Influence Of English Language In Yoruba -By Raji Sekinat Adenike

Language is a medium through which knowledge is constructed. Language is basically speech and is widely used as a medium of effective communication. The importance of language in the life of any human being needs no emphasis. Language plays a very important role in the all rounddevelopment and empowerment of a teacher. Language is the heart of educationand also the heart of teacher and taught.

Every Language involves four basicskills- Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. When children first beginformal schooling, speech is the major asset they bring with them to the classroom no matter what is their mother tongue at first instance. Oralcommunicative competence implies: an ability to speak in target language fluently. It includes both intelligibility (which includes correct pronunciation,word and sentence, stress and intonation patterns for conveying correct meaning) and appropriateness (choice of words, levels of formality) and appropriateness of expression demanded by the situation. Oral communicationcompetence also includes fluency, accuracy and interactional skills.

  Mother tongue influence (MTI) means the impact of the usage of our mother tongue on the second language; for example, English. In other words, we can figure out the ethnicity/nationality of someone with the way he/she uses the dialects that interferes with English speaking. This is very common in India.

   English language is said to be a human specific mode of expressing our thought through the verbal (i.e spoken and written) and non-verbal means. With this definition, we shall reiterate that English language necessarily serves humans in a multitude of ways: English language is said to have a great impact on the cognitive development of man: Man is able to express his thoughts and view.

The majority of world English speakers use English either as a second or third language and exists in an environment where in the least, bilingualism is the norm even though English may be the official language. In many countries, including Nigeria, English is the main language of instruction in schools (especially after primary education level) and it is used in business and other official transactions and interactions.

English came into Nigeria through colonization centuries ago and three main groups of people emerged from this contact of English with the indigenous languages of Nigeria. These groups are the British, the new Nigerian elite trained in Britain and the native indigenous population trained in Nigeria. A local variant of English emerged from the mixing of those groups of people. This local variant of English was coloured by influence from local languages. Borrowing of indigenous words into English is a result of this contact and these borrowed words are what we call ‘loan words’.

These linguistic borrowings can be attributed to immigration, commerce, and trade as people were exposed to a wide range of ethnolinguistic environments. Through these interactions, people were exposed to various linguistic contexts, and words and phrases were borrowed to accommodate these encounters.

The Yorùbá case is no exception. Spoken widely by about 40 million speakers in Nigeria, Yorùbá language has been influenced by the English language spoken by the British, who held colonial power in Nigeria from 1914 to 1960.

More than half of the vocabulary words used in Yorùbá are borrowed from English. Think of the word “cup.” It was domesticated as kó̩ò̩pù. The word “phone” is fóònù, “ball” is bó̩ò̩lù, and “television” is te̩lifís̩ó̩ò̩nù, among others.

These English words that were “loaned” to Yorùbá expanded its vocabulary over time. There are also instances of the Yorùbá language borrowing words from the Hausa language, spoken by 44 million people in the northern part of Nigeria. This language borrows heavily from Arabic, as well, with words like àlùbáríkà (“blessing”), àlùbó̩sà (“onion”) and wàhálà (“trouble”).

The beauty of Yorùbá loanwords is that speakers now use them in their day-to-day conversations as they get absorbed into the language. It is not uncommon to hear people say, Bá o̩mo̩ ye̩n mú bó̩ò̩lu è̩ or “Help the child take the ball” in English. Although the underlined word bó̩ò̩lu is not native to the Yorùbá language, speakers manage to make it fit.

One of the challenges with the Yorùbá language with regard to loanwords is that native speakers themselves love translating Yorùbá words into English and using them in sentences instead of the original Yorùbá word. An example is the word àkàrà — most Yorùbá speakers translate it to bean cake in daily interactions —, especially with foreigners.

Recently, several other Nigerian English words were added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Yorùbá will make giant strides only if its speakers contribute to its growth; Its usage in the media is also important as the world becomes increasingly more digitized. Consequently, this will spur further research on the Niger-Congo language.