Phonological Interference in Television Newscast in Nigeria
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To enlighten the media on the importance of Standard English.
- To ascertain the relationship between phonological interference and television newscast in Nigeria
- To ascertain the media, use of the second speakers of the English language on how to produce sounds of English that will be free from mother tongue interference
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Every language has peculiar sounds with which the language is produced and – communicated. English has been in Nigeria for more than four centuries. English language as a lingua franca and mainstay of communication in a multilingual society, like Nigeria has its peculiar sounds with which it is identified, produced and communicated. It enhances human communication serves as an important key to verbal/human communication. English Language has been very significant segment of communication network in the Nigerian multilingual society. Enumerating the use of English as a communication tool in Nigeria, Eyisis (2007) states that, “The English language occupies a pride of position in the Nigerian society. It can be perceived as the most important legacy from the British to Nigeria” (p.19). Whenever we speak, we consciously produce a chain of speech sounds which sequentially arranged to form syllables arid words that will generate prices meaning to our listeners. Some languages have limited number of phonernes while other appears to posses extremely complete phonologies. English language therefore, has stream of sounds (speech sounds) which are produced during speech. The unique phonemes; in the structures of English make the acquisition difficult; because of the irregularities. With discrepancies in phonetic structures of languages, the broadcaster if not well med and guided on the demands of job becomes a square peg in a round hole and invariably impedes communication. In spite of the status enjoyed by English as a language that occupies a pride of place in Nigeria, and despite the effort put to promote it effective communication, many broadcasters still find it difficult to effectively manipulate the phonological features of the language. This is as a result of the irregularities stemming from both languages- the new and old languages. This has been attributed to the fact that more attention was paid in the past on the written form of language at the expense of the spoken form. This has gone a long way in promoting a negative effect of the influence of the mother tongue (MT) on the target language (TL) or second language (p. 12). Unfortunately, in ordinary conversation, an interference of any type especially phonological interference goes unnoticed and is particularly ignored because most users in the country use English as their second languages as well as their target language. Though interference may be ignored in ordinary conversation, it is a serious problem in broadcasting as it can breed semantic noise and affects communication process. In programme dissemination in the English language, international acceptability of pronunciation called Received Pronunciation (RP) should be used, except otherwise where other varieties of English is to be used. This makes the broadcast media; uphold their credibility and excellence. Folarin (2001) is of the opinion that; Everyday language of ordinary discourse and language of the news casting significantly differ due to the differences in expected roles. The language of -broadcasting or journalism is to facilitate affective communication between the (encoder) and the listener (audience/decoder (P37). The broadcaster is a communicator whose duty is very important in information dissemination. Eka explains that since the English Language has been with us for so many years, it is bound to acquire the characteristics of the Nigeria environment. He argues that; “it is neither possible nor necessary for any Nigerian bilingual (speaking his mother tongue and English) to speak English as a British national” (26). This is however not necessary because language has been proven to be dynamic.
For example, Chaucerian and Shakespearian versions of English have changed, even though most times the language dances to the whims and caprices of the first language. Users therefore, should readily update their knowledge and drop the cliches and the everyday form of stagnancy in language learning. Nevertheless, the Layman of the tents of communication. He fails to strike a something well and doing it haphazardly. In line withthis, there was a necessity for oral English to be introduced as part of the in Junior and Senior secondary schools. Bodga (1995) has this to suggest: Secondary schools for proper control of the students’ speech habits at the early stages of their English Language Learning and usage to minimize the phonological problems that results from errors in pronunciation (p.248).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to Phonological interference in television newscast in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on Phonological interference in television newscast in Nigeria. 200 staff of NTA channel 12 Uyo, Akwa Ibom state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on Phonological interference in television newscast in Nigeria. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of Phonological interference in television newscast in Nigeria
Summary
This study was on Phonological interference in television newscast in Nigeria. Three objectives were raised which included: To enlighten the media on the importance of Standard English, to ascertain the relationship between phonological interference and television newscast in Nigeria and to ascertain the media, use of the second speakers of the English language on how to produce sounds of English that will be free from mother tongue interference. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of NTA channel 12 uyo, Akwa ibom state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made HRMs, broadcasters, marketers and junior staffs were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
This study has shown that NTA channel 12 Uyo correspondents commit serious errors while on broadcast as a result of influence their MT has on the TL. As such, an in-house intensive training must be employed by the TV stations to curtail these errors most especially because the world sees correspondent reporters as the custodians of correct pronunciation of English words. This implies that experts in the field of English language must be employed to train correspondent reporters on the pronunciation of words that they find difficult before every broadcast. Unless this is taken seriously, reporters would continue this trend of anomalies of unwarranted pronunciation of English words.
Recommendation
News casting and reporting should not be all-comers affair. As such, trained English language graduates from reputable universities should be broadcasters. Unless this is taken into consideration, many listeners, students inclusive, use of segmental and suprasegmental features would be corrupted with wrong pronunciation of English words and surely leads to break in communication.
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