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THE IMPACT OF YORUBA LANGUAGE ON THE SPOKEN ENGLISH OF STUDENTS (INDIGENES) OF ILORIN (TOWNSHIP)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

To correct the wrong pronunciation of English words in many Nigerian students, particularly among the Ilorin indigenous Yoruba students demands extra effort and great attention. This is because, it is observed that this problem is  the result of the features found in their indigenous languages which are transferred to the sound system of the English language. Their English phonetics reflects the structure of the sound system of their mother tongue (Osisanwo, 2009).  With respect to this, we shall discuss the term phonology.

Phonology is the study of the sound system of a Language. It is the study of the properties of the sound system of a given language. It is the systematic study of how the speech sounds function and are organized in human languages. Hyman (1975, P1) cited by Osisanwo (2009,P3) says that, the goal of phonology is to study the properties of the sound system which speakers must learn and internalize in order to use their language for the purpose of communication. To Oyebade (1998, p2) ‘phonology is the scientific study of the arbitrary vocal symbol used in human speech and the pattern into which these symbols produce intelligent, meaningful utterances’. To summit up, Akmajian et al (2008, p109) said: ‘phonology is the subfield of linguistics that studies the structure and patterning of sound in human language’.

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. Jowith (1991) studied the phonology of Nigeria English used Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba languages but this work will pay attention to Ilorin Yoruba accent of English.

STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

This work is set out to find the impact of Yoruba language particularly the Ilorin Yoruba dialect on the phonology of English language. That is, it is to check the influence of the Ilorin Yoruba dialect on the sound system of English language at the segmental level. In other worlds, this work will find out the English phonemes which are mispronounced by the Ilorin indigenous Yoruba students.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study is to find out the influence of Ilorin Yoruba dialect (a variety of Yoruba language) on the phonology of standard British English (RP). That is, the changes that may likely occur as a result of the contact of the Ilorin Yoruba dialect and English language. In other words, this work is to search for the features that distinguish the phonology of Nigeria English variety from the Received Pronunciation. These features shall be identified from the recorded speech collected and analyzed.  We hope to provide solution to bridge the gap in the differences.

JUSTIFICATION

A lot of research works have been done on phonological interference. 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 Ilorin indigenous Yoruba dialect and English language. Also the cosmopolitan nature of Ilorin Yoruba draws our interest. This work shall help the Ilorin indigenous Yoruba students and other readers on their spoken English.

1.4   SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Phonology can be handled from different angles. Its segmental aspect can be treated, attention can be paid to only suprasegmental aspect and the two levels can be jointly discussed. This research work shall direct its focus on the segmental phonology. Due to time, financial constraints and for effective result we shall limit our study domain to three universities within Ilorin. These are: university of Ado-Ekit (Ilorin chapter), Al- Hikman University and University of Ilorin. Fifteen students shall be selected all together from these Universities.

METHODOLOGY

This word shall make use of recorded speech of fifty selected undergraduates from three universities in Ilorin. These are; Ado- Ekit University (Ilorin chapter), Al- Hikman University and university of Ilorin. Samples are selected using snowball sampling techniques as a result of the limited number of accessible students. Only students that are native of Ilorin and have spent at least two academic sections in higher institution 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 constitution the phonological features of Nigerian English will be deplored.

Each of these elements will be applied across the data and any deviation from the RP will be under lined. Tabular form shall be used for the comparison.

1.6   DATA DESCRIPTION

Ilorin town is in the south western part of   Nigeria. It lies along Lagos to Kaduna high way Kaduna (Oloru, 1998). In the past Ilorin town comprised different linguistic groups who spoke different language such as Fulfulde, Hausa, Nupe, and Yoruba as their first language. But today, all these linguistic group speak Yoruba as their first language. This  means Yoruba language because a dominant language in Ilorin town. As a of this process of language shift, the Ilorin Yoruba dialect is different from other Yoruba dialect such as Ekiti, Ijebu Ondo, Oyo dialect etc (Jimoh, 1994)

CONCLUSION

Finally the sound system of English and Yoruba language 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 influence of which may likely occur in the spoken English of indigenous Ilorin Yoruba students as pL2 learners. Phonology of Nigerian English, phonetics and phonology shall be discussed in their next chapter.