29.3129, Diss: Sociolinguistics; Syntax; Text/Corpus Linguistics: Mayowa Akinlotan: ''A Corpus-Based Study of the Structure of the Noun Phrase in Nigerian English''

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LINGUIST List: Vol-29-3129. Thu Aug 09 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.3129, Diss: Sociolinguistics; Syntax; Text/Corpus Linguistics: Mayowa Akinlotan: ''A Corpus-Based Study of the Structure of the Noun Phrase in Nigerian English''

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Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2018 11:15:18
From: Mayowa Akinlotan [mayowa.akinlotan at vub.be]
Subject: A Corpus-Based Study of the Structure of the Noun Phrase in Nigerian English

 
Institution: Vrije University Brussels 
Program: PhD 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2018 

Author: Mayowa Akinlotan

Dissertation Title: A Corpus-Based Study of the Structure of the Noun Phrase in 
Nigerian English 

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics
                     Syntax
                     Text/Corpus Linguistics


Dissertation Director(s):
Alex Housen
Ludovic De cuypere

Dissertation Abstract:

This dissertation gives an account of the structure of the noun phrase (NP) in
Nigerian English against the background of the structural simplification
hypothesis (Gorlach, 1998) which has been proposed for new varieties of
Englishes. In other words, the present dissertation shows a catalogue of
tendency showing the extent to which the internal structure of the noun phrase
in Nigerian English indicates the presence of the structural simplification
hypothesis. The constituents of the internal structure of the NP in Nigerian
English are comprehensively described and accounted for. In addition, the
findings for the Nigerian English NP are compared with other varieties of
English from the inner and outer circle (Kachru, 1985), such as Ghanaian,
British, American, Jamaican, and Indian Englishes. The thesis thus presents a
detailed distributional analysis of the internal structure of the NP in the
Nigerian variety of English, and also shows how the Nigerian variety compares
to other varieties from the inner and outer circles of the English language in
terms of the structure of selected syntactic constituents.

The dissertation reports on five corpus-based investigations of the structure
of the Nigerian English NP, each focusing on, respectively, the general
structure of the Nigerian English NP (chapter 4) and each of the four main NP
constituents, namely the determiner, the premodifier, the complement and the
postmodifier, with a view to assessing the extent to which Nigerian English
manifests indications of structural simplification as proposed by the
Structural Simplification Hypothesis (Gorlach, 1998). The dissertation further
shows how key linguistic and sociolinguistic variables such as register,
syntactic function, weight, and animacy influence the patterns found in the
five empirical studies and determine choices between simple and complex NP
structures. Findings show variations in the internal structure of the Nigerian
NP, and that this variation supports the simplification hypothesis in New
Englishes. Furthermore, it is shown that the processes underlying the attested
structural simplification derive from the constraints imposed by structural
transfer from the different systems of the local Nigerian languages with which
English in Nigeria has been in contact. Among various comparisons, the
Ghanaian and Nigerian data are also found to display some degree of
complexity. In addition, the variables of syntactic functions and register are
found to be strong predictors of NP complexity in new and established
varieties of English.




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