VARIETIES OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE USAGE FOR NARRATING PERSONAL AND COMMUNAL EXPERIENCES IN NIGERIAN LITERATURE

Abstract

Nigerian writers in English have over the years evolved individual varieties of English to
narrativise various personal and communal experiences. Using the qualitative research method.

This paper undertakes a close study of some of these modes of English language usage in
Nigerian literature with an emphasis on prose narratives. The rationale for this undertaking is
to demonstrate that Nigerian writers use English in different ways to serve their individual
artistic interests. First, the paper briefly highlights the language issue in African literature in
order to justify African writers' continued deployment of English in various domesticated
forms. Then, further effort is made to demonstrate that writers like Amos Tutuola, Chinua
Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Gabriel Okara, and Ken Saro-Wiwa are some of the best examples of
Nigerian writers who have experimented with, and used the English language to serve various
artistic needs with varying degrees of successes. The study finds that Nigerian literature is
indeed a rich body of writing that embodies diverse literary and linguistic formulae and codes.
Thus, the study concludes that the various ways in which these writers manipulate language
contribute to the growth and uniqueness of the Nigerian literary tradition.