Interference of ‘Diachronisms’ In Nigerian English (NigE)
Keywords:
Interference, diachronisms, ENE, diachronic linguistics, Nigerian EnglishAbstract
This paper examines the use of ‘diachronisms’ in Educated Nigerian English (ENE). Diachronisms is used here to denote old-fashioned words and expressions which come from old and past generation varieties of English and assume currency and ubiquity in (E)NE. The paper sets out to show the psycho-sociolinguistic causes of diachronisms in ENE, how they distinguish Nigerian English morphology and how they should be treated in the use, teaching, and description of Nigerian English variety. The paper is based on the concepts of ‘diachronic linguistic,’ and ‘interference.’ Observation and the recording of spontaneous speeches were used to gather examples which were further subjected to a nation-wide survey in a questionnaire to establish their currency and ubiquity in ENE, also Standard Nigerian English (SNE). The data were presented and analyzed in simple percentile and frequency tables and charts Results showed that diachronisms flourish in (E) NE, unlike in Standard British English (SBE) or Standard American English (SAE). The paper concludes that the use of diachronisms in Nigerian English (NigE) differentiates it from native English varieties. Since the diachronisms examined are institutionalised and widely accepted, and as they are not grammatical errors or embarrassing errors of interference, the paper argues that teachers of ESL and grammarians do not need to bother about them as they may worry about other egregious language infelicities.
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