Nativization of English Language in a Multilingual Setting: The Example of Nigeria

Abstract

This paper discusses the history of the English language in Nigeria, its international status and its numerous functions. The author maintains that the English language has adapted itself to the different exigencies, particularly the linguistic and cultural contexts of its use. The author gives features and nuances of the English that are peculiar to the Nigerian users to show the nativization of the English language in Nigeria. She opines that the English language has continued to exist in a multilingual setting like Nigeria where an indigenous national language has not evolved. The author discusses some scholarly criteria for the standardization of the world Englishes, which she maintains, must be respected. She also reinforces that Nigerian English is a variety of the world Englishes. She concludes that any discussion of nativization or domestication must not, in any way, jettison social acceptability and intelligibility so that Nigerian English will enjoy a wide and social use.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n6p485