Nigerian English Usage and the Tyranny of Faulty Analogy: A Study of Pronunciation Challenges

Abstract

In this paper, we define ‘faulty analogy’ as the impulsive thinking by the vast majority of L2 users of English that if B is similar to A in a certain linguistic respect, then B can be treated exactly like A in that respect on account of this similarity. The data used in the study was collected from a wide range of sources – spoken and written – over a ten-year period from 2005 to 2015. Our theoretical framework derives from the Behaviourist theory of language acquisition through the process of imitation - and a major criticism of this theory. Additional theoretical insights benefitted from scholarly opinions from contact linguistics. The subsequent analysis of the data reveals that faulty analogy accounts for a large proportion of the errors and sub-standard forms typical of Nigerian English usage, and that wrong pronunciation is only one of the numerous categories of faulty analogy errors in Nigerian English. We conclude that awareness of faulty analogy as a linguistic phenomenon and a formidable source of error is the best way to overcome the problem that it poses to L2 users of English. And we recommend that this awareness can best be achieved through teaching faulty analogy formally in the school system and drawing attention to its various forms.