Welcome to SNEMIntroduction/Background:
Dr Farooq Kperogi writing under the sub-heading: Conceptualizing Nigerian English he wrote that the “Nigerian English has not yet been purposively standardized”. This led many people to come up with the idea for further action to be taken to ensure the standardisation is accomplished. He wrote further, "We all know that there is such a thing as British English; it is the progenitor of all subsequent "Englishes" (as professional linguists awkwardly call national and sub-regional varieties of the English language) in the world. And we do, of course, know that there is American English, not only because it is the earliest national variety to rebel against some of the quirky conventions of British English (a fact that prompted the celebrated Irish writer George Bernard Shaw to famously remark that "England and America are two countries divided by a common language"), but also because America's current preeminent position in the world ensures that its variety of English is now relentlessly universalized through an imperceptible but nonetheless powerful process of pop-culture-induced linguistic osmosis. He went further to ask the question: What of Nigerian English? Is there such a thing as Nigerian English? If there is, how is it different from and similar to British and American English? If there isn't why do we have such radically idiosyncratic usage patterns that set us apart from other users of the English language? And why should we care? Let me(us) start with the last question. We should care because English is not just another language; it is our national language—sadly. But more than that, it is now practically the lingua franca of the world. It is the primary international language in communications, information technology, entertainment, science, business and diplomacy. It is also, by international treaty, the official language for aerial and maritime communications, as well as one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union, and most international athletic organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. That's not all. It is also the language of scholarship. Recently, for instance, the Science Citation Index reported that 95 percent of its articles were written in English, even though only half of these scientific articles came from authors in English-speaking countries. It has also been said that over 80 percent of information stored in the world's computers is in English. That is why English is spoken by hundreds of millions of non-native speakers in the world today. If you take into account the fact that almost every educated Chinese person now speaks and writes some English, the number should be close to a billion. So trying to ignore the English language in today's world is like trying to avoid daylight: you can do it, but with an effort so demanding it reaches the point of absurdity. I think it is not out of place for us to reflect on how we write and speak our own variety of English (in Nigeria) and in so doing develop a self-conscious knowledge of how our usage of the language in relation to its two dominant varieties converge and diverge. This may provide a springboard to start a process of codifying and taking pride in our idiosyncratic use of this foreign, eccentric language that we are forced to deal with both because of the peculiarities of our socio-historical experiences and because of the reality of the architecture of the current world setup, which privileges the English language over all other languages in the world—at least for now". Now Who Is SNEM? ....... Click Here to read more. |
Aims and Objectives:Due to the realities of the diversity of languages and cultural differences in Nigeria coupled with today's development, it is pertinent that Nigerian-English which is understood by every Nigerian is given its right position for easy and smooth communication among the people of Nigeria and understandable with the poeple of the whole world at large. Therefore, SNEM will like to work in collaboration with other similar institutions and organisations for the actualisation of this project. ......Please click Here to read more.
Press Releases:From time to time, SNEM shall have Press Release as part of its strategies to propagate and promote the Nigerian English project. In November 2010, SNEM presented a Paper at the 27th Annual Conference of Nigerian English Studies Association (NESA). The title of the topic was:
STANDARDISING NIGERIAN ENGLISH: A Way Towards Nigerian Development in the 21st Century: ....Read more Contact Us:
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