A Generative Phonological Approach to the Analysis of Selected Undergraduates’ Utterances
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Date
2022
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Abstract
Language variation isfacilitated by language contacts .Nigerian Scholars have over the years
embarked on the description ofthe taxonomy ofNigerian English atthe level ofphonology and three
major varieties have been identified by scholars over the years—the yet to be codified acrolect ,the
Standard Nigerian English (SNE);themesolect,which isthe intermediate variety,Popular Nigerian
English (PNE)thebasilect,andNigerianPidginEnglish (NPE),whichisthesubstrate variety.Theaim
ofthisstudy isto identify the phonological features ofNigerian English inselected undergraduates ’ utterances.Particularly ,the study sets out toinvestigate whether the university undergraduates are
representatives of the acrolect or mesolect based on their level of educational attainment .The
utterances of ten (10) 400 level undergraduates ofKwara State University were analysed using a
juxtapositional approach.Fifty randomly selectedwordsfromtheutteranceswereanalysed using the
Distinctive Feature Approach .The study revealed that most ofthe deviant phonemes are syllabic in
nature because they aremostly vowels.Also,there are instances ofsubstitution oftheSNEdiphthongs
withtheSpeakers’VarietySVmonophthongsasaresultofthedisparitiesinthephonemiccomponentsof
the SNE and the speakers ’first language .The study concluded that the attainment of the SNE in the
Nigerian context isfeasible ifthe codification ofthe SNE can beattained toaid the syllabus design for
Englishlanguagepedagogyinanon-nativecontextasNigeria.