Nigerian English
by Samuel Jones
To explain, Nigeria is a very plurilingual country in which some 500 langauges are spoken. According to David Crystal, about half of the population of 126m use pidgin or creole English as a second language. What interests me in relation to our work on the English Language is that Adeseye proposes a distinctly Nigerian English with the main aim being for communicative efficiency in professional roles. With training in English that is specific to purpose (ESP), 'professionals are enabled to use English in the performance of communicative acts of different kinds as pertaining to their areas of discipline. They become efficient engineers, managers, and technicians, thereby contributing to National Development'.
The argument runs that English is the lingua franca of the technological world in which Nigeria is seeking to operate. Logical, then, to develop the capacity of students in science and technology to use the English language. The point is that that English is led not by the UK, but by international operators who are using English for pragmatic reasons.
This highlights some tensions. A distinctly Nigerian English is not necessarily the English of the Chinese or Indian technological coroporation - neither, for that matter, is the English of the UK. Furthermore, English will also carry with it vestiges of a colonial past.
In relation to UK policy, debates like that in Nigeria ask some difficult questions. In a world of Global English, what role does the UK play? If English is being learned for specific purposes, and those purposes are being developed in regions on the other side of the world, what implication does that have for the UK's role as a language provider?