THE MANIFESTATION OF NON STANDARD USAGE OF ENGLISH AMONG UNIVERSITY STUD ENTS: THE SYNTACTIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Language is characterized by set of vocal sounds which can be decoded. These are produced by human organs of speech - lips, tongue, and larynx etc. The vocal sounds produced by the vocal organs are used in various systematic and rule govern ed combinations. Language is thus a human phenomenon that has form which can be described in terms of the units of sound (phonemes), words, morphemes, phrases, and paragraph or discourse. Human language is unique in the sense that it has its own structure, its own system of organizing its component units into meaningful patterns. English, Nigeria’s official language, occupies a unique place in Nigerian education today; not only has English been adopted as the principal medium of instruction in Nigeri a’s educational institutions but it has also been institutionalized as the language of educational evaluation in Nigeria school system. However, Kujore notes that it is alarming how in spite of the tremendous functions that English performs as the languag e of instruction and evaluation in Nigeria and the bold effort made over the years to encourage its effective usage, the vast majority of speakers record in recent years is an appalling low level perfo rmance in the language.