INTER-LANGUAGE PHONOLOGY AND MOTHER TONGUE INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH LITERACY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Over the years, the flare for native speaker or near native speaker accent was paramount in the study of phonetics and  phonology. Today the mode of communication has drastically changed. Most people especially students communicate more in pidgin and slangy expressions. Little or no attention is given to native speaker accent due to the influence of mother tongue and inter-language on English. Language scholars should devote their time to the study of how to modify inter-language and mother tongue influence on English literacy. In a multilingual and multicultural nation like Nigeria, actualization of native speaker accent is obviously elusive; linguists should rather strive to have a developed accent which meets international intelligibility and recognition rather than trying “to force the horse to drink water”.