Abstract:
The English language in Nigeria is older than the Nigerian nation. It
was formally introduced in 1842 by the first
batch of missionaries who
arrived in Badagry to evangelize as well as educate Nigerians (Tomori,
1981). When a language comes in contact with new environment, for it to
survive, it has to adopt and change to reflect the needs of its new
environment. The English language is no exception:
the language is about
170 years old in Nigeria (as it was formally introduced in 1842). The
English language has become so much adopted that it has been
demosticated, nativesed and acculturated (Adegbija 2004). The English
language has been Nigerianized. This adaptation of English emanating from
the distinctive use of the language by Nigerians gave birth to what is known
as Nigerian English (NE).
