The Supra-Segmentals In The Spoken English Of Nigerians

Abstract

In this study some 250 undergraduate students of various academic disciplines and linguistic backgrounds in Delta State University, Abraka are tested on passage to determine their mastery of stress and some five sentence types of English in the area of supra-segmentals. An evaluation of their performance shows a complete lack of knowledge of the workings of the supra-segmentals. The result indicates Banjo's (1979) indictment 30 years ago (1979) that "the appropriate use of English stress and intonation is the final hurdle which the vast majority of speakers of English as a second language never manager (sic) to cross... ". The study goes further to suggest ways to eradicate this anomaly among L2 users of English in Nigeria after some related literature review of the problem.