Extended discourse‐pragmatic usage of<i>now</i>in Nigerian English

Oladipupo, Rotimi O.; Unuabonah, Foluke Olayinka

doi:10.1111/weng.12492

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…The multilingualism of question tags in Nigerian English is also evident for the form now, which seems to combine nativized patterns of English now (Oladipupo and Unuabonah, 2021) and Nigerian Pidgin na . Furthermore, the high frequency of you know (71.2tpf) in contrast to Cameroonian (52.8tpf;Mbakop, 2020), Philippine (26.6tpf;Westphal, 2020), and Trinidadian English (43.4tpf;Wilson et al, 2017) suggests that this form might also be characteristic of Nigerian English in contrast to other New Englishes, but you know requires a closer cross-variety analysis.…”

Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Multilingual Pragmatics Of Ni...mentioning

confidence: 86%

“…In addition, there is variation in the tonality of now (Oladipupo and Unuabonah, 2021: 375-377). The extended pragmatic uses of now in Nigerian English can be viewed as a result of nativization of the general English pragmatic particle now (Oladipupo and Unuabonah, 2021), however, the Nigerian Pidgin form na might overlap with now . Whereas previous studies have looked at now and na independently (Oladipupo and Unuabonah, 2021;, a detailed analysis that looks at now, na, and ne is required.…”

Section: Results I: Corpus-pragmatic Analysis Of Dialogues In Ice-nig...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The extended pragmatic uses of now in Nigerian English can be viewed as a result of nativization of the general English pragmatic particle now (Oladipupo and Unuabonah, 2021), however, the Nigerian Pidgin form na might overlap with now . Whereas previous studies have looked at now and na independently (Oladipupo and Unuabonah, 2021;, a detailed analysis that looks at now, na, and ne is required. In addition, this analysis should also study the exact phonetic realization now and its spelling variants.…”

Section: Results I: Corpus-pragmatic Analysis Of Dialogues In Ice-nig...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are also studies on indigenized uses of English forms. Oladipupo and Unuabonah (2021) analyze the particle now in Nigerian English. All these studies use ICE-Nigeria, show the general frequencies of these forms, and list their different pragmatic functions.…”

Section: Pragmatic Variation In World Englishesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Multilingual Pragmatics of New Englishes: An Analysis of Question Tags in Nigerian English

Westphal

2022

Front. Commun.

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This paper presents a variational pragmatic analysis of multilingual question tags in Nigerian English, combining a corpus-pragmatic analysis of the Nigerian component of the International Corpus of English with a survey study on the preferences and attitudes of Nigerian students toward different question tag forms. The corpus study highlights multilingual pragmatic variation in terms of form and function of variant as well as English and non-English (i.e., derived from indigenous Nigerian languages) invariant question tags in six text types: conversations, phonecalls, classroom lessons, broadcast discussions, broadcast interviews, and legal cross-examinations. Nigerian speakers combine a wide range of English and non-English invariant forms, whereas variant question tags only play a marginal role and are not characteristic of Nigerian English. Text type influences the overall frequency of question tags and – together with the pragmatic function – constrains the use of individual forms. The survey study shows diverging results as the participants generally prefer variant over invariant question tags and show a strong dispreference for indigenous Nigerian forms when speaking English. Nevertheless, their preferences for specific forms over others are guided by the communicative setting and requirements of a given situation. The students also hold most positive attitudes toward variant question tags, while non-English tags are rated less positively on items reflecting decency. However, all question tag forms are valued in terms expressiveness. Hence, Nigerian students’ dispositions toward multilingual question tag use are guided by a prescriptive ideology that is biased toward canonized English forms. While indigenous Nigerian forms are well integrated into question tag use, indicating a high degree of nativization of Nigerian English at a pragmatic level, acceptance for these local forms is lagging behind. In general methodological terms, the paper shows that question tags – or discourse-pragmatic-features in general – have high potential for studying multilingual variation in New Englishes. However, studies on the multilingual pragmatics of New Englishes need to consider the full range of multilingual forms, take into account variety-internal variation via text type, and should ideally also study the users’ perspectives.

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Section: Discussion and Conclusion: The Multilingual Pragmatics Of Ni...mentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Results I: Corpus-pragmatic Analysis Of Dialogues In Ice-nig...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Results I: Corpus-pragmatic Analysis Of Dialogues In Ice-nig...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pragmatic Variation In World Englishesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Multilingual Pragmatics of New Englishes: An Analysis of Question Tags in Nigerian English

Westphal

2022

Front. Commun.

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“…Fuchs, Gut & Soneye, 2013; Unuabonah, 2019). At the discourse-pragmatic plane, scholars have examined pragmatic markers (Gut, Fuchs & Soneye, 2013; Oladipupo & Unuabonah, 2020), stance markers (e.g. Gut & Unuabonah, 2019), and interjections (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Mehn! This wins the award’

Unuabonah

2021

English Today

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Nigerian English (NigE) is a second language (L2) variety of English which has been domesticated, acculturated, and indigenised (Taiwo, 2009: 7; Jowitt, 2019: 26), due to its co-existence with about five hundred indigenous Nigerian languages (see Eberhard, Simons & Fennig, 2019). It is the language of education, governance, law, the media, and formal financial transactions in Nigeria. Based on Schneider's (2003: 271) Dynamic Model of the evolution of the New Englishes, NigE can be located at the late stage of nativisation, while recent studies show that it is on the verge of entering endonormative stabilisation (Gut, 2012: 3; Unuabonah & Gut, 2018: 210). Although NigE is an L2, there is a growing number of young people who speak it as a first language (L1; see Jowitt, 2019: 16; Onabamiro & Oladipupo, 2019). NigE includes sub-varieties which are classified based on different factors such as region/ethnicity, and educational attainment (Banjo, 1971; Jibril, 1986; Udofot, 2003). Although Udofot (2003: 204) suggests that the sub-variety used by Nigerians who have been educated in tertiary institutions should be taken as the standard variety, Jowitt (1991: 47) opines ‘that the usage of every Nigerian user is a mixture of Standard forms’ and non-standard forms. The data used in this paper are a mix of both standard and non-standard forms.

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