Misuse of English in Nigeria

     Well command tone and correct usage of the English language is not up to par in Nigeria. Many a time, it is difficult for the language users in the country to command the language like the local people (native speakers). Whereas speaking a foreign language like English requires one to learn the basis on how to speak and write in simple, well commanded and communicative expression, so, one will not create patois for oneself, different from the linguistic features belonging to such language.

      Actually, English is the official language of Nigeria and popularly spoken by the people in the country. At least it has eased the problem of communication among different ethnic groups—through the language there is friendship among tribes, success in business, which cannot be waved out with one hand. However, a lot of language users are heedless towards correct usage; such clanger people make may feature as wrong pronunciation, incorrect spelling, wrong verb, misuse of articles and many others.
Thus gaffe being mentioned, many people swim in it every day and night. This does not exclude media such as radio and television as well as politicians in the country. While wrong pronunciation is mostly found in some radio and television stations, politicians have their shipwreck when it comes to area of concord—that is, the agreement between noun and verb. But it a pity that there is no any active positive measures being put in place to curb this conspicuous faux pas whirling in the sky of communication in the world of word.

      Since there is no river without its spring, the cause of bad English is no end of sea waves. But basically, errors in the usage are due to the individual recklessness towards learning the language. Many are so heedless because of their cocksure attitude, believing that everything in the language is cleared to them whereas one thing to know is that foreign language like English requires one to know basis of the language which qualifies one to communicate effectively even if one lacks some linguistic characteristics connected to each expression.

      Another cause of dangling along the boulevard-line of bad English is imitation, the interchangeable mental Photostat of each word pouring from the mouth of eminent people in the society. Especially semi-literate persons, a lot of people believe that English is well commanded by respected people in the country. They are imitated in their self-created lingo expression, which some of them has no grammatical references, many of their words/ expressions are just the sweet-coated-mouth used to be musical in the ear of their audience. If they should speak, the earth may be squished by the bomb of their words.

      Some cannot even differentiate between their mother tongue and the English language—that is English is spoken the same way mother tongue is spoken. Expressions are constructed by the users of the language, using the idea of the mother tongue to weave their statement in English. Thus there is friction in communication between the speaker and the hearer. One may encounter users saying ‘sorry’ instead of ‘excuse me’ while asking someone to spare the way for them. Another case may be a situation when the user is leaving somewhere a short time- just to tell the listener, simply, ‘I’ll be right back/ just a minute’ instead the users say ‘I’m coming,’ which, the latter is direct usage in the mother tongue. But curbing this blunder in the language is like asking baby to go back to his mother’s womb.

      Nevertheless, patois in English has occurred before at the time America set of up her own spelling, tense and expression, which cannot be relayed to its origin (British). The change in English pronunciation and other things related to grammar in the language led to the development of the American English. So it is not strange today when you check your dictionary, having American spelling and pronunciation, different from that of British—so language is conventional. It is the medium verbal or non-verbal popularly accepted as a means of communication.

      Distinctively, English is different from any language in the world; therefore, there is need for one to learn the language frequently; familiar with the dictionary, acquaintance with fascinating expressions being used by writers in magazine, newspapers as well as novels. Having known new words, one needs to be able to create a good expression suitable for the new vocabulary according to the grammatical rules.

      In a nutshell, English in Nigeria (especially spoken by the common man) is different from that of British. It is regarded as incorrect, but if effort is being made on how to realize the actual ways of speaking in Nigeria, our language we be independent just like that of American English we have today. If Nigerians maintain general mode of speaking, well arranged and communication is taken place, sincerely, grammarians will work on it and develop what we call Nigerian English.