Jowitt: Nigerian English - Another Variety that Breaks Schneider’s Postcolonial Mould?

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David Jowitt's presentation on "Nigerian English: Another Variety that Breaks Schneider’s Postcolonial Mould?" at the 2022 ISLE summer school
Abstract
Nigerian English (NigE) has been the subject of investigation since the 1980s, and comprehensive coverage is found in Jowitt (1991) and (2019). The coming of corpora such as ICE-Nigeria in recent years has permitted more thorough and accessible research. This contribution attempts to provide a bird’s-eye view of the variety, and to some extent takes its orientation from Deterding’s (2008) review of Schneider (2007).
Although the two are often assumed to be the same, NigE is radically different from Nigerian Pidgin English; rather, NigE is one of several ‘outer-circle’ varieties of English that might be defined as Standard English with local variants, often reflecting indigenous languages and cultural phenomena. Potentially, this makes each ‘English-speaking’ African country host to its own different outer-circle variety.
The survey begins with a sketch of Nigeria’s history, ethnic diversity and political structure, and shows that NigE began to develop in colonial times as a result of contact between Nigerians and British personnel. One major aspect of this development is that Nigeria was not an area of white settlement, so that it is questionable whether Schneider’s (2003) model of postcolonial Englishes can be applied. NigE is certainly not a ‘Settler English’ in the terms of Denis and D’Arcy (2018).
The distinctiveness of NigE is observable at all levels of the language, and some examples are presented of each. The survey also discusses the question of sub-varieties of NigE. They can be differentiated chiefly according to an ethnic parameter or to an educational one. Attempts have been made to identify a Standard Nigerian English, but perhaps - as in other outer-circle environments - this remains an unsettled and controversial issue. There is an extensive Nigerian literature in (Standard) English, and certain Nigerian writers (e.g. Achebe, Soyinka, Adichie) have achieved international renown; but in their work NigE expressions occur chiefly in dialogue, not in the narrator’s discourse. This supports the claim that ‘vernacular’ NigE (what Jowitt 1991 labels ‘popular’ NigE) is found chiefly in the spoken medium.
Readings
Denis, D. and D’Arcy, A. 2018. ‘Settler Colonial Englishes Are Distinct from Postcolonial  Englishes.’ American Speech 93(1): 3-31.
Deterding, D. 2008. ‘Review of Postcolonial English: Varieties around the World, by Edgar W. Schneider’. English World-Wide 29: 232-35.  
Jowitt, D. 1991. Nigerian English Usage. Lagos: Longman Nigeria. 
Jowitt, D. 2019. Nigerian English. Berlin: De Gruyter. 
Schneider, E. W. 2003. ‘The dynamics of New Englishes: From identity construction to dialect birth’. Language 79: 233-281. 
Schneider, E.W. 2007. Postcolonial English: Varieties around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.