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Re-evaluating the Question of Standardization of Nigerian English
Emeka C. Ifesieh
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DOI:10.17265/1539-8072/2016.02.004
Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria
It is difficult to deny the existence of Nigerian English, just as it is difficult to deny the existence of British English and American English. This claim arises from the fact that what characterizes a people’s linguistic norm takes its rise from the totality of the people’s sociocultural practices of which meaningful verbal sounds are of great essence. The meaningful verbal sounds serve as the chief instrument for communicating meanings, feelings, ideas, and abstractions. Whereas the existence of Nigerian English is no doubt, what constitutes its standard variety has been under contestation. In this write up, argument on standardization of Nigerian English is built-up on the basis of the various stages which the language has passed through and is still passing through in Nigeria. Argumentatively, standard variety of Nigerian English is identified and examined with the aim of demonstrating how efforts in standardizing it are made through empirically reliable criteria.
Nigerian English, contestation of the standard variety, standardization, argumentatively empirically reliable criteria
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