A DICTIONARY OF NIGERIAN ENGLISH - Roger Blench
A DICTIONARY OF NIGERIANENGLISH[DRAFT CIRCULATED FOR COMMENT]Roger BlenchMallam Dendo8, Guest RoadCambridge CB1 2ALUnited KingdomVoice/Answerphone/Fax. 0044-(0)1223-560687E-mail ger blench/RBOP.htmCambridge, Sunday, 07 August 2005
TABLE OF CONTENTSAbbreviations.iiPreface .iiIntroduction .1Sources.1Spelling .1Nigerian English/West African English.1Pidgin versus Nigerian English .1Auxiliaries .2Student slang.2Pronunciation spellings .2Re-interpretation of pidgin .3Style versus substance .3From NE to SE.4Spelling pronunciation .4Missionary English .4Scientific names, and trade names .4Regional variation .4Phonology .5Parts of Speech.5References .6B. .2C. .5D. .7E. .9F.9G. .10H. .12I. .13J. .14K. .14L. .15M. .16N. .18O. .18P.19Q. .22R. .22S.23T. .25U. .27V. .27W. .27X. .28Y. .28Z. .28Numbers .29i
deo.ins.joc.lit.NENNESESNEsc. sl.st. sl.TEAfrican EnglishAmerican (for terallyNigerian EnglishNorthern Nigerian EnglishStandard EnglishSouthern Nigerian Englishschoolboy slangstudent slangTropical EnglishPrefaceThis dictionary of Nigerian English was stimulated by some enquiries from the Oxford English Dictionaryon words of putative West African origin. The OED faces an increasingly uphill struggle in its attempts tocapture World English; almost every Anglophone country has now developed a set of distinctive uses, somemore divergent than others. It is surprising, however, that Nigerian English has never been the subject of apublished dictionary; rumours abound of mighty manuscripts, but these have yet to see the light of day. Arecent publication by Igboanusi goes some way towards remedying this deficiency but the inclusion here ofmany words not in his dictionary indicates how much work is still to be done.The present manuscript is a draft of a document that will eventually, I hope, become a collective product. Idoubt that one individual could produce anything very comprehensive; Nigeria is too diverse andregionalised. But it seems sensible to lay down an initial marker; then additions can be made. I amcirculating this to individuals I know have an interest; but please send any further information, comments,emendations etc. to the email or address given on the title page.Roger BlenchCambridgeSunday, 07 August 2005ii
Dictionary of Nigerian EnglishIntroductionCirculation DraftRoger BlenchThese notes are intended to raise some issues on sources, interpretation and the definition of NigerianEnglish.Sources1One of the most difficult issues in lexicography is documenting usages in a semi-written language. Ifdictionaries of indigenous African languages are prepared they usually depend entirely on oral sources andthus no specific justification is given for entries. However, Nigerian English is sometimes written, especiallyin newspapers and magazines, and thus has some sort of orthographic tradition. Nonetheless, many of themost picturesque expressions are strictly oral and must still be captured in the present document. Althoughprevious studies in this direction have tended to cite novels or literary works (notably Jowitt 1991) these aresometimes unrepresentative of the spoken language. I have therefore used newspaper, notices and overheardspeech as sources. Example sentences not specifically sourced should be treated as based on the author’s orhis correspondents’ experiences.SpellingNigerian English is printed regularly in the newspapers and since much of it consists of using SE inextended senses spelling is generally not a problem. Some forms of pidgin origin such as ‘done’ haveconventional representations, e.g. ‘don’. However, others, such as ‘rubber’ are pronounced in a variety offorms, such as rçba, rUba etc. depending on sociolinguistic considerations. To capture this, I have writtenphonologised pronunciations in square brackets after head entry. Thus;leather [lεda]Nigerian /Ghanaian/ West African EnglishOne of the more surprising things about Nigerian English is the extent to which it has a common lexicon andgrammar with other West African Englishes, notably Ghanaian. A guide to Ghanaian English (Kirby 1998)provides an interesting comparison with the present document and parallel forms are noted2. I have lessinformation about Cameroun, Sierra Leone and Gambia and would welcome further insights. However, thepuzzle is the history of some of these forms. Do they go back to the early days of colonial presence on thecoast or are they more recent products of the massive migration of Ghanaians to Nigeria during the oil-boomera of the 1970s and 1980s? Probably both, but only a detailed scanning of earlier sources will provideanswers.Pidgin versus Nigerian EnglishNigerian English is regarded as distinct from Pidgin English, although the exact location of the boundarybetween them differs from speaker to speaker. Some expressions are regarded as strictly Pidgin, for examplepickin for 'child' and sabi for 'to know'. I have thought it best to be quite inclusive, but no doubt some of theentries will be questioned.1Thanks to Philip and Vicky Ostien and especially to Kay Williamson for many useful suggestions.Prof. Mary Esther Kropp-Dakubu of Legon University has kindly gone through the draft text and marked all thoseentries which also have parallels in Ghanaian English.21
Dictionary of Nigerian EnglishAuxiliariesCirculation DraftRoger BlenchOften the distinctiveness of Nigerian verbs in use consists of unusual auxiliaries applied to conventionalverbs. Some of these are as follows;donehe done gohe went [Pidgin!]gotthe thing got spoiledthe water got finishedhashe has gohe went [just imperfect learning, not standard]use tohe use to come herehe comes here regularly [back formation from used to]Student slangSchools and universities are good but extremely localised sources of slang; Ibadan University in particularseems to have been an important source of unusual expressions. Indeed a small book was published of theseexpressions when Ibadan was the only university (Opara & Oleghe 1956). Asomugha (1981) began life as acompendium of student slang but was enlarged to take in some more mainstream Nigerian Englishexpressions. Such expressions are often highly localised in time and place; few expressions mentioned inthis book appear to be still in use. Where a term seems to be student slang I have noted it; this is a rich anddistinct field. Kay Williamson (p.c.) has supplied a number of expressions currently (2002) in use in theUniversity of Port Harcourt, but it is difficult to know how widespread these are.Tropical EnglishThere are numerous terms which may be termed ‘Tropical English’; unknown to most speakers of SE, theyare nonetheless not specific to Nigeria, but are nonetheless widely used across the Anglophone tropics. Thisis very common in pan-tropical plants, for example ‘oil-palm’ or ‘yam-mound’. I have marked these in thetext as TE.Pronunciation spellingsThese are spellings which arise because two English words are pronounced alike by Nigerians and the twospellings, which reflect different pronunciations for SE speakers, get confused or treated as equivalent. Mostare nonce-forms, but the following examples are typical.2
Dictionary of Nigerian EnglishCirculation DraftShe feels her life to be sleeping away from her finger.Roger BlenchSE [slIpIN] and [sli:pIN] merge as NE[slipiN]He is well vast in the Igbo proverbs.SE [v‰:st] and [va:st] merge as NE [vast] to deep his hand in the bagSE [dIp] and [di:p] merge as NE [dip] capable of performing impossible fitsSE [fIt] and [fi:t] merge as NE [fit]She turned out to develop cold fit for the husband when the SE [fIt] and [fi:t] merge as NE [fit]going became bad.Nigerians from all works of life SE [w‰k] and [wO:k] merge as NE [wOk]Pack your car here.SE [pœk] and [pA:k] merge as NE [pak]reflects the common Nigerianladdlepronunciation [ladEl]Source: Kay WilliamsonPortmanteau wordsThe portmanteau word, first introduced by Lewis Carroll as a humorous excursus of Humpty-Dumpty, is alexical reality in Nigeria. Two sound-alikes are combined into a single form as the following examplesshow;impressionario is a common written form of impressario, presumably a portmanteau form ‘impressario’ ‘impression’virgina common spelling of vagina presumably by re-interpretation from virginRe-interpretation of PidginAn interesting process is the movement from Pidgin back into Nigerian English through relexicalisation. Forexample;PidginNEde ting no gree boilthe kettle did not agree to boilthe liquid will not boilthe kettle won’t boilThe pidgin expression is primary and it has been re-expressed by a speaker who sees the second formulationas more prestigious.Style versus substanceThe most comprehensive sources for Nigerian English prior to this are Jowitt (1991) and Igboanusi (2002).When native English speakers try to characterise Nigerian English it is clear that their personal perceptionsplay an important role in determining which lexical items or usages are distinctive. For example, Nigeriannewspapers often use the stereotyped expression ‘men of the underworld’ to refer to criminals. This wouldbe unlikely to occur in a current British newspaper, and has an archaic or jocular feel to it. Still, it isperfectly comprehensible to a speaker of standard English and the component words show no significantlexical deviation from their normal meanings. Contrast this with ‘area-boys’, also referring to criminals,which would have no meaning to a speaker of Standard English. Thus, although I have carefully beenthrough the previous sources, I have excluded many entries that seem to be matters of style rather than truelexical difference.3
Dictionary of Nigerian EnglishFrom NE to SECirculation DraftRoger BlenchA similar process occurs where NE is being relexicalised to SE by certain speakers. Generally speaking, thenewspapers, formerly a great source of NE expressions, have become closer to SE since the 1980s, almostcertainly due to greater exposure to SE forms through the dissemination of news magazines such as Timeand Newsweek. For example; ‘hotel’ is commonly applied to bars and drinking places that serve food butmay have no lodging and ‘hotel’ in the SE sense is ‘guest hotel’. But modern usage is gradually replacingthis so that NE is coming to conform to SE.Spelling pronunciationNigerian English has one or two distinctive spelling-pronunciations, the most characteristic of which is toalways pronounce written ‘ch’ as /tS/ even when Standard English has /S/. Two common examples are thepersonal name Charlotte, where /tSarlçt/ is heard in place of /Sarlçt/ and ‘chalet’, pronounced /tSalEt/ ratherthan /Sale/. The second syllable of ‘chalet’ case illustrates another example of spelling pronunciation, but thisis in turn a loanword into English.Missionary EnglishI have marked some entries ME, ‘Missionary English’. Missionaries seem to have been responsible for someparticular usages that were propagated via church materials. These include pejorative terms for traditionalreligion such as ‘idol’, ‘fetish’ and ‘juju’, but also a series of terms for animals, assimilating indigenousWest African animals to those found in Europe and north America. These include ‘fox’ for genet and‘rabbit’ for giant rat. [Many of the early missionaries were of Sierra Leonean rather than European origin;possibly some of these are due to their interpretations of English words.]Scientific names, and trade namesIn the early colonial era, when many new species were coming to scientific attention and the uses of thoseknown botanically were also being explored, many West African vernacular names were developed, notablyfor timbers and for economic grasses. These were used in colonial literature but with a few exceptions neverreally entered West African speech and are rarely heard today. For example, the African olive, Canariumschweinfurthii, is called the ‘bush-candle’ in older literature. Charming and evocative as this name is, I havenever heard it in current speech and perhaps it was only ever used by forestry officers in the colonial era. Ihave entered such forms sparingly, pending further evidence of their context of use. Nonetheless, there are agreat many names for the timbers of Nigerian trees that are used, although in the specialised context of thetimber trade. Some of these are Nigerian, used in the West African region and some have becomeinternational trade names. I have adopted the entries from FMI (1964) sometimes updated with reference toBurkill (1985 ff.).Regional variationThere is considerable regional variation in NE, most notably between north and south, but also east andwest. The lexicon presented in Igboanusi (2002) for example, is rich in Yoruba and Igbo terms, but omitsmany terms from the North, the Delta and Calabar. The presence of large communities of migrants,especially in urban areas somewhat blurs these distinctions but nonetheless it is possible to assign someterms to specific areas of the country. I have marked these where known, but considerable further work isrequired. There also seem to be quite a large number of terms local to the Niger Delta, often reflecting itsspecialised environment and history.4
Dictionary of Nigerian EnglishPhonologyCirculation DraftRoger BlenchIt is not yet clear whether it would be reasonable to say NE has a phonology. Borrowings from indigenouslanguages in different regions import phonemes that are alien to English. For example, the labial-velars, /kp/and /gb/ are found in SNE in loans but are generally absent from NNE, as are the items they denote. Aninteresting further issue is the presence of tone. Some exclamations clearly have contrastive tone, typicallyHigh-Low;òóò tag placed at the beginning of sentences, following the assertion of a previous speaker indicatingnegative consequencesbut lexical tone appears to have little functional role in other parts of the vocabulary.Parts of SpeechThe following table shows the abbreviations used in Column 2 of the dictionary. Some of these assignationsshould be regarded as highly provisional.AbbreviationFull int.n.n.p.AdjectiveAdjectival phraseAdverbAdverbial onInterrogativeNounNoun phrasenum.part.p.n.p.u.t.NumeralParticleProper NamePre-utterance ibes a nounDescribes a nounQualifies a verbQualifies a verbExpresses the relation between two eventsA word used to join two or more nouns, verbs or clausesWords used to point out something. 'this', 'that' etc.Greetings or expressions that do not form part of an ordinary sentenceQuestion wordsRefers to things, objects etc.Phrase where a head-noun is joined to other words to form anexpressionNumberShort words added to complete the sentenceA name of a person or object; always capitalisedA tag or exclamation used prior to an utterance to indicate theunderlying sense of the utteranceA word positioning nouns or verbs in time or spaceA word that stands for a nounA word or phrase that stands alone as a greeting or introduces adialogueA word or clause standing at the end of a sentence, that intensifies themeaning in some way but is unnecessary to the syntax.Expresses actionAn inflected verb that co-occurs with an uninflected main verbAdditional word or words found in phrasal verbs [?]A verb with no objectA noun formed directly from a verb to express a state of being [onlyone type; what of agentives?]A phrase where a head-noun is joined to other words to form anexpression [head-noun or verb?]A verb with an objects.t.v.v.aux.v.c.v.i.v.n.Sentence tagVerbVerbal auxiliaryVerbal complementIntransitive VerbVerbal Nounv.p.Verb phrasev.t.Transitive verb5
Dictionary of Nigerian EnglishCirculation DraftRoger BlenchReferencesAsomugha, C.N.C. ?. A pocket dictionary of selected Nigerian student slangs. ? [referred to in thefollowing entry but not seen]Asomugha, C.N.C. 1981. Nigerian slangs. Onitsha: ABIC Publishers.Bamgbose, Ayo et al. (ed) New Englishes: a West African perspective. Africa World PressBurkill, H.M. 1985. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Families A-D, Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens.Burkill, H.M. 1994. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Families E-I, Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens.Burkill, H.M. 1995. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Families J-L, Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens.Burkill, H.M. 1997. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Families M-R, Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens.Burkill, H.M. 2000. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Families S-Z, Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens.FMI 1964 [2nd ed.]. Some Nigerian woods. Lagos: Federal Ministry of Information.Igboanusi, H. 2002. A dictionary of Nigerian English usage. Ibadan: Enicrownfit Publishers.Jowitt, David 1991. Nigerian English usage: an introduction. Longman: NigeriaKirby, J.P. 1998. A North American’s guide to Ghanaian English. Takoradi: TICCS.Kirk-Greene, A.H.M. 1965 The vocabulary and determinants of schoolboy slang in Northern Nigeria.Occasional Paper no. 6. Zaria: ABU.Kropp Dakubu, M.E. ed. English in Ghana. Accra: Ghana English Studies Association.Odumuh, A. E. 1987. Nigerian English. Zaria: ABU Press.Opara, R. & P. Oleghe n.d. but 1956. Contemporary student vocabulary. Ibadan: no publisher.Sey, K.A. 1973. Ghanaian English. Ikeja: Macmillan EducationSpencer, John (ed.) 1971. The English language in West Africa. London: Longman.Ukpabio, Mercy U. 1985 Students’ Language on Campus. Calabar: Dept of Languages and Linguistics,University of Calabar undergraduate long essay.6
Dictionary of Nigerian EnglishA.Circulation DraftRoger Blenchbut simply intensifies the expression. I have nomoney again similarly.Jowitt (1991:154)compares to p.u.t.s in Hausa kuma, Igbo ozo andAbi? s.t.Sentence tag meaning ‘Don’t youYoruba mo.agree?’, Isn't that right?agbada n.man’s long robe YorubaCorresponds to Hausa Ko?agree v.i.to want to, but also applied toabout prep. just, about to I’m about leaving.inanimate objects the kettle did not agree toI’m just leavingboilabroad n.as in SE, but also refers to beingagric a.any crop or livestock varietyaway from home areaWe love ourselvesintroduced by the agricultural services.abroad We have good relations with other peopleSometimes also applied to implements.from our home area when away from it [quotedThese agric beans do not taste well or Hein Trager, 2001, Yoruba Hometowns]bought an agric ploughabuna n.lit. Hausa ‘thing’ but often usedakamu n.porridge type with chewy lumps injocularly for penisit served in the morning in the North abura n.timber treeMitragynaHausa Yoruba?stipulosaakara n.fried bean-cake Yoruba.abuse n.insult it is an abuse it is an insultNow widespread in many languages. GEGEalhaja n.technically any woman who hasabuse v.to insultthat boy abused him wellbeen on a pilgrimage to Mecca, but often used aswell the other man insulted him a great deal GEa title of respectacada n.academe, academic work, studiesalhaji p.n.technically any male who has beenstudent slangon a pilgrimage to Mecca, but often used as aacha n.cereal, fonio, Digitaria exilistitle of respect, or as shorthand for a businessman Hausa. Only grown in the Middle Beltof Northern aspect The alhajis have bought upachaba n.motor-cycle taxi all the petrol Used ironically to imply a class ofHausa. Only in Northern towns. cf. okadacrooked businessmen. GEAct of Godn.tin trunk painted in blackall whatn.p.everythingI believe alland redSNE. Outdated expressionwhat you sayGEused by schoolboys in the 1970s.alligatorn.crocodileActually!excl. exclamation of strongRegularly used to distinguish the Dwarfagreement State government has many peoplecrocodile Osteolaemus tetraspis from the Nilechopping money. Actually!crocodile niloticus. (BBC news item 17.07.2002addv.i.to add s.t. to s.t. Add more! typicallyreported a cargo of live Dwarf Crocodilesheard in a restaurant, when the diner wants moreintercepted at Heathrow on their way fromporridge or stewNigeria to Japan, saying that they were falselyadire n.traditional tie-dyed indigo clothdescribed as alligators.) Yorubaalligator peppern.Malagueta pepper,Afara n.Trade-name for Terminalia superbaAframomum melegueta. A groundalso GEfruiting plant with spicy seeds still widely usedAfrican nutmegn.tree sp. with edibleas a condiment but no longer exported to Europe.nutMonodora myristica WAE.‘Alligator’ for ‘Malagueta’ seems to be either aAfrican olive n.fruit of Canariummishearing or a folk-etymologyschweinfurthii which closely resembles thealmanacn.large coloured wall-posterEuropean oliveusually showing photos of members of a club,African salad n.any combination of greenassociation, football team etc.vegetablesoften with small calendar inserted pointingAfrican time n.p.jocular way of referring toto its original functionthe typically casual approach to punctualityaltar n.rack for drying fish or keepingcharacteristic of Nigerianot African time,utensils, etc., in kitchenplease! Please be punctual! AEamala n.black food made from yam-flourafter adv.later Some time afteragain s.t.intensifierWe will go to thewith ground yam skin incorporated market, again does not mean for a second time,Yoruba1
Dictionary of Nigerian EnglishCirculation DraftRoger Blenchand wife were wearing aso oke Yorubaami(n)gon.white manas o okeAmigo! is shouted at foreigners in theAso rockp.n.inselberg adjoiningsoutheast of Nigeria In Bonny in the formPresidential villa in Abuja, hence a symbol ofamíngo. Presumably connected with the Spanishpower and decision-makingpresence in Equatorial Guinea or former trade bySpanish in the Bonny area.assignmentn.homework, student essays,among adv.implies ‘among the groupprojects etc. they give us too many assignmentspreviously referred to’they are amongalmost certainly borrowed from Americanthey are among the group we are talking aboutEnglish, perhaps in the era when the Peace Corpstaught in secondary schools in the 1960samountn.usually short for ‘amount of at all s.t.Emphasises absence or negativitymoney’ but occasionally applied to other thingspeople were not enjoying, at all GE.previously referred tohe gave me someAt all! excl. A common standalone response to aamount he gave me some moneynegative question or one expecting a negative-ansuff. ending to indicate the inhabitant ofanswer.Is this man here? response At all!a particular stateKwaran, Bayelsanattachmentn.additional hair sewn on toand co. n.p.refers to set of matching clothsowner’s hair, less subtle than weavonmade for families, age-grades, associations etc.August break n.p.dry spell in rainy seasonthey are sewing and co. for the weddingfrom late July to AugustSNEanini n.now long-disused coin, originallyaunty n.term of respect used by childrenone-tenth of a penny, but symbolising somethin
sc. sl. schoolboy slang st. sl. student slang TE Tropical English Preface This dictionary of Nigerian English was stimulated by some enquiries from the Oxford English Dictionary on words of putative West African origin. The OED
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Nigerian Legal System in resolving disputes as and when necessary. To make an attempt to create national legal norms that regulates and stipulates rights and duties of the citizenry, etc. These broad aims will be achieved by: i. Introducing you to Nigerian Legal System, and the basic principles and sources of Nigerian Legal System. ii.
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