1.1 Introduction
Language is characterized by set of vocal sounds which can be decoded. These are produced by human organs of speech- lips, tongue, and larynx etc. The vocal sounds produced by the vocal organs are used in various systematic and rule governed combinations. Language is thus a human phenomenon that has form which can be described in terms of the units of sound (phonemes), words, morphemes, phrases, and paragraph or discourse. Human language is unique in the sense that it has its own structure, its own system of organizing its component units into meaningful patterns. The language students speak is “second hand” in many aspects. These problems easily manifest in the areas of phonology, syntax, lexis and semantics, with syntax perhaps constituting the areas with the greatest incidence of interference; this is the background against which we undertake this study.
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
English, Nigeria’s official language, occupies a unique place in Nigerian education today; not only has English been adopted as the principal medium of instruction in Nigeria’s educational institutions but it has also been institutionalized as the language of educational evaluation in Nigeria school system. However, Kujore notes that it is alarming how in spite of the tremendous functions that English performs as the language of instruction and evaluation in Nigeria and the bold effort made over the years to encourage its effective usage, the vast majority of speakers record in recent years is an appalling low level performance in the language (Kujore, 1995).
This research is going to investigate the instances of the non standard use of English. Whenever a language functions as a borrowed second language, problems of usage are bound to arise. This is because when a language moves out of its original speech community, it is inevitable to have some super imposed linguistics features and frictions resulting from the meeting of two systems and cultural pattern. Moreover, when the English language (being outside its native environment) there is bound to be deviation from the norms in usage (Olagoke 1981). An adult will have learnt one language, which is his mother tongue, which feature she naturally transfers some features to the second language. The study will identify and describe some sub varieties of English usage in Nigeria, which are instances of the use of non Standard English because of the multiplicity of ethnic groups in the country. Various types and sub varieties (Standard Nigeria English, Pidgin English, Creole and non standard Nigeria Standard English) of the English used in Nigeria can be identified respectively (Bamgbose 1971, Odumuh 1987, Adeniran 1974, Ubahakwe 1979).
The non Standard English used by students is a variety of British English (Standard English) which is acculturized, nigerianized, domesticated, nativised and hybridized to meet the socio cultural needs of the students. The non Standard English serves as an unlimited instrument of social communication especially in a multilingual community as Ekiti State University.
The use of English by students has certain features which are against the conventional norms of the Standard English. The grammatical features in the sentence level are what this study is going to discuss. However before delving into the grammatical features of the non Standard English among university students, it is relevant to consider the concept of “deviation” and “deviance”. Deviance and deviation presuppose that there is a particular variety of the English language that is considered the model that all speakers shouldaspire to speak. Grammar means rules and these rules are operative at all the levels of language analysis. It is a comprehensive term because it covers the naming part of a sentence, its rules of tense usage, structuring of affixes on words and the sound system of a language. The grammatical features in this cover syntactic aspects which deal with parsing of words into larger units in a language and in this instance English language.
The manifestation of the no standard can be traced to the emergence of Nigeria English, Pidgin English and other sub varieties among students who feel that all varieties that are not standard are simplified version of the Standard English. Some of the non standard features of English language can be traced in student’s day to day conversation among themselves and even their writing. Many students will even find it hard to identify the Standard English when used by someone.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Syntactic Perspective Manifestation of Non Standard Usage of English among University Students.
1.3 Statement of Problems
In a situation where by English is in contact with many local languages and where English is a second language, it is to be expected that the kinds of English found there will be different from the varieties spoken by the native speakers University students (especially student of English language) are expected to have highly refined English; but everyday observation shows that they tend to make use of non Standard usage of English. This research work will explore instances of the grammatical features at the sentence level of the non standard usage of English language among university students. How the non standard language is been used by students and the errors in their usage. The students prefer to use the simplified language which goes against the rules of grammar in English language. The reason behind student’s non standard usage of English language in their conversation or discourse.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to scrutinizes the Syntactic Perspective Manifestation of Non Standard Usage of English among University Students. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To observe the non standard usage of English among university students from the sentence level.
- To identify if students really use the non Standard English in their interaction. English in a contact situation or as a second language of Nigerians tend to have some errors in the usage.
1.5 Significance of Study
This research is important because its result can go a long way to finding out instances of the non standard usage of English among university students in their conversation. The work will therefore, contribute to the knowledge on second language learning and the subject of error analysis. The second language learners will get to understand their short coming s in the use of the Standard English, which will help them to be perfect in the Standard English.
1.6 Scope of Study
The study focuses on the Syntactic Perspective Manifestation of Non Standard Usage of English among University Students. The study is limited to the usage of non standard usage of English from the grammatical perspective by students in the university community. The research will be limited to the students of the Department of Modern European Languages and Linguistics of the Ekiti State University.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- 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.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- 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).
1.8 Research Methodology
The following procedures will be applied in pursuing the purpose of this study; the samples of students’ conversation will be collected by recording their conversations unawares in the lecture hall before the arrival of the lecturer.Interviews will also be conducted with some of the examples extracted from the observation of the final year students of the Department of Modern European Languages and Linguistics of the non standard usage of English.
