8/2/2019 English Spoken in Benue State University Campus

1/2

ENGLISH SPOKEN IN BENUE STATE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

For the reason that the English language in Nigeria is a second language which is acquired

after the mother tongue, there are bound to be peculiarities in the syntactic, lexical and

semantic levels of language use. This is a consequence of (two) languages in contact.

The peculiarity of student life has led to development of various forms of spoken English

which are sometimes at variance with Standard English. In the Benue State University,

students speak several forms of English ranging fromPidgin English to Slang. This paper

attempts to reveal some of these spoken forms of English on BSU campus.

Auxiliaries

Often the distinctiveness of Nigerian verbs in use consists of unusual auxiliaries applied to

conventional verbs. Some of these as used on the BSU campus are as follows;

1. done

he done go he went [Pidgin!]

2. got

the thing got spoiledIts damaged

the water got finishedWeve run out of water

3. has

he has go he went [just imperfect learning, not standard]

4. use tohe use to come here he comes here regularly [back formation from used to]

Words

Some words are peculiar to the campus and have meanings related to activities on campus.

Some as used in the BSU campus include:

these people onlygive chicken-changeMeaning:they only pay peanuts

Idubbedfrom the guy sitting next to me for inside exam Meaning: copying in an exam

Hence we are going to market, well buy oranges Meaning: Since were going to the

market, well buy oranges

I go pay you month endMeaning:Ill pay you at the end of the month

Use yournumber six! Use your brain

Ishuntso I get the form quickI jumped the queue and got the form early

8/2/2019 English Spoken in Benue State University Campus

2/2

Influence ofMother-tongue

Words from Nigerian languages are often injected into speech. Questions are sometimes

constructed as a statement followed by "sha" and a rising tone. Another way of

constructing a question is to use "shebi" or "abi" as a marker at the beginning of the

sentence or nko at the end serving as an indefinite generalizing tag. The meanings of

"no" and "yes" are reversed for negative questions ("Yes, I have no bananas"), relative to

standard English. People often say "I'm coming" as they go away, meaning they'll be back

soon.

Sha, you are going to the market, buy me some tomatoes will you please? Meaning: If you

aregoing to the market, please buy me sometomatoes

Shebiyou are going to town? Meaning: Are you going to town?

Suppose they sell the land and then something comes up nko, what happens then? Meaning

What if something unexpected comes up after selling the land.

I dey come. This is said while actually leaving but meaning Ill be back soon.

You no get banana?Yes I no get. This depicts the reversal of meanings for no and yes in

negative questions.