By
Obododimma Oha
At one social event in the US in 1997, one lady from the West Indies drew my attention to the peculiarity of the sound of my English. She said that she wanted to stand near me in order to hear my expression in English very well and to enjoy it. I did not see what she said as an insult, rather she was confirming what I had learnt about varieties of English and from Braj Kachru's idea of "Circles of English." Na true talk. So, there was even some "music" in my use of the language? Interesting. What kind of music? I hope that it contained highlife and Afrojuju.
She would treat my English as strange but I also thought hers was strange. One and one! When something stands, another thing would stand beside it. Na so.
Kachru in his mapping of the use of English in the world identified three concentric circles, the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle, and the Expanding Circle. The Inner Circle is constituted by countries where English is used as L1 or as native language. These include Britain, US, English parts of South Africa and Canada. The Inner Circle is norm-providing, deciding correctness in the language. The Outer Circle, which is norm-developing, is constituted by countries that were colonized by Britain and the language was imposed on them. The countries include Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and the Gambia. The Expanding Circle is constituted by countries that were never colonized by Britain but only need English for international engagements. The Expanding Circle is described as norm-using.
So, the music of my English was composed and played in the Outer Circle. My English must have been coloured by Igbo, my indigenous language, and is popularly known as "interference English." So, Engligbo is real! That lady was clever and was early to listen to the music! I know that other people with their cultural backgrounds must have their own Englishes, their own music!
I know that in the workplace in a place like America, this music of my English could be a big problem. If, as a teacher, my students complain about my accent or that I have a strange accent, my job would be on the line! Even outside the school environment, some people would pretend that they don't understand me! I just have to learn to unlearn the music of my English or learn to Americanize it.
As interference English, its performance clearly exposed a competence you cannot just think that somebody can very easily describe. Its competence was not that simple. It's true that its intonation could have sounded strange, much like an exchange of blows in the street.
Did I hear someone say my attitude also contributes to the sounding of meaning, that I may have the same expression but diverging senses due to diverging situations? The expression, "Thank you" begins to mean various things because of differing contexts and attitudes!
The music of my English is better understood from a "Tom and Jerry" exchange angle. This word after that word before those damnations. This lexical pattern swearing to voodoo that lexical pattern.
You see, that curious lady was in for a lot surprises. But she wanted them. The music of my English has crescendoes and diminuendoes and English was held hostage by my culture but pretending to be superior. Imagine.
I was lucky that I did not bite my tongue when I was trying to pronounce some sounds of English, such as "th" in a word like "thing." It was safer to pronounce the word as /ting/, in that case, "th" as a /t/. Easy music-making! Or would you prefer the /f/, as in /fing/? Okay, /fing/.
You see, my music is good for English. When something stands, another thing would stand beside it!
What one cannot understand is why the sounds are very slippery and indeterminate. Imagine a word like "live" is /liv/ here but /laiv/ there! No be craze be dat?
The music of my English is not just the peculiar sounds. It is also the culture that English has to beg to stay.
The music of my English tells some things about me. For instance, it reveals my social identity. It says that this is an Igbo person speaking English. He is negotiating the sounds of speech, blending those of Igbo and English!
It means that whoever cares to listen to the music of my English at anytime should endeavour to get what that music says about me also.
It could also say something about my being well-educated or not, refined in speech or not. This is the zone of stylistics in speaking.
If you have been listening to the music of my English, let us think of stopping. Issues concerning the sounds of English could be funny, forcing one to whimper and croak. You would hear various kinds of animal sound! We are still human and wish to remain so in the Outer Circle.
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