THE EFFECT OF YORUBA ON THE SPOKEN ENGLISH OF MUSHIN MARKET WOMEN IN LAGOS

1.1 Introduction

Yoruba language (according to the Ethnologue of World Languages), is in the Niger- Congo family, Atlantic-Congo sub-family, followed by the Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Defoid 17, Yoruboid, and Edekiri group of Languages. This can be better illustrated with the genetic tree. In learning to speak a second language, one’s goal is usually to be as competent as the native speakers of that language; and if not, one will strive to be intelligible to any speaker of that language. Native speakers are those who have acquired the language naturally as their first language during childhood and who are said to be norm generating; second language users are those who have acquired the language after acquiring another language but who make almost daily use of the second language for inter-communal functions because of the multilingual nature of their societies.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

---

1.2 Background of Study

The Yoruba language is mainly spoken in West Africa with millions of speakers mainly in Nigeria and Benin with some in other parts of Africa. The traditional ruler is known as the Timi Agbale, the most prominent Timi in recent history is Oba John Adetoyese Laoye who made the "talking drum" popular. He was reputed to have entertained the Queen of England with his group of skilled drummers and poets when she first visited Nigeria and thereafter in her palace in England before he died in 1975. The present King of the town is Oba Munirudeen Adesola Lawal (Laminisa 1).

The Ede speech community being a largely indigenous Yoruba community uses the Standard Yoruba dialect which is also known as the Oyo dialect. The Yoruba language has been classified as one of the major languages in Nigeria simply because of the population that speaks it. In recent times certain factors such as the economy and location of schools has brought the people in contact with other languages. Yoruba generally do not have major difficulties understanding each other, the case of Igbo dialects is different. The difference between dialects can be illustrated by comparing German and Danish. A Germanspeaking person might be able to read and understand most of a text written in Danish, but will not understand a word of spoken Danish.

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.

The multilingual nature of Nigeria has become one of her greatest challenges in recent time. Inconsistent language policy, successive government’s inability to pick any of the indigenous languages as a national language, non-codification of many minority languages, inadequate definition of roles for indigenous languages in governance, among others, are some of the major harbinger of this crisis. Although Nigeria has between 250 and 400 indigenous languages (Ogunwale 2013) none of the languages has been considered worthy of adoption as national language. Attempt was made to popularize an artificial language, akin to Swahili of the East Africans, in the 1990s, but that was also unsuccessful as it contains mostly bits of words and vocabularies found only in the three major languages, namely WA (Yoruba); ZO (Hausa) and BIA (Igbo), neglecting the other languages. English Language has since continued to gain so much prominence in the country that its dominance has stifled the growth (and even led to the extinction of some) of the 529 indigenous languages in Nigeria.

The dominance, as could be decipher, is not inflicted, but by a natural course of indispensability of the language as its use cuts across different spheres of the nation. However, when one considers the fact that the linguistic situation in Nigeria before colonization was that in which indigenous languages thrived and promoted cultural values of the people, then it will be expedient to unravel why the indigenous languages suddenly take the back seat.

In the course of colonization, Nigerian indigenous languages had contact with the language of the colonialists; the latter was more favored than the former. English language then became the language of colonial administration. At independence the language was bequeathed to Nigeria as a nation, especially because it was the only language that was used for administration, missionary work and later education. Even after attaining independence, Nigeria has not been able to have language policies that could create functions for the indigenous languages. The existing policy which is an aspect of the Education Policy of 1977, has only feebly assigned roles that have been difficult to execute so effectively. The status of these three languages as major languages is captured in the National Policy of Education formulated in1977 (and which has subsequently been revised in 1981, 1989, 1998 and 2004).

The Nigerian Language Policy is a document of the Federal Government of Nigeria, which has statutory guidelines regarding the official use of different languages in the country. Although the policy documents and stresses the importance of language to national development, as a means of promoting social interaction and national cohesion, as well as preserving the nation’s rich cultural heritage, but its implementation has not been diligently executed.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Effect of Yoruba on the Spoken English of Mushin Market Women in Lagos.

---

1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that 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.

---

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the effect of Yoruba on the spoken English of Mushin market women in Lagos state. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To find out the effect of Mushin Yoruba dialect on the phonology of standard British English (SBE);
2. To search for the features that distinguish the phonology of Nigeria English variety from the received pronunciations;
3. To provide solution to bridge the gap in the differences; and
4. To analyze the recorded speech identified and collected from the study area.

---

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• What is the effect of Mushin Yoruba dialect on the phonology of standard British English (SBE)?
• What is the recorded speech identified and collected from the study area?
• What are the features that distinguish the phonology of Nigeria English variety from the received pronunciations?

---

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: Yoruba language does not have any significant impact on the spoken English market women in Mushin
• H1: Yoruba language does have a significant impact on the spoken English of market women in Mushin

Hypothesis Two

• H0: Yoruba language does not have any effect on the eloquence level of market women in Mushin.
• H1: Yoruba language does have a significant effect on the eloquence level of market women in Mushin

---

1.7 Significance / Justification of 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.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

---

1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Effect of Yoruba on the Spoken English of Mushin Market Women in Lagos State. The study covers the impact of Yoruba language on the spoken English market women in Mushin, in the cause of the study.

---

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

---

1.10 Definition of Terms

Yoruba Language: In this study, the term is used mean a school subject which is taught inclusive of Yoruba literature. Yoruba (Èdè Yorùbá) Yoruba is a member of the Volta-Niger branch of the Niger-Congo family oflanguages. It is spoken by about 28 million people in southwest Nigeria, Benin, Togo, the UK, Brazil and the USA. It is one of the four official languages of Nigeria, along with English, Hausa and Igbo.

Written Literature: This term is used to mean those aspects of Yoruba language which consist of genre of poetry, drama and prose in written text and presented as part of the Junior Secondary School Yoruba language curriculum.

Language: Language is the ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to do so, and a language is any specific example of such a system. The scientific study of language is called linguistics.

Spoken English: English is the primary language of the international business world. Knowing how to speak English properly is paramount to your success in business.

---

1.11 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.