NIGERIAN ENGLISH USAGE AND THE TYRANNY OF FAULTY ANALOGY

Abstract

As Nigeria’s official language in a multilingual setting, English is the language we conduct much of our inter-personal communication in, not only intra-nationally across linguistic divides, but also internationally with other users of the language outside our country. However, the alarming truth is that our Nigerian English – that child of necessity for building bridges across our vast linguistic divides in all spheres of life, and equally importantly, for keeping in touch with the rest of the English-speaking world – has continued to largely operate at all levels on a principle that I refer to as faulty analogy. This lecture demonstrates that this faulty analogy is responsible for a significant proportion of the common errors committed regularly in Nigerian English usage! Yet this disturbing phenomenon remains largely unacknowledged by many – and is even completely unknown to many more!