Nigerian English

Activity 1. What do these words mean?

1. 
   My friend wants to go down the bus.
   
2. 
   Did you know that Richard is moving with Eunice?
   
3. 
   Britain derecognized the DK in 1979.
   
4. 
   This is an outstation call.
   
5. 
   He over listened to the boys’ conversation.
   
6. 
   Most of the students here are bed-spacers.
   
7. 
   Our son is England-returned.
   
8. 
   You have to be careful with these been-to boys.
   

Activity 2. Guess the distinctive collocations and idioms noted in Nigeria


Example Provide Meaning
Senior
Wash mouth
Morning meal
Baby lawyer
Hear French
Declare a surplus
Take in
Give me chance/ way
I am not financial


Activity 3. Find out the meanings of Nigerian words.

1. 
   Bush meat: ‘We will hunt some bush-meat’
   
2. 
   White-cap chiefs: senior chiefs in Lago whose rank is shown by the white cap
   
3. 
   Environment: ‘This environment is nice’.
   
4. 
   At now: ‘They have not arrived at now.’
   
5. 
   Off-head
   
6. 
   To take the light
   
7. 
   Social wake-keeping
   
8. 
   To wet: ‘I will wet my plants’
   
9. 
   Globe: ‘Can you change the globe, please!’
   
10. 
    To land one’s speech
    
11. 
    Juju music
    

Handout 2
Task 1. Read the articles above and mark the information below:
T – if the statement is true;
F – if the statement is false;
NG – if the information is not given in the passage;

Statement	Answer
British trading contacts on the West African coast in the sixteenth century	T
In this days and age English does not play (plays) essential role in Nigeria.	F
Nigerians use English because of British conolisation that ended in 1860.(1960)	F
However, no creole has gained enough status to be accepted as a national language. Nowadays, English and Spanish are the official languages.	NG
However, English is the second language, it is not spoken at all in several rural areas	T
Contact between indigenous and colonizers led to borrowing items. English as the official language. There has been American English influence, and vocabulary has been affected	NG
In 1987, President Ershad replaced English with Bengali as the language of most of the lower courts, but this status was restored in 2010.(2001)	F
A vital number of people in Bangladesh communicate in English and Urdu	T
Countries which needed new industrial knowledge could access it via the medium of English, something which made powerful again the language internationally.	NG
In 2012, the High Court banned the use of "Banglish", described as a slang mixture of Bengali and English, in radio and television programs, in order to the prevent the corruption of both languages.	T