The indigenization of English: rhetoric in modern Nigerian literature

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Periodical article

Title:	The indigenization of English: rhetoric in modern Nigerian literature
Author:	Wren, R.M.
Year:	1976
Periodical:	Black Orpheus: A Journal of African and Afro-American Literature
Volume:	3
Issue:	4
Pages:	44-56
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	Pidgin English literature
Abstract:	The use of European languages in African prose and poetry is a controversial matter. According to the author, indigenous languages and English are both necessary in Nigeria. From the beginning of British influence in what is now Nigeria, English has been subjected to severe adaptive pressures producing pidgin. Also, in more recent years, as higher education in English has become relatively common, the use of this language to express indigenous experience has attracted widespread international attention. The author reviews some works (prose, poetry and drama) by Nigerian writers, commenting on their use of standard or pidgin English and on how they experimented, and adapted or indigenized the language. He also looks at the styles used and concludes that English rhetoric has been capable of carrying some of the weight of Nigerian experience. Gloss., note, ref.