ABSTRACT
This study examined the effect of Yoruba language on the sound system
of spoken English language among the indigenous Mushin Yoruba market
women in Lagos. It was to find out the features that distinguish Lagos
Yoruba accent from the received pronunciation. The speech of ten
selected market women from Mushin Lagos was used. Market women who were
native of Mushin and who have been doing business in Lagos market were
sampled. Phonological approach was adopted using snowball sampling
technique. It was discovered that phonological features of Nigeria
English such as substitution, under-differentiation, spelling
pronunciation, epenthesis and simplification of consonant cluster were
the common features found in the oral English of the samples. The
English of the sample has been affected by their L1.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
This study is carried out to examine the effect of Yoruba on the
spoken English of Mushin market women in Lagos state. The need to
examine and correct the wrong pronunciation of English words in many
Nigerian market women, particularly among the Mushin market woman in
Lagos demands extra effort and great attention. This is because, it is
observed that this problem is the result of the features found in their
indigenous languages which are transferred to the sound system of the
English language. Their English phonetics reflects the structure of the
sound system of their mother tongue (Osisanwo 2009). With respect to
this, we shall discuss the term phonology.
Phonology is the sound system of a language. It is the
study of the properties of the sound system of a given language. It is
the systematic study of how the speech sounds function and are organized
in human languages. Hyman (1975:1) cited by Osinanwo (2009:3) asserted
that, the goal of phonology is to study the properties of the sound
system which speakers must learn and internalize in order to use their
language for the purpose of communication. According to Oyebade (1998:2)
phonology is the scientific study of the arbitrary vocal symbol used in
human speech and the pattern into which these symbols produce
intelligent, meaningful utterances.
Akmajian et al (2008:109) asserted that ‘phonology is the
subfield of linguistics that studies the structure and patterning of
sound in human language’. Hence, speakers of Nigerian English are still
facing a lot of pronunciation problems as a result of their L1 influence
on their spoken English (Alabi, 2007). So many works have been done on
the segmental features of the phonology of Nigerian English such as Utin
(2009) based on the Anang accent of English language.
Mushin lies on the railway from Lagos and at the
intersection of roads from Lagos, Shomolu, and Ikeja. After the 1950
independence from the Great Britain, there became large migrations to
the sub-urban areas. This led to intensive overcrowding as a result,
poor sanitation and inadequate housing lead to poor living conditions.
However, since the rise of industrialization in Nigeria, Mushin has
become one of the largest beneficiaries of the industrial expansion.
Their local commercial enterprises include spinning and weaving of
cotton, shoe manufacturing, bicycle and motorized-cycle assembly, along
with the production of powdered milk (Jowith, 1991).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Despite the fact that various studies has previously been conducted
on the phonology of Nigeria English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba languages
respectively, however, research gaps exists in the area of the effect of
Yoruba on the spoken English of Mushin Market women in Lagos which this
study sets to bridge. It is obvious that language has gain a lot of
ground among the Nigeria languages, however it is one of the major
indigenous language in Nigeria. Therefore this study is set out to find
the effect of Yoruba language particularly the Mushin Yoruba dialect on
the phonology of English. That is, it is to check the influence of the
Mushin Lagos Yoruba dialect on the sound system of the English language
at the segment level. In other words, this work will find out the
English phonemes which are mispronounced by the Mushin indigenous Yoruba
market women.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The aim of this study is to find out the effect of Mushin
Yoruba dialect on the phonology of standard British English (SBE). That
is, the changes that may likely occur as a result of the contact of the
Mushin Lagos Yoruba dialect and English. In other words, this work is to
search for the features that distinguish the phonology of Nigeria
English variety from the received pronunciations. These features shall
be identified from the recorded speech collected and analyzed. We hope
to provide solution to bridge the gap in the differences.
1.4 Justification of the Study
A lot of research works have been done on phonologic interferences.
This work is to add to the efforts that have been made. Our
concentration is on this topic because much has not been done
particularly on the phonological interference of Mushin Lagos Yoruba
dialect and the English language. Also the cosmopolitan nature of Mushin
Lagos Yoruba draws our interest. This work shall help the Mushin
indigenous Yoruba market women and other readers on their spoken
English.
1.5 Scope of the Study
Phonology can be handled from different angles; for instance,
segmental aspect can be treated, attention can be paid to only
suprasegmental aspect and the two levels can be jointly discussed. This
research work shall direct its focus on the segmental phonology. Due to
time, financial constraints and for effective result we shall limit our
study domain to only Mushin market in Lagos. Twenty market women shall
be tested, out of which ten shall be selected. The selection shall base
on deepness in Yoruba language spoken.
1.6 Methodology
This work shall make use of recorded speech of ten selected
market women from Mushin market, Lagos. Samples are selected using
snowball sampling techniques as a result of the limited number of
accessible market women. Only market women that are native of Mushin in
Lagos and have spent at least two years doing business in the market are
sampled.
A theoretical application shall be phonemic theory, a phonological
approach will be explored to analyze the samples. In this regard,
elements such as substitution, under-differentiation, spelling
pronunciation, epenthesis and simplification of consonant cluster that
constitute the phonological features of Nigerian English will be
deplored. Each of these elements will be applied across the data and any
deviation from the SBE will be under lined. Tabular form shall be used
for the comparison.
Finally the sound system of English and Yoruba shall be treated. This
will enable us to know the differences between the sound systems. Also
it will assist us to determine the causes of the effect of which may
likely occur in the spoken English of indigenous Mushin Yoruba market
women as L2 learners. The phonology of Nigerian English, phonetics and
phonology shall be discussed in the next chapter.