Abstract:
The study of a language is a very serious thing, for language is one of the few things that man alone has in animal kingdom. We study it not just to know how it may be used in communication – though that is its major raison detre – but to see what makes it unique among every other activity of man. And since language is specie specific, studying it invariably means studying its users. Using a language is, however, a million mile away from studying it. Many who use language rarely study it. And yet one is ready likely to use a language badly if one has not studied it. It is the above fact that leads many native speakers to of a language to study it. And by studying it, they become not just users but authorities in the language. And if a native speaker becomes authority in his mother tongue, only after studying it, how much more should we expect a non-native speaker to study a language before claiming the knowledge of it. English language usage in Nigeria has been subject of controversy for some time now. The notion that Nigerian has given birth to a variant of English language is becoming increasingly popular. If this is true, as many as Nigerian scholars believes it is, then this new variant of European Language in the tropics is worthy of study. And so we decided to embark on this study to discover the facts. We shall be studying the phonology, syntax and morphology of the English language in Nigeria.
