A Linguist's Concern on Nigerian Print Media

A Linguist’s Concern on Nigerian Print Media

As a linguist, literary writer and editor, I believe, (that) the language success of a book or print media is on the altar of linguistic nitty-gritty of its editor. Nigerian print media, especially, are too talented with morphological and syntactic errors. Virtually, all newspapers in the country are in possession of fossilised errors. Correct simple syntactic usage cum appropriateness of common idioms, clause structure recognition, coordinating conjunction worship vis-à-vis tense, proximity and determiners, stressless word formation (dealing with compounding), knowledge of lexical and grammatical differences between BrE and AmE, immalapropistic lexical choice and spelling holiness, are not, at all, in their culture.

          At times, when one reads a newspaper, one feels like tearing it. ' No be so'?Odia Ofeimun said in an interview by Print&Publishing Express in 2013 that, “language development is writers’ first duty: if the sharing of meaning is defeated as a result of bastardisation of language, the much needed shared consciousness is not achievable in the society”.

          Reading newspapers for the linguistic growth of, especially, secondary school students is now, as I think, an unholy piece of advice by teachers or whoever. Perhaps, those papers have mechanical engineers or something else disciplines’ experts as their Chief Editors and Editors. Newscast is a known friend to this phenomenon.

          Some subject textbooks too, even, some hungry publishers’English Language textbooks are not helping and they are stamped by Government Ministries of Education. No wonder WAEC, NECO, UTME and others had never recorded an outstanding success: students are writing what they are reading, if at all they read. This is why the level of education in Nigeria remains a National Insult.

          I carried out a research on this in my 2010 NCE Long Essay and relatedly in my B.A.ED’s Long Essay where I gave various recommendations as solutions, but the trend keepsongetting fatter. Does that mean that the recommendations of various scholars are not worthwhile? Notwithstanding, I clap Prof. Samson Dare of OOUA for his various publications on this and his weekly Language and Thought in Sunday Tribune and Ebere Wabara for his regular WORDSWORTH in National Mirror. I pray they listen.

 Opaniyi Samuel Oluwawumi writes from Abuja.