The aim of this essay is to discuss the most notable features of Nigerian English (NE).

In

order to do this, a few very brief selections from African literary writings will be mainly

analyzed in terms of vocabulary and grammar. Moreover, the stylistic effects of the use of

African-English features on a reader will be discussed as well.

Regarding vocabulary, the words sabi, massa and soza deserve to be examined. The word

sabi means ‘to know or to know how to’. Sabi comes from the Spanish and the Portuguese

words saber ‘to know’. Furthermore, the word massa refers to a ‘master’ (of African origin)

and soza refers to a ‘soldier/government representative’. Another distinctive feature of NE is

the use the copula-like form na which is usually found at the beginning of a clause.

Moreover, na can be used to emphasize something. E.g. Na lie ‘It is a lie’. Furthermore, it is

also essential to point out that in Nigerian Pidgin speech, the dental fricative /ð/ is substituted

by the alveolar stop /d/ as in dis ‘this’.

As for the grammar, preverbal markers are used in order to convey time. For instance, we

can find the word go expressing future time such as in I go talk ‘I will talk’ and we go sabi ‘we

will know’. Moreover, the use of no in order to express negation is widespread among

speakers of Nigerian English. No is placed in front of the verb phrase .E.g. Make I no tire.

The use of the relative pronoun wey ‘who, which, that’ is common to speakers of Nigerian

English. Furthermore, wey is invariant. An example of the use of this relative pronoun is the

following: Oh my father wey don die. It is also necessary to note that don ‘has, have, had’ is

used for the completive.

Another feature of this dialect is the use of reduplication in order to convey intensification as

in big big words and fine fine English. Furthermore, the preposition for can express different

meanings. For example, in the following clause for means ‘of’: who be massa for dis house

‘who is the master of this house’. The form of the copula be may be used where is is
expected in standard English. An example of this is the following: who be the massa ‘who is

the master’.

Some spoken and written Nigerian forms of English might seem intelligible to speakers of

standard English. In other words, an English-speaking person will not be able to fully

understand spoken utterances and written texts in Nigerian English unless he or she knows

the features of this dialect.

In summary, the most noteworthy features of Nigerian English are related to grammar such

as the use of the preverbal marker go, the relative pronoun wey, reduplication, etc. It is

essential to highlight that NE has features which are characteristically African. Moreover, an

English-speaking person who does not know these features can have problems

understanding African literary writings and spoken utterances in Nigerian English.