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The present perfect in Nigerian English1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2016

VALENTIN WERNER Open the ORCID record for VALENTIN WERNER [Opens in a new window]  and
ROBERT FUCHS
VALENTIN WERNER
Affiliation:
University of Bamberg, English and Historical Linguistics, An der Universität 9, 96045 Bamberg, Germanyvalentin.werner@uni-bamberg.de
ROBERT FUCHS
Affiliation:
University of Münster, English Department, Johannisstraße 12–20, 48143 Münster, Germanyrobert.fuchs@uni-muenster.de
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Abstract

This article offers an analysis of present perfect (PP) use in Nigerian English (NigE), based on the Nigerian component of the International Corpus of English (ICE). First, we analyze variable contexts with the Simple Past (PT; determined by temporally specified contexts) as one of the main competitors of the PP, and thus assess the PP-friendliness of NigE in contrast to other varieties. We further provide an alternative measure of PP-friendliness and test register effects in terms of normalized and relative PP and PT frequencies. Our results indicate an overall reduced PP-friendliness of NigE and show internal variability in terms of PP frequencies in different variable contexts. As regards register effects, NigE does not show less variability of PP frequencies compared to British English (BrE). However, the distribution of the PP across registers in NigE does not follow the British pattern where certain registers are particularly PP-friendly. We discuss potential determining factors of the low frequency of the PP in NigE, and conclude that neither substrate influence nor general learning mechanisms on their own can comprehensively account for it. Instead, we suggest that historical influence from Irish and perhaps (at a later point) American English, in conjunction with general learning mechanisms, may be responsible.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , March 2017 , pp. 129 - 153
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

1

We would like to express our gratitude to Laurel Brinton and two anonymous reviewers, who have provided helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. We would also like to thank Taiwo Soneye for information on the completive aspect in Yoruba.

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