The Influence Of English Language On Our Nigerian Indigenous Languages: Examples Of Borrowing From English Into Yoruba By Unilorin Undergraduates

 Generally speaking, it seems unlikely that English will cease to be used elaborately in Nigeria in a foreseeable future. This research work therefore will find out if students in the University of Ilorin borrow words from English in to Yoruba in their day to day interaction and if they do to identify this borrowings. The sample population used in this work is 80 (Eighty) students of the University of Ilorin and these students were randomly chosen from four faculties in this University and they are all Yoruba language speakers with the use of instruments like tape reader and audio cassette. From the data analyzed, it is  observed that the Yoruba speaker use their language predominantly during communication not only borrow in most times a single lexical item from English and in corporate it within their utterances. Code-mixing, as a sociolinguistic phenomenon, is a familiar practice through out the world, most especially among  bilinguals who combine certain linguistic items is from two different languages. In this regard, it was discovered that language contact also result in borrowing from one language to another.

 

 It is a well established fact that English language has established itself firmly in Nigeria thus, its importance cannot be over emphasized. Apart from being an official language. English language is the rope that ties members of  the different speech communities together in continuing interrelationships. It is the common instrument that they draw on for socio-cultural identification.

 English language is said to be a human specific mode of expressing  our thought  through the verbal (i.e spoken and written) and non-verbal means. With this definition, we shall reiterate that English language necessarily serves humans in a multitude of ways: English language is said to have a great impact on the cognitive development of man: Man is able to express his thoughts and view.

 The majority of world English speakers use English either as a second or third language and exists in an environment where in the least, bilingualism is the norm even though English may be the official language. In many countries, including Nigeria, English is the main language of instruction in schools (especially after primary education level) and it is used in business and other official transactions and interactions.

 English came into Nigeria through colonization centuries ago and three main groups of people emerged from this contact of English with the indigenous languages of Nigeria. These groups are the  British,  the new Nigerian elite trained in Britain and the native indigenous population trained  in Nigeria. A local variant of English emerged from the mixing of those groups of people. This local variant of English was coloured by influence from local languages. Borrowing of indigenous words into English is a result of this contact and these borrowed words are what we call ‘loan words’.

 Today as English is used in almost every facet of life in Nigeria, it still comes in contact with practically all indigenous Nigerian languages and when Nigerians speak English words from their various indigenous languages occur in their speech

 This research work therefore, will find out if students in the University of Ilorin borrow words from English into Yoruba in their day to day interaction and if they do, to identify these borrowings.

 We shall also find out the sources of these borrowings. We hope to trace them to the various indigenous languages and which they use in a communication. In other words, effort shall be made extensively on the scope of the study and methodology involved in the collection of data.

Title page         i

Certification         ii

Dedication         iii

Acknowledgement         iv 

Table of contents        vi

Abstract          viii 

1.1 General Introduction       1

1.2 Scope and Delimitation of the study     3 

1.3 Methodology         4

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction        5

2.1 The advent of English language in Nigeria     5

2.2 Functions of English language in Nigeria     8

2.3 Language contents        12

2.3.1 Effects of language contact      15 

2.3.1.1 Bilingualism        15

2.3.1.2 Multilingualism       18

2.3.1.3 Code-switching       21

2.3.1.4  Code-mixing        23

2.3.1.5 Language shift        25

2.3.1.6 Language loss        27

2.3.1.7 Diglossia        28 

2.3.1.8 Transfer         30

2.3.1.9 Interference         31

2.3.1.9.1 Phonological interference       33 

2.3.1.9.2 Lexical interference       34

2.3.1.9.3 Grammatical interference       35

2.3.1.10   Borrowing         35

2.3.1.10.1 Types of borrowing       39 

2.3.1.10.1.1 Loantranslations or calques      39

2.3.1.10.1.2 Loanblends       41

2.4 The influence of English language on our Nigeria 

indigenous languages       41

2.5 Conclusion        44

DATA ANALYSIS    

3.0 Introduction        45

3.1 Presentation of data       45

3.1.1 Classification of borrowed words      45

3.1.1.1 Loantranslations or calques       45

3.1.1.1.2 Loanblends         47

3.2 English –Yoruba code-mixed sentence     48

3.3 Analysis        54 

SUMMARY, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION 

4.0 Introduction        58

4.1 Summary         58

4.2 Findings         59

4.3 Conclusion         60

Bibliography        62