Hispanic speakers in
the USA (e.g Gumperz and Hermandex. Chivez 1972 and 1975, Valdes. Fallis
1976; Silva-Corvalan 1983).
In view of Romane (1986),he describes the term ‘code switching’ in the
sense in which Gumperz (1982:59) has defined it as ‘the juxtaposition with in the
same speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different
grammatical system or subsystems: He also used the term ‘code’ in a general
sense to refer not only to different languages but also to varieties of the same
language as well as styles within a language.
2.3.1.4
Code Mixing
Code mixing is the random alternation of two languages within a sentence.
Code mixing is defined by wardhaugh (1986) as “a process where speakers
alternate between one language and the other with in the same conversation and
even with in the same utterance”. Praff (1983) says that this language behavior is
governed by linguistic and socio-linguistic factors. Banjo (1983) calls it language
mixing and that it occurs in a sentence mode of elements of language ‘A’ and
languages ‘B’. Code mixing occurs when lexical or phrasal element of two or
more languages are blended with in a given sentence.
23
Harmers and Blanc (1989:35) say code mixing is “the case of elements of
one language in another language” (for example, the use of English lexemes in a
Yoruba conversation). Hudson (1996:53) says the purpose of code-mixing is “to
symbolize ambiguous situation to get the right effect, the speaker takes words
from
one
language
and
mix
it
with
few
words
from
the
other
language”.Oloruntoba- Oju (1999) asserts that code mixing occurs when elements
of two or more linguistic systems are randomly mixed. It is often an unconscious
illocutionary act in naturally occurring conversation. Though no norm guides the
level of code-mixing, different communities and people maintain, consciously or
unconsciously, their levels of code mixing which is constrained by competence.
In the context study of schlyter, she proposes: code-mixing is defined here
quite simply as the Child’s using words or sentences in the ‘wrong’ language; in a
clearly monolingual situation; language separation is defined as the opposite of
‘mixing’ (Schlyter 1988:2). Redlinger and Park (1980:339) write: that language
mixing refers to the combining of elements from two languages in a single word
utterances from two languages during the same stretch of conversation between a
child and care giver.
The kind of mixes reported on may involve the insertion of a single
element or of a partial or entire phrase, from one language into an utterance in
24
another and they can be of a phonological (in the shape of loan blends),
morphological, syntactic, lexico-semantic, phrasal or pragmatic kind.
Code mixing also occurs when the affected item is a technical usage. It is
often an unconsciously illocutionary act. It is primarily used as a solidarity
marker. It requires the conversationalist to have a good knowledge of the
grammar of the two languages and to be well aware of the societal norms.
2.3.1.5
Language Shift
In the opinion of Oloruntoba-Oju (1999) language shift occurs when
certain elements of a language become substituted with element from a competing
language or variety.
Language shift, sometimes referred to as language transfer or language
replacement or assimilation is the progressive process where by a speech
community of a language shifts to speaking another language. The rate of
assimilation is the percentage of individuals with a given mother tongue who
speak another language more often in home. The data is used to measure the use
of a given language in the life time of a person, or most often across generations
with in a linguistic community.
Language shift is used to describe a change from the habitual use of a
language to another. This situation arises when a given language is misused, not
given priority or in the sociolinguistic sense, not maintained over a period of time
25
owing to a switch to another for status demographic, institutional, political or
religious reasons.
When a community does not maintain its language, but gradually adopts
another one, we talk about language shift. The shift can be complete, involving a
change from one kind of monolingualism to another, with only the transitional
period marked by group bilingualism. The change from Cornish to English in
Cornwall can serve as an illustration. The shift can also be incomplete, for
instance in those cases where a section of a speech community retains the old
language in addition to acquiring the new one, this is the case in Wales where
everybody speaks English but about one- fifth of the population can also speak
Welsh. Another form of incomplete shift can be that all (or a large majority of)
the members of the community maintain some degree of proficiency in the
language, because they continue to use it for certain functions.
The study of language shift in a community always entails examining
language use in two (or more) language. The subject offers two broad areas of
interest, the linguistic and the sociolinguistic. The codes involve in language shift
often experience changes, such as loss of inflections, borrowing, and appearance
of new pronunciation features, which can be the object of the attention of the
linguist.
26
Language shift is sometimes also called language decline and language
death. Both terms seems to imply a considerable degree of personalization.
Language shift has always been a common occurrence all over the world. In
Africa, America and Asia, the process was speeded up by colonization and more
recently, state-building both created four able conditions for the spread of the
‘big’ colonial languages (e.g English or Spanish).
2.3.1.6
Language Loss
Language loss results from the influence of contact. It could be an
individual phenomenon or a communal phenomenon; for instance when an
individual stays away from his language, there is tendency for him to lose his
language and this is the case is Nigeria today. Most of our vocabularies are dead
and this is because we have stayed away gradually and if care is not taken, dead
vocabularies will lead to language loss or death. Language loss is consequent
upon language shift. Appel and Muysken (1987:42) write that:
As a language loses territory in a given community,
speakers will become less proficient in it. In linguistic
minority children will often speak the language of the
group less well their parents…..the loss of lexical skills in
the minority language hand in hand…. Words in the
dominant language are replacing words in the minority
language.
27
The foregoing implies that a shift from use of language ‘A’ for instance to
another instigates loss on the part of language ‘A’ owing to a recessive impact
arising from its disuse.
In Nigeria case, language loss is noticeable especially with respect to
indigenous languages which have suffered serious black flash effect from the
ever-increasing premium placed on English at the expense of local languages.
2.3.1.7
Diaglossia
The word diaglossia was first introduced into English from French by
Ferguson 1959, Cited in Hudson 1946:49-50 defines diaglossia as stable language
situation in which in addition to the primary dialect, there is a highly codified
super imposed variety, learned by formal instruction for formal transaction.
Consequently diaglossia refers to specialized functions of language or variety. For
example, in Egypt, the colloquial Arabic is used in formal settings, while the
standard Arabic is used in informal contexts for official transactions. Ferguson
identifies the H (high) and L (Low) varieties which differ in dialect, prestige,
acquisition and stability. The L is acquired as the first language used through out
the lifespan of the speaker and usually enjoys little or no prestige. The H is
learned by formal education, it is the standard variety and used with in a defined
period. Initially, Ferguson used diaglossia to refer to varieties of a language with
28
distinct roles but some scholars like Fishman (1971:74) extend the term to include
varieties of a language and languages.
In a multilingual or multi community where there is a desire for the
adoption of a standard national language, for instance Nigeria, Ferguson describes
the conflict that can ensure.
“The proponents of it argue that it must be adopted because it links
the society with its glorious past……and it is unifying factor…… the
adhreherents of L argue that L must be adopted because it is closer
to the native……..it is more effective for communication (Ferguson
1959:247-248)”.
A similitude of diaglossia situation is what obtains in Nigeria where
English exists side by side with indigenous languages (and pidgin English in some
quarters) with each being functionally significant in certain domains.
There are however, speech communities where all speakers need to know
at least two varieties because each language form is associated with a specific set
of social functions. This language situation has become known as diaglossia. Poul
(1965) calls it vertical bilingualism, since the two varieties exist with in the same
speaker.
29
2.3.1.8
Transfer
Transfer refers to the importing of elements from one language in to
another. This happens in all languages and at all levels of language and discourse,
phonological, morphological, lexical, syntactic, semantic and even rhetorical.
Transfer may be due to the absence of a word in a language to describe a
new concept. An example of scientific and technological concept like “computer”
is a technological concept that has no meaning or alternative word in Yoruba but
can only be best described in English language as “computer”. In such instances,
the appropriate word is “borrowed” from the relevant language as shown above.
Sometimes, a word is present but is more cumbersome than a word expressing a
similar concept in another language. The former may be substituted with the
latter.
Transfer could be positive or negative. Positive transfer occurs when
certain structures and concepts in the learner’s mother tongue (MT) are similar to
those of the target language. The learners transfer those structures and concepts to
the corresponding elements in the target language and this facilitates learning.
This is exemplified below.
Mo
Nlo
Oja
= I am going to the
market
30
Me
Going
Market
Negative transfer occurs when the transfer structure and concepts of his
mother tongue inappropriately in to the target language, leading to the production
of incorrect forms in the target language. Such transfer is also referred to as
interference Oloruntoba-Oju, (1999) this is also exemplified below.
Funfun
Aso
White cloth
Cloth
white
It is negative transfer that leads to variety of English or Nigerian English.
This is because, it is not our languages and we are not perfect therefore, we are
bound to make mistakes.
2.3.1.9
Interference
This is also been interference due to supplanting of the second language
structure by the mother tongue which becomes habitualised and established. Most
often, this depends on the individual and the context of usage. Therefore
interference is a linguistic alternation occurring with one unit of speech directed
to one listener: deviation from the norms of either language may be referred to
interference. It seems evident however, that not every switch from one language
to another results from the unwelcomed intrusion which the term interference
suggests. The Nigerian English speaker tends to transfer the word-order in their
mother tongue in to English (Weinerich).
31
In 1953, when Weinreich first published his book “Language in Contact”.
Wernreich decided to call interference those instances of bilinguals as a result of
their familiarity with more than one language caused by language contact: . In the
definition given by Mackay there is however, no reference to ‘norm’ or
‘deviation’: Interference is the use of features belonging to one language while
speaking or writing another’ (Mackey 1970:569).
Grosjean (1982 and 1985 a) like Mackey, prefers a neutral definition of
interference: The involuntary influence of one language on the other’ (1982:299)
which distinguishes it from borrowing and code-switching, understood to be less
involuntary. The latter are quite noticeable features of the speech of bilinguals
when addressing each other, where as interference is also prominent in the speech
of bilinguals when addressing monolinguals.
To some linguists, interference is seen as errors in the learner’s use of a
foreign language that can be traced back to the mother tongue. Interference is an
automatic transfer, due to habit, of the surface structure of the first language in to
the surface structure of the first language in to the surface structure of the target
language. However, interference may not be perceived wholly as errors in
themselves.
32
Interferences occurs virtually at all the primary levels of language
description most especially phonology, lexis and grammar. These are taken up
below.
2.3.1.9.1
Phonological Interference
This occurs in six major ways following Weinreich’s (1968) classification.
These are under differentiation, over differentiation, Re-interpretation of sounds,
phonemic substitutions, hyper correction, epenthesis and simplification.
Under differentiation occurs when two or more phonemic segments which
are acoustically contrastive but appear similar are confused. A case point is the
English vowel system which is more elastic than those of the Nigerian languages,
for example //, /e/, /З:/ and /:/ as in the word father, cat, birth and star
respectively may all be replaced with the cardinal // by the Nigerian speakers of
English.
Over-differentiation ensures where a language speaker prenames a single
phoneme in many different ways which are not in a way allophonic. An example
is when a typical Hausa man pronounces “current” /kΛrnt/ as /kwrent/.
Reinterpretation coincides with a case where a speaker gives a totally
different sequence of phonemic use in the target language-An example is a case
where /æks/ is used in place of /æsk/ (for the word “ask”).
33
Substitution is a major types of phonological interference triggered by
language contact phenomenon. This case abounds in Nigerian. For example the
absence of the inter-dental fricatives /Ø/ and // in major Nigerian languages calls
for their replacement with /t/ and /d/ (with /z/ for // in some cases) as in the
words: “theme being realized as /ti:m/ instead of /Øi:m/.
Hyper correction arises as a result of over sensitivity to contrasting
features in the target language. A typical illustration of this is characteristics of a
Nigerian who is prepared at all cost to learn an alien sound in the target language.
Such an individual may over generalized.
Epenthesis is a superfluous insertion of vowel segments as a way of
alleviating the complexity of consonant clusters which characterize English. For
instance /rIðm/ for /rIðm/ (rhythm) in hurried speech. Simplification occurs when
clusters with up to three or four consecutive consonants are reduced to two or
three for ‘accommodation’ reasons, e.g sixth/sIkøs/ is reduced to /SIKS/.
2.3.1.9.2
Lexical Interference
Weinreich (1968) describes this as a transfer of meanings in language
most especially through borrowing, however, owing to the fact that language
varies in alignment with contact with new ideas and development, with meaning
being shifted or extended in new context, “Lexical” may not be adequate enough
to describe this phenomenon. Adegbija (1989) and Bamiro’s (1991) lexico34
semantic variation in Nigeria. English are formidable essays on lexico-semantic
variation (interference) of English as a second language in Nigerian.
2.3.1.9.3
Grammatical Interference
This implies a transfer of the grammatical system of one language into
another. This is noticeable in the areas of pronouns; for instance, in relation to
politeness phenomena. In Yoruba where “they” is used to refer to singular “won”
as we have in B response below.
A:
Where is your uncle?
B:
They have gone to the market.
2.3.1.10
Borrowing
All languages borrow lexical items from other codes, and have always
done so. In the European context, it can be said that certain languages seem to
have been particularly prone to borrowing from others, as for instance German,
which has over the centuries incorporated large numbers of words from Latin,
Italian, French and, more recently, English. English too, has over the centuries
borrowed extensively from other European languages: Today it is the most
prolific ‘donor’ giving words to most languages in Europe and beyond often
replacing indigenous items which, from a linguistic point of view, were perfectly
acceptable.
35
Crystal (1980:47) refers to borrowing as “linguistic forms being taken
over by one language or dialect from another language”. Borrowings are also
called ‘loan words’. Busman (1996:55) defines borrowing as the adoption of
language usually when no term for the new concept exists in the dominant
language”. Borrowing involves the direct transfer of linguistic elements from the
secondary language into primary (major) language. For example French words,
Latin Lexemes and so on are found in English. Loan words become part of the
dominant language with time but they do not lose their background and import so
easily.
Borrowing is fundamental to the development of languages. For example,
Latin language was initially the world language but because it would not
accommodate words from other languages, it became almost extinct and is now
restricted to liturgical use.
Borrowing in sociolinguistic occurs when word or phrase is borrowed
from one language in to another language. In view of Adeyanju (1986) cited by
Olaoye (2002:205) “borrowing is a sociolinguistic situation in which a word or
phrase which has been taken from one language is used in another language”.
When borrowing is a single word, it is called a loan word. Borrowing is as a result
of contact situation. Whenever two or more languages come in contact, a number
of phenomena take place, such as borrowing, multilingualism, bilingualism, code
36
switching, code mixing, language domination and sometimes language shift and
death.
Borrowing occurs in adults as well as children. The borrowed item serves
a momentary need that may be caused by laziness, fatigue or some form of
emotional stress which makes the bilingual forget to correct term. The reasons for
borrowing are not always of a negative kind. A speaker may consciously choose
one item from the other language because he considers it more appropriate or
more relevant to the points. Incidents of borrowing in the speech of bilinguals
directed to other bilinguals do not normally lead to misunderstanding of the
contrary. The incident can add interest, humour or intimacy to the conversation
and cause delight to both interlocutors of their shared linguistics knowledge.
Borrowing according to Routledge Dictionary Language and Linguistics
(1995:55) is :“Adoption of a linguistic expression from one language in to
another language usually when no term exists for the new object concept or state
of affairs”. Among the causes of such cross-linguistic influence (language
contact) may be various political cultural, social or economic developments.
Throughout its history, English too has been subjected to foreign culture and
language for example, through the expansion of the Roman empire, the
development and growth of science and humanities. French borrowing have been
on and off since Norman conquest and there has been more recent borrowings
37
from dozens of languages in modern times, especially through the growth of
telecommunications and universal travel.
It is true that borrowing enriches and sustains a language. Care should be
taken not to allow borrowed words dominates the major language because by so
doing, the primary language will lose its prominence to the borrowed language
(language shift); and where the trend continues unchecked, the probability of the
‘major’ language being threatened by loss, decay or extinction (language death) is
higher.
Borrowing takes place at all levels of language which are syntax,
morphology, semantics, phonetics, phonology and lexicon. It refers not only to
words from other language but also to words which have been created to name
new inventions and deliberate combination of words. Lexis is an aspect of
language which is very central to borrowing. Words are more easily from one
language to another in a very large numbers. Phonology and phonetics are
concerned with features like vowel assimilation, vowel reduction and insertion
which affects the speech structure of the language. Vowel insertions will be
exemplified. Vowel insertion involves the insertion of a vowel in to a syllable
combination. Example from the Yoruba language are:Yoruba
English
Ibusun
Bed
Ago
Clock
38
The Yoruba language borrowed the words “Bed” and “clock” from
English. However the syllable structure of Yoruba language does not permit
consonant cluster. Vowels are therefore inserted into the consonant cluster. This is
borrowing at phonological and lexical levels.
Borrowing is a linguistic innovation that takes place in language. The
perpetuation of human language depends upon our human prosperity even
eagerness to imitate. That makes it possible for patterns of one language to be
borrowed into another.
2.3.1.10.1
Types of Borrowing
According to McGregor (2009:89), there are two types of borrowing:
Loantranslations or calques and loan blends.
2.3.1.10.1.1
Loantranslations of Calques
Loantranslations or calques are a special type of borrowing in which the
morphemes composing the source words are translated item by item. Examples
are English “power polities” from German Machtpolitik and Chinese nanpencgyu
(Make friend) from English “boy friend”.
In linguistic, a claque or loantranslation is a word or phrase borrowed
from another language by literal. Word-for-word (Latin: “verbum pro verbo”) or
root-for-root translation. For example, the common English phrase “flea market”
39
is a phrase calque that literally translates the French “marcheaux puces” (market
where one acquires fleas”).
Going in the other direction, from English to French, provides an example
of how a compound word may be calqued by first breaking it down into its
component, roots. The French “gratte-ciel” is a word-coinage inspired by the
model of the English “skyscraper” “gratter” literally translated as “to scrape” and
“ciel” translated as “sky”. The same is true for the swedith word “skyskrapa”
Spanish word “rascacielose” and the Italian word “grattacielo” (literally, a scrapeskies-sky), the Russian word “He bockped” the Nurwegian word “skyscraper”
and the Danish word “skyskraber” (both lilerally “cloud-scraper”).
A further example is bienvenue” (literally meaning “welcome”),
sometimes used for ‘you’re welcome in response to “thank you” in French
Canada instead of using the standard French “de rein” (it was nothing) or “avec’
plaisir” (with pelasure). Yet again, each of these phrases can be found as calques
in English, as “it was my pleasure, the pleasure was (is mine” used as a verb, “to
calque” means to borrow a word or phrase from another language while
translating its components so as to create a new lexemexin the target language).
“calques” itself is a loan word from a French, noun and derives from the
verb “calques” (to trace, to copy), while loanword is a calques of the German
“lehnwort”, and loantranslation, a loantranslation of “Lehnubersetzun”.
40
Proving a word is a calques sometimes requires more documentation than
an un translated loanword, since in some cases a similar phrase might have arisen
in both language independently. This is less like to be the case when the grammar
of the proposed calques is quite different from that of the language proposed to be
borrowing, or the calques contains less obvious imagery.
2.3.1.10.1.2
Loanblends
Similar to calques are loanblends in which one of the morphemes, that is
the
main lexical morpheme is borrowed, and the other is native as in
Pennsylvanian German bassig “bossy” with borrowed stem and native suffix,-ig a
Garman morpheme corresponding to the English –y suffix.
2.4
The influence of English language on our Nigerian indigenous
languages
The influence of English languages on our indigenous language cannot be
over looked. It is the most important heritage left by the British colonialists as a
unifying force, but that does not mean that we should de-emphasize our
indigenous languages in their own functional domains. From the data collected,
English language has a negative influence on our indigenous languages. This is
because, all the functions meant to be performed by our indigenous languages
have been taken over by English language because of the purported integration it
fosters. And most importantly is the issue of borrowing of English into our
41
vocabularies. From our data, we noticed that most students can not communicate
fluently in their mother tongue without adding one or two English vocabularies to
their mother tongue. This is a bad influence on our indigenous languages, because
as a result of borrowings from English language, it is only aiding the growth of
English but leading to the death of our own indigenous languages. That is why
most of the words borrowed in our data do not have alternatives in Yoruba. Those
that have do not share the same etymological origin, thus leading to different
concepts.
The negative influence of English language on our Nigerian indigenous
languages have taken prime or dominance and above, then in terms of academic
instructional materials in schools. In contrast with the Nigeria language policy
which stipulate that the three major indigenous Nigerian languages which are
Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba should be used as a media of instruction at the early
stages of primary education, English has taken over this functional role, that is
English is now use in relatively all levels of Nigerian educational system.
Another instance of those negative effects comes from the mass-media. It
is obvious that in Nigerian mass media, English is mostly used at the expense of
our indigenous languages. Therefore, owing to the fact that many a time, they do
not have access to vital information since the information are not disseminated in
their native languages.
42
However, despite the fact that English language has affected or influenced
the indigenous languages in Nigerian in certain respects, among which are
considered above, it has positively influenced or contributed immensely, at least
to a great extent, in the linguistic enrichment and development of Nigerian
indigenous languages.
The most outstanding way in which English language influences Nigerian
indigenous language positively is in the aspect of borrowing. Perhaps this is a
linguistic influence with respect to morphology. Using our language of
description (Yoruba) as a prototypical example, it is observed that the lexicon of
Yoruba has been relatively expanded as a result of borrowing certain lexical items
form English. Word such as buredi from “bread” offiisi from “office”, sileti from
“slate”, bulooku from “block” etc. are examples of borrowed words from the
lexicon of English into the lexicon of Yoruba language, consequentially enriching
an expanding the lexicon of the target language (Yoruba). Summarily, English
influences Nigerian indigenous languages linguistically by increasing the number
of lexical items in the native languages through borrowing.
Another area where English affects Nigerian indigenous languages
positively is orthography design. Obviously, very many Nigerian native languages
have been reduced to writing using the English writing. System (alphabet) as the
basis. The codification of these languages using English orthography as a medium
43
of reference is indeed a reflection of the linguistic contribution of English
language to the linguistic development of Nigerian indigenous languages.
2.5
Conclusion
We have reviewed the advent of English language in Nigeria, its functions
in Nigeria, language contact and its effects. But of all that has been reviewed in
this chapter, the most important to us is borrowing as it relate in the topic directly
to this essay. Finally, we reviewed the influence of English language on our
Nigerian indigenous languages both positive and negative influences.
44
CHAPTER THREE
DATA ANALYSIS
3.0
Introduction
In this chapter, we shall examine and analyse the examples of borrowing
from English into Yoruba. These borrowings are classified broadly into two types:
loantranslations or calques and loanblends. In addition to this, how the borrowed
or loaned words from the source language (English) are code-mixed with the
native lexical items within the target language (Yoruba) sentence shall be
exemplified.
3.1
Presentation of Data
3.1.1
Classification of Borrowed Words
3.1.1.1 Loantranslations of Calques
S/N English
Yoruba
1.
Get
Gbáá
2.
Stingy
Lahún
3.
Teller
Iwe
4.
Wheelbarrow ỌmỌlánke
5.
Try
Gbiyanju
6.
Like
Fe
7.
Carryover
Ise asetunse
45
8.
People
Eniyan
9.
Chair
Aga
10.
Window
Ferese
11.
Masquerade
Eegun
12.
School
Ile iwe
13.
Mosque
Mosalasi
14.
Television
Ero amohunmaworan
15.
Aeroplane
Oko Ofurufu
16.
Radio
Ero asoromagbesi
17.
Stadium
Papa isere
18.
Journey
Irin ajo
19.
Girls
Awon obinrin
20.
Boys
Awon okunrin
46
3.1.1.2
Loanblends
S/N English
Yoruba
1.
Pretend
Pretendi
2.
Need
Needi
3.
Cup
Koobu
4.
Bread
Buredi
5.
Table
Tebu
6.
Church
Soosi
7.
Chalk
Sooki
8.
Class
Kilaasi
9.
Block
Bulooku
10.
Glass
Gilaasi
11.
Trailer
Tirela
12.
Shop
Soobu
13.
Office
Ofiisi
14.
Chairman
Siamaanu
15.
Skirt
Sikeeti
47
16.
Card
Kaadi
17.
Shirt
Saati
18.
Ceiling
Sili
19.
Ball
Boolu
20.
Pot
Pootu
3.2
English Yoruba Code-mixed Sentences
1.
Emi
ti
I
have
n get
e
get
that
‘I am getting it’
2.
Awon yen
wa
stingy ju
They that
be
stingy surplus
‘they are too stingy’
3.
se
o
Have you
ti
gba
collect iwe
teller
yen?
isanwowole
that?
‘have you collected that teller?
4.
Awon
yen
ti
n
lo
wheelbarrow yen
Those
ones
that
have
use
omolanke
that
‘Those ones have been using that wheelbarrow’
5.
Ema
try
lati
gbaa
bee
They
always
gbiyanju
lati
take in like that
‘Always try to accept it like that’
48
6.
Mi
o
like
kinni yen
I
don’t feran thing that
‘I don’t like that thing’
7.
Awon
girls
yen
ni
carryovers
Those
obinrin
that
have
ise asetunse
‘Those girls have carryovers’
8.
Se
awon
people
yen ti
lo?
Have
those
eniyan
that
have go?
‘Have those people gone’?
9.
Awon
chairs
yen
wa
pa
Those
aga
that
exist
okay
“Those chairs are okay’
10.
Bami
si
window
yen
Help
me
open
ferese that
‘Open that window for me’
11.
Awon
yen
ma
an
se
masquerade
festival
Those
that
use
to
do
egungun
festival
‘Those are used to celebration of masquerade festival’
12.
Won
ni
They have
schools
ti
o
po
awon-ilewe
that
many ni
‘They have many schools in that state’
49
ni
inpinle
state
yen
that
13.
Awon
yen
nse
adua
ni
Those
that
do
prayer in
mosque
mosalasi
‘They are doing prayer in the mosque’
14.
Mi
o
fe
I
don’t want
tun
television
yen
se
repeat ero-amohunmaworan that
mo
do again
‘I don’t want to repair that television again’
15.
Se
e
ma
baa
aeroplane
yen
lo
Will
you
with
oko
ofurufu
that
go?
ni?
‘Are you going to travel in the aeroplane’
16.
Radio
yen
ko
sise
mo
Ero asoromagbesi
is
not
working
again
‘The radio is not working again’
17.
Mo
nlo
si
I
(prog marker) go
stadium
to
paapa isere
‘I am going to the stadium’
18.
Mo
I
nlo
journey
loola
(prog marker)
irin
ajo
tomorrow
‘I am traveling tomorrow’
19.
Awon
girls
yen
ti
Those
obinrin
that
(perfect tense) do ti
‘Those girls are too rough
50
rough
ju
surplus
20.
Mo
feri
ikan
lara
awon boys
yen
I
see
one
among those okunrin
that
‘I want to see one of those boys’
21.
Won
maaan
pretendi
ni
sa
They
usually
pretend
(adverb)
always
‘They are always pretending’
22.
Won
needi
iranlowo
They
need
help
‘They need help’
23.
Bami
mu
koobu
yen
Help
bring
cup
that
‘Give me that cup’
24.
Mo
fe
je
buredi
ni sin
I
want
eat
bread
now
‘I want to eat bread now’
25.
O
wa
lori
tebu
It
be
on
table
‘It is on the table’
26.
Won
ni
eto
ni
soosi
They
have
programme
in
church
‘They have programme in church’
51
27.
Mo
fe
lo
sooki
I
want
use
chalk
‘I wan to use chalk’
28.
Mo
wa
ni
kilaasi
I
be
in
class
‘I am in the class’
29.
Awon
bulooku
yen
o
le
Those
blocks
that
(neg) can
to
enough
‘Those blocks can not be enough’
30.
Omo
okunrin
yen
ti
fo
gilaasi
Child
boy
that
(Agr) break galss
yen
that
‘That boy has broke the glass’
31.
Awon
tirela
yen
ti
da
hold
up
kale
Those
trailer
that
hase
cause sunkerepakere down
‘Those trailers has caused hold up’
32.
Eni ti
oni
soobu
yen
ti
ku
Person
that
own
shop
that
have
die
‘The person that owned the shop has died’
33.
Mo
ni
ise
lati
se
ni
ofiisi
I
have
work
to
do
ni
office
‘I have work to do in the office’
52
34.
Awon
yen
ti
yo
siaamanu
yen
They
that
have
remove
chairman
that
sikeeti
yen
mo
skirt
that
again.
‘They have impeached that chairman’
35.
Mi
o
fe
I
(neg) want
‘ I don’t want that skirt again
36.
E lo ni
MTN
How much is MTN
recharge
kaadi
yin?
risaji
card
you?
‘How much is your MTN recharge card?’
37.
Mi
o
ni
I
(neg) have
black
saati
dudu
shirt
‘I don’t have black shirt’
38.
Awon sili
yen
gbona gaan
Those
ceilings
that
hot
very
‘Those ceilings are too hot’
39.
Boolu
yen
ti
sonu
Ball
that
have
last
‘The ball has lost’
40.
Awon
pootu
yen
kii
Those
pots
that
(neg) not do original
‘Those pots are not original’
53
se
gidi
3.3
Analysis
Loantranslations and loanblends as instances of code mixing apply in our
data as represented above. From these, it is evident that Yoruba speakers tends to
borrow words of English into their own language while in conversation. The
following are some of the examples from our data:
1. Emi
ti n get e
2. Mi o like kinnin yen
3. Awon chairs yen wa pa
4. Bami si window yen
5. Mo wa ni kilaasi
6. Awon bulooku yen o le to
7. O wa lori tebu
In the above utterances, Yoruba is predominant in these utterances. This
seems evident because in the utterances above, the borrowed words are virtually
single lexical items in each sentences.
Structurally, the borrowed word predominates at the medial positions of the
utterance. Only in few instances of the borrowed words occur at the initial and
final positions. The following are some of the examples from our data:
1. Radio yen ko sise mo
2. Boolu yen ti so nu
54
3. Won needi iranlowo
4. Bami mu koobu yen
5. Mi o fe tun television yen se mo
6. Se e ma aero plane ye lo ni?
7. Awon girls yen ti rough ju
8. Mo n lo si stadium
9. Won ni eto ni soosi
10. Mo fe lo sooki
11. Awon yen nse adua ni mosque
In the above utterances, some of the borrowed words occurred at the medial
position, for instance ‘needi’ koobu’, ‘aeroplane’ ‘girl’ ‘television’. This shows
that the majority of the borrowed element occur at the medial structural position
linearly in the Yoruba sentences followed by some occurring sentence. While
very few ones are inserted at the sentence initial slot for instance ‘Radio’ and
‘Boolu’. In most cases, some of the borrowed elements occur at the final position,
for instance ‘stadium’ ‘soosi’, ‘sooki’ and ‘mosque’.
Another instances in our data is that, it is only on few occasions that the
speakers borrow more than one lexical item in each utterance. The following are
some of the examples from our data:
1. Mi o ni black saati
55
2. Awon tirela yen ti da hold up kale
3. Awon girls yen ti rough ju
4. Awon girls yen ni carryovers
5. E lo ni MTN recharge kaadi yin?
In the above utterances, it is observed that more than one lexical item are
borrowed in each utterances for instance ‘black and saati,’ ‘tirela’and holdup’
‘girls’ and‘rough’ ‘girls’and carryover’.
In our data above, it is clear that Yoruba-English code-mixing can take place
in any sentence type in the recipient language Yoruba. That is whether in a
declarative, interrogative or command sentence. The Yoruba speakers can
entertain Yoruba-English code mixing. There are some exampleS from our data.
1. Mi o fe sikeeti yen mo
2. Awon sili yen gbo na gaan
3. Awon pootu yen I ki se gidi
4.
Mo n lo si stadium
5. Won ni eto ni soosi
In the above utterances, it shows that they are all declarative sentences and it
serve as a means of entertaining Yoruba-English code mixing. Another instance is
when Yoruba-English code-mixing take place in an interrogative sentence for
instance.
56
1. Se awon people yen ti lo?
2. Se o ti gba teller yen?
3. Se e ma ba aeroplane yen lo ni?
4. Elo ni MTN recharge kaadi yin?
The above utterances featured interrogative sentences which is an example of
Yoruba-English code-mixing and also serve as a means of entertaining YorubaEnglish code-mixing.
At the instance of Yoruba-English code-mixing, there are only few command
sentences in our data, these are some of the examples.
1. Bami si window yen
2. Bami mu koobu yen
3. Mo fe ri ikan lara awon boys yen
57
CHAPTER FOUR
SUMMARY, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
4.0
Introduction
In this chapter we shall present a brief summary of the whole research
work based on our findings. Also, appropriate conclusion shall be done
4.1
Summary
By and large, efforts have been made in this long essay towards examining
the sociolinguistic concept; the borrowing and code-mixing among Unilorin
undergraduates. In other to achieve this aim, this research has taken down the
utterances of certain groups of students in their respective faculties with respect to
how they code-mix the linguistic items of English and Yoruba during
conversation.
Chapter one examined a brief history of English language in Nigeria and
then talked about its usefulness in Nigeria as a whole. It then went on to discuss
how students at the University of Ilorin borrow words from English into Yoruba
in their day to day interaction which is a reflection of code-mixing. In addition, it
addressed why and when code-mixing is used on the campus.
In chapter two, we made a review of literature related to the research topic
there by discussing the advent of English language and some factors that
contributed to the survival of English language in the country. We also discussed
58
some of the functions of English language in Nigerian such as instruments of
education, integration of unity intranational and international functions, English
as an official language and above all, as Nigeria’s second language. In chapter
two, we alsoreview what language contact is and the effects with respect to
borrowing it has on our indigenous languages. And finally, we made a review on
the influences of English language on our Nigerian indigenous languages both
positively and negatively.
Chapter three presented the research methodology; it stated the data on
instances of borrowing (code-mixing) and analyzed the data in full.
Finally, chapter four summarized and concluded the essay by
recapitulating the salient issues regarding borrowings by users of English among
the sample population.
4.2
Findings
In the above given sets of data, the findings or observations are as follows:
It is observed that whereas some borrowed words from English into
Yoruba are loantranslations or calques, others are loanblends. In other words, a
speaker of Yoruba can borrow items from English and either assimilate them
directly by translation without any linguistic modification, or make the words
conform with the linguistic system of their language, hence, modified respectively
e.g. ‘get’, ‘like’, ‘pretend’ and ‘church.’
59
Also, we find out that in the sentences (data) above, the Yoruba speakers
use their language predominantly during communication but only borrow in most
times, a single lexical item from English and incorporate it within their utterance.
It is only on a few occasions that the speakers borrow more than one lexical item
in each sentence.
Another finding in our data is connected with the structural positions in
which the borrowed concepts (words) from English can occur within the Yoruba
native sentences. We discover that the majority of the borrowed elements occur at
the medial structural position linearly in the Yoruba sentences followed by some
occurring sentence-finally while very few ones are inserted at the sentence-initial
slot.
Finally, we observe that in Yoruba-English code-mixing can take place in
any sentence type in the recipient language-Yoruba. That is whether in a
declarative, interrogative or command sentence, the Yoruba speakers can
entertain Yoruba English code-mixing.
4.3
Conclusion
Code-mixing, as a sociolinguistic phenomenon, is a familiar practice
throughout the world, most especially among those who are bilingual in which
they combine certain linguistic items from two different languages as a linguistic
reflection of borrowing.
60
University of Ilorin whose undergraduate students are our case study in
this research work is an academic community and English language is the official
language in the institution. So while the people could be said to be fluent in
English they nonetheless still have their mother tongue which sometimes does not
take care of all the concepts especially the ones they have acquired through
formal education.
This is why code-mixing appears to be the main feature of the academics
using their mother tongue words such as ‘block’ ‘church’ ‘office’ ‘bread’ ‘skirt’
‘card’ and so on are commonly used not only by literate people but also by those
who have not been to schools at all.
These words and many could then be treated as loan words because of
their low frequency of usage among Nigerians and most importantly because they
denote concepts which are alien to us.
61
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