Lexical Borrowing in Nigerian English
Muddasir Ismaila Moyi *
Department of English and Literature, Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State, Nigeria.
Francis Attah Egu
Department of General Studies, Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Bonny Island, Rivers State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The study looked at the extent to which English language is transformed in the Nigerian society. The paper has been restricted to lexical variation of such ‘Nigerianness’ with particular reference to loanwords and Loanshift and English words whose meaning has been restricted. The data for this work has been drawn from Nigerian newspapers, Nigerian written document which includes literary works, and spoken English of Nigerians have also been observed for the period of the research. The paper analysed in detail the occurrence of such loanwords, from loanwords proper to partial loanwords (those which are not fully accepted into Nigerian English vocabularies) and Loanshift. The paper upheld the view that Nigerian English lexis should be considered a variant as it reflects the cultural as well as the communicative need of the users of English in Nigeria.
Keywords: Nigerianisms, Nigerian english, Loanwords, Loanshift, Nigerian newspapers.