Download File - Adenike Akinjobi

SPELLING CUED MISPRONUNCIATION IN NIGERIAN ENGLISH
Adenike Akinjobi
University of Ibadan, Nigeria,
[email protected],
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Nigerian English, especially the spoken form, has been confirmed by existing literature as
typically different from Standard English. It has also been observed that many Nigerians
pronounce English words based on their spelling, disregarding the fact that English spelling and
pronunciation do not have a one-to-one correlation. This problem, which is beyond the mother
tongue interference explanation, can be attributed to the inconsistencies that occur between the
spelling and pronunciation of English itself. This study therefore, tested the ability of Nigerian
English speakers to produce appropriate sounds for different letters and letter combinations
without reverting to spelling cues. Fifty educated Nigerian speakers of English were made to
read a passage containing some validated English words into a computerized speech laboratory,
WASP/SFS version 1.4 developed in University of London. The perceptual analysis was done
based on awarding marks to instances of occurrence, working out the percentages of correct and
incorrect pronunciation and taking the higher percentage as norm. Pie chart was also used to
graphically present the disparity between Standard English Pronunciation (SEP) and Spelling
Cued Mispronunciation (SCM) in Nigerian English. It was revealed that only 18.6% of the
subjects were able to produce the words appropriately without reverting to spelling cues while
81.4 % were misguided by the knowledge of spelling. It has been confirmed from this study that
Nigerians have a tendency to mispronounce English words based on cues from spelling which
has further confirmed that Nigerian English is different from Standard English. Therefore, there
is a need to improve its quality by sifting errors from variations and codifying regular patterns in
the light of the present clamour for the establishment of the World Englishes. Though it
unavoidably possesses its peculiarities, what is termed Nigerian English should not be
unintelligible to other English users.
Key words: Spelling, Pronunciation, Mispronunciation, Nigerian English, Standard English
0
Introduction
Considering the popular claim that English is a second language to non-native users such
as Indians, Singaporeans, Ghanaians and Philippinos who learn English after their mothertongue
and use it in schools as an official language (Gutpa, 1997), it is also a second language to
Nigerians. In addition, the argument about whether there is a form of English that could be
regarded as Nigerian or not has become irrelevant at the present time because of the recognition
of the evolution of a form of English that is obviously different from Standard English and
peculiarly Nigerian (Banjo, 1995).
It has been established that Nigerian English is typically different from other Englishes
across time and at all linguistic levels (Banjo, 1971; Adetugbo, 1979, 1987; ; Eka, 1985; Kujore,
1985; Ufomata, 1990; Jowitt, 1991; Ogu, 1992; Kachru, 1995; Banjo, 1995; Udofot, 2000;
Akinjobi, 2004, Akindele, 2011). In most research reports, mothertongue interference has been a
quick explanation for English pronunciation errors by second language users (Oyinloye, 2010).
However, English spelling and pronunciation discrepancy, which is an ‘intra-language’ issue,
could be a serious problem, even to a mothertongue user of English (Odlin, 1989), since
pronunciation is naturally acquired while writing is learnt in school.
Statement of the problem
Considering the established fact that English is a language with spelling and sound
discrepancies, pronouncing English words from written forms is a major problem even to
mothertongue speakers who acquire its sounds naturally. The situation is more challenging for
second language users such as Nigerians because both English spelling and pronunciation are
learnt in school. In consequence, there is a tendency to mispronounce English words by
following cues from spelling. Therefore, this research was to determine whether the
inconsistencies between Standard English spelling and pronunciation lead to spelling cued
mispronunciation in Nigerian English or not and proffer means by which this phenomenon could
be minimised so as to improve the intelligibility of Nigerian English, especially in this
technology propelled age of a fast shrinking world.
English Spelling and Sounds
Spelling pronunciation is defined by Merriam-webster dictionary as a pronunciation of a
word that is based on its spelling alone and often includes the vocalization of silent letters.
Spelling involves the orthographic aspect of a language while pronunciation has to do with the
production of sounds. In many languages, there is no consistency in the relationship between
speech and writing (Treiman, 2000; Bandera and Burleigh, 2005; Odlin, 1989; Fromkin, Rodman
and Hyams, 2007) and the case of English is extreme with spelling and pronunciation being two
different but interrelated tasks with no one-to –one correlation.
Roca and Johnson (1999) clearly state that ordinary English spelling is very far from
being an adequate system for transcribing English sounds. To them, no conventional spelling of
any language is the same as the sound but English orthography is notoriously further removed
1
from the ideal than average. There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet, twenty one
being consonants while five are vowels. In the case of pronunciation, there are forty-four sounds,
twenty-four being consonant sounds while twenty are vowels. This proves that there are more
English sounds than letters. In consequence, some letters are pronounced as different sounds in
different contexts while some letters combine to form different sounds (Akinjobi, 2009). In the
same vein, Treiman (2000) asserts that English is not a pure alphabetic system because English
sounds have more than one possible spelling and some letters have more than one possible
pronunciation. According to her, this has led to a widespread criticism of the system and many
calls for spelling reform. Odlin explains that English spelling is a problem not only to non-native
speakers but also to native speakers and that the varieties of errors of English spelling reflect in
large measures of idiosyncrasies. This implies that the native speaker’s intuition, which cues
his/her speech production, is not applicable to English spelling because sounds are acquired
naturally while spellings are learnt in school.
Many factors have been identified as causes of English speech and spelling discrepancies.
Skandera and Burleigh (2005:7) claim that the rather confusing nature of English spelling can be
explained by the long tradition of printing in England which relatively regulated spelling. They
explained further that the spellings of many English words today are based on the pronunciation
used in the times from Chaucer to Shakespeare. What can be deduced from this assertion is that
printing regulated the spelling of English words while the pronunciation kept changing and in
consequence, differing remarkably from the spelling till date. Roca and Johnson (1999) also
corroborate the claim that English spelling is based on the late medieval pronunciation and is
indeed grossly inadequate for representing the way the modern language sounds.
Speakers of most languages borrow words from other languages to fill the gaps in their
own lexical inventory. Therefore, another factor responsible for spelling and sound discrepancies
in Standard English is the numerous loaned words that are borrowed into the English language
throughout its history from different languages. These loaned words often retain their original
spelling. According to Calabrese and Wetzels (2009), words are borrowed into a language due to
cultural innovation which may introduce objects or actions that do not have a name in the native
language or the perception of native words as non-prestigious. For instance, names of foreign
cities, institutions, and political figures which were once unknown may have entered the public
eye etc.
There have been many attempts made by spelling reformers (called orthoepists) such as
Benjamin Franklin, Charles Darwin, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Andrew Carnegie, Theodore
Roosevelt and George Bernard Shaw to regulate English spelling so that one letter would
correspond to one sound and one sound to one letter, thus creating a phonetic alphabet that
would simplify English spelling. George Bernard Shaw’s attempt was remarkable because he
included in his will a provision for a 'Proposed English Alphabet' to be administered by a 'Public
Trustee' who would have the duty of seeking and publishing a more efficient alphabet. However,
no remarkable impact has been made so far (Skandera and Burleigh, 2005; Fromkin, Rodman
and Hyams, 2007).
According to Fromkin and others, it is easy to understand why spelling reformers believe
there is a need for a phonetic alphabet. In English, several letters (as in too, shoe, clue) may
represent a single sound; a single letter may represent different sounds (as in dame, dad, many);
a combination of letters (as in short and character) may represent a single sound; some letters
have no sounds at all in certain words (as in mnemonic, autumn); the spelling may fail to
2
represent sounds that occur (such as cute, utility) where a 'u' letter represents a /j/ sound followed
by a /u/; and a letter may represent two sounds as found in the final 'x' of 'Xerox' which
represents the sound /k/ followed by a /s/.
Second language errors have been traced mainly to the native language (mothertongue)
influence ( Oluwole, 2008; Oyinloye, 2010). However, in the case of English spelling and
pronunciation discrepancies, Odlin claims that as with other systemic errors, not all spelling
problems can be attributed to native language influence. He states further that although the
categorization differs, the results of a number of investigations make it clear that sources such as
overgeneralisation also account for many errors.
Nigerians have a tendency to use spelling as a cue to pronounce English words (Ufomata,
1990; Jowitt, 1991; Awonusi, 2007; Akinjobi, 2009). This may be due to the fact that
pronunciation in most Nigerian languages is not very far from the orthography while Standard
English has a more complex relationship between orthography and pronunciation. A few
examples of words often pronounced based on spelling cues by Nigerian are ‘dwarf’ / dwɔːf /,
‘hoarse’ / hɔːs / and ‘listen’ /lIsn/ which are mispronounced as [dwaf], [hoas] and [listen]
respectively by Nigerian speakers of English (Jowitt, 1991).
According to Akinjobi’s (2009) report of a research on English syllabic consonants and
quantity factor in Educated Yoruba (Nigerian) English, an interesting observation about the
words principal and principle is that though they are homophones in Standard English, a
possible spelling influence was observed in the EYE production of their word-final unstressed
syllables, the -pal (/-pl/) of principal being produced as [-pal ] while the -ple (/-pl /) of principle
was produced as [-pul ].
This paper therefore, sets out to confirm whether Nigerian speakers of English
mispronounce English words based on spelling cues or not.
Research Methodology
Fifty educated Nigerian speakers of English were made to verbally produce a passage
containing ten English words (roars, tortoise, build, sword, quay, rouge, chalet, debt, leopard,
plumber), which have spellings and pronunciations differing remarkably, into Huckvales’s
(2007) computerized speech laboratory, WASP/SFS version 1.41, developed in University of
London. The recording was listened to and transcribed. The words being tested were then
entered on index cards. Marks were awarded to each word tested and the percentages of correct
and incorrect pronunciations were derived, the higher percentage taken as the norm. Pie charts
were also used to graphically depict the disparity between Standard English and Nigerian
English pronunciation.
Analysis
The ten words that were tested to confirm spelling cued mispronunciation in Nigerian
English were expected to be produced as roars / rɔː /, tortoise / tɔːtəs /, build /bɪld/, sword /sɔːd
/ , quay /ki: /, rouge /ruːʒ/ , chalet / ʃæleɪ /, debt / det /, leopard / lepəd/, plumber / plʌmə /. The
following table presents the variants of each word and the percentages of proper pronunciation
and mispronunciation.
3
Expected
overall no of
instances
Word
Build
Sword
Quay
50  10 = 500
Roars
Tortoise
No of
subjects
with
appropriate
pronunciati
on
Standard
British
English
%
No of subjects
with spelling
cued
mispronunciati
on
Nigerian
EnglishVariants
%
2
/ rɔː /
/ tɔːtəs
4%
-
48
50
96%
/bɪld/
/sɔːd /
/ki: /
2%
36%
6%
49
32
47
/roas/
/tɔtɔis/
/tɔtes/*
/biud/
/swɔd/
/kwei, kju /
1
18
3
Rouge
2
/ruːʒ/
4%
48
/rog, rug/
Chalet
7
/ ʃæleɪ /
14%
43
/ʧalet/
Debt
17
/det/
34%
33
/debt/
Leopard
2
/ lepəd/
4%
48
/leopad, liopad/
Plumber
10
/ plʌmə /
20%
40
/plɔmba/
Overall 500
93
18.6%
407
Total
* does not reflect spelling cued error but other form of mispronunciation
38%
62% 100%
98%
64%
94%
96%
86%
66%
96%
80%
81.4%
While rendering the words roars, tortoise, build, sword, quay, rouge, chalet, debt,
leopard, plumber, spelling cued errors were confirmed in the pronunciation patterns of the
Nigerian subjects for this study. Roars was realized as /roas/ by 96% of the subjects while a
negligible 4% realized it correctly as / rɔːs /. The word tortoise displays an interesting difference
being realized by 62% as /tɔtes/ (a close variant to the standard form), as the spelling cued /tɔtɔis/
by 38%, and none as the appropriate / tɔːtəs /. This implies that the mispronounced variant /tɔtes/
was not cued by spelling but by other factors such as the use of the short /ɔ/ for the long /ɔː/ and
the inability to apply the vowel weakening rule in the syllable /-təs/ that was realized as / -tes/.
Build was realized as spelling cued /biud/ by 98% of the subjects while a negligible 2%
realized the appropriate /bIld/. In the case of sword, 64% mispronounced it as /swɔd / while 36%
pronounced it appropriately as /sɔ:d /. Quay and rouge were realized respectively as the variants
/kwei, kju/ and /rog, rug/ by 94% and 96% of the subjects, displaying only 6% and 4% of correct
pronunciation as /ki:/ and /ru:ʒ/ respectively.
Chalet, a word borrowed from French to English, was also produced with spelling
influence as / ʧalet/ by 86% while a negligible 14% produced the appropriate / ʃæleɪ/. Debt was
pronounced as /debt/ by 66% and appropriately as /det/ by only 34%. Leopard was rendered as
the spelling influenced /leopad/ and /liopad/ by 96% while only 4% rendered the appropriate /
lepəd/. The silent letter / b / was produced in plumber by 80% of the subjects who rendered the
word as /plɔmba/. Only 20% got the appropriate / plʌmə /.
Table 1 above reveals that out of the 500 instances of correct pronunciation expected
from the subjects, only 93 instances (18.6%) were established while there were 407 instances of
incorrect pronunciation (81.4%). This reflects a heavy influence from spelling cues. The overall
performance of the subjects is graphically presented in the chart below:
4
Results
This research on spelling cued mispronunciation in Nigerian English confirmed the
claims of Ufomata (1990), Jowitt (1991) and Awonusi (2007) that Nigerian speakers of English
have a tendency to pronounce English words based on their spellings despite the fact that English
orthography does not correlate with English pronunciation. It was observed that some of the
mispronunciations are derived from non- application of phonological rules (Jowitt, 1999) and
disregard or ignorance of other factors such as the history of the English language. With the
invention of printing and the establishment of a printing press just outside London by William
Caxton in 1476, the English spelling halted between Chaucer and Shakespeare’s time and
became less variable while the pronunciation continued to change, leading to more discrepancies.
There is also the issue of loaned words which often retain their original spelling (Skandera and
Burleigh, 2005).
It further confirmed the claim of Odlin that not all errors of pronunciation are derived
from mothertongue interference and that there is a high tendency for a language such as English
to have interference problems generated by the nature of the language itself.
Conclusion
Intelligibility has been established a key factor in second language pronunciation. Cutler
(1984) claims that Indian speakers mispronounced `talking a`mong them`selves and British
listeners, in consequence, misinterpreted the word group as `talking a`mong `damsels ( Odlin,
1989) which has a different meaning entirely from the intended meaning of the Indians. Tiffins
(1974) also identifies differences in the intelligibility of Nigerian English which resulted in the
inability of the British listeners to identify what the Yoruba speakers had said.
In this age when technology has shrunk the world into a global village, it is essential for
Nigerian English linguists and English language teachers to focus more on the discrepancies
between English spelling and pronunciation. This will expose Nigerian English language users,
as well as learners, to appropriate pronunciation which will aid the international intelligibility of
5
Nigerian English, though it maintains its status as one of the world Englishes with its local
colour.
In addition, this research has further confirmed that Nigerian English is different from
Standard English and that there is a need to improve its quality by 'sifting' errors from the
variations and codifying regular patterns in the light of the present clamour for the establishment
of the World Englishes such that though different in coloration, what is termed Nigerian English
will not be unintelligible to other international English users.
REFERENCES
Adetugbo, Abiodun. Appropriateness and Nigerian English. In E., Ubahakwe (Ed.) Varieties
and Functions of English in Nigeria, Ibadan: African University Press. pp 137-166, 1979.
Adetugbo, Abiodun. 'Nigerian English Phonology: Is there any Standard?' LARES IX (1987) pp
64-84.
Akindele, Juliana. Variable Wo r d S t r e s s i n Spoken E d u cated Edo English. Unpublished
M.Phil Dissertation. University of Ibadan, 2011.
Akinjobi, Adenike. A Phonological Investigation of Vowel Weakening and Unstressed Syllable
Obscuration in Educated Yoruba English. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University of
Ibadan, 2004.
Akinjobi, Adenike. English syllabic consonants and quantity factor in Educated Yoruba Nigerian
English. African Research Review 3(2), 45-55, 2009.
Awonusi, Segun. Good Spoken English and National Development: Sociophonology in the
Service of Men. Inaugural lecture Presented at University of Lagos (2007)
Banjo, Ayo. 'Towards a Definition of Standard Nigerian Spoken English'. Actes du 8 Congress
de Societe Linguistique de L’Afrique Occidentale Abidjan (1971) 165-175
Banjo, Ayo. On Codifying Nigerian English: Research So Far. In Bamgbose et al (Eds.) New
Englishes, Nigeria: Mosuro (1995) 203-231
Bandera, Paul., and Burleigh Peter. A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology, Twelve
Lessons and an Integrated course in phonetic transcription. Germany: GNV, 2005.
Calabrese A. & Wetzels L. (eds.) (2009) Loan Phonology Current Issues in Linguistic Theory
307. John Benjamin Amsterdam/Philadelphia
Eka, David. A Phonological Study of Standard Nigerian English Doctoral Dissertation, ABU
Zaria, 1985.
Fromkin, Victoria., Rodman Robert., and Hyams, Nina. An Introduction to Language, 8th ed.
Boston: Thomson-Wadsworth, 2007.
Gutpa A.F. (1997) The Internet and the English Language. Paper Submitted for the First
Conference on post Colonial Theory http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellibst/poco/paper6.html
Retrieved August 17, 2012
Kachru, Braj. ‘Foreword’ In Bamgbose et al (Eds.) New Englishes, Ibadan: Mosuro iii-viii, 1995
Kujore, Obafemi. English Usage: Some notable Nigerian variations. Ibadan: Evans Brothers,
1985.
Jowitt, David. Nigerian English Usage: An Introduction. Ibadan: Longman, 1991.
Odlin, Terence. Language Transfer .Cambridge: University Press, 1989.
Ogu, Julius. A Historical Survey of English and the Nigerian Situation. Lagos: Kraft Books Ltd.
1992
6
Oluwole, David. The Impact of Mothertongue on Student’s Achievement in English Language in
Junior Secondary Certificate Examination in Western Nigeria Journal of Social Sciences 17 (1),
2008.
Oyinloye, Comfort. (2010) Two variants of Audio-lingual Method as Determinants of Junior
Secondary school students’ learning outcome in Oral English in Ogun state Nigeria.
Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation. University of Ibadan. Ibadan, 2010.
Roach, Peter . English Phonetics and Phonology (2nd edition). Cambridge: CUP, 1991.
Roca, Iggy., and Johnson, Wyn. A course in Phonology. Germany: Blackwell, 1999.
Udofot, Inyang. The Rhythm of Educated Spoken Nigerian English: An alternative description.A
Paper Presented at the 22nd West African Languages Congress, WALC, University of
Ghana, Legon, 2000.
Ufomata, Titi. ‘Thoughts on Spoken Nigerian English’ in JNESA Vol 10 No 2, 1990.
Tajudeen, Surakat. Categorising Varieties of Nigerian English: A Socio-psycholinguistic
perspective. Journal of the Nigeria English Studies Association (JNESA) 13:2 84, 2010.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spelling%20pronunciation Accessed 29-11-2012
Treiman, Rebecca. Linguistics and Reading. In Mark, Aronoff & Janie, rees-Miller (Eds.) The
Handbook of Linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2000.
7

Download Report