Back in your formative years, you would probably earn an earful from your schoolteacher if you made use of words like “next tomorrow” or “severally” in an English composition assignment, or any academic task that involved meticulous application of the English language.
In their defence, they were only trying to guide you according to the strict tenets of the Oxford dictionary, as it applied to written and spoken communication.
The dictionary has undergone a significant shakeup, however, and those who were chided for infusing some “Nigerian verbiage” in their communication back in the day, may find that they were right in hindsight, or at least find that the rest of the world has caught on to their unique vocabulary.
Very recently, 29 new words from Nigerian colloquial English were added to the Oxford English Dictionary, in acknowledgment of the way “Nigerians have made, and continue to make, a unique and distinctive contribution to English”.
Some of these words include: “next tomorrow” (the day after tomorrow), “k-leg” (problem/flaw), “ember months” (last four months of the year), “put to bed” (give birth to a child), and “tokunbo” (second-hand product), among others.
Some of the new additions are drawn directly from indigenous Nigerian languages, while others are the result of expanding the use of a word: for example, the word “gist” in Nigerian English goes beyond referring to the substance or most relevant part of a discussion, it is also used as a verb to mean “gossip”, or as a noun to mean “rumours”.
This new development is a testament to the increasing influence of Nigerian pop culture on a global scale, and it is also indicative of the dynamic and evolutionary nature of language as a concept. It remains to be seen when these changes would be effected in school curriculums across the country, but one thing is for sure – the rest of the world is beginning to regard Nigerian English as a valid part of the language ecosystem.