ARE THE RULES OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE CHANGING OR GAB IS JUST CHANGING THEM

ARE THE RULES OF ENGLISH CHANGING OR GAB IS JUST CHANGING THEM
Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB)

He who pays the piper calls the tune (not, dictates).
Runny nose (not, running nose).
Lagging behind (not, lacking behind).
Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t (not, the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know).
You cannot have your cake and eat it (not, you cannot eat your cake and have it).
Sail through (not, scale through).
At times (not, atimes).
Knock knees (not, k-legs).
I know full well (not, fully well).
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you (not, finger).

These and more you have read in my daily lessons and I am sure you are asking:
Are these rules changing or this guy is changing them?
So is he saying our primary and secondary school teachers did not teach us well?
…
Languages, especially English, are ever changing from their different perspectives-structures,words and meanings. English as the most geographically dispersed language and one which has mostly borrowed from other languages of the world has undergone changes at different levels. These changes are borne out of the prestige the English Language has enjoyed as the most prestigious language in the world. This article however addresses those changes which have evolved in the use of the English Language over the years and errors which have been part of the English speakers, especially second language speakers, over the years.

The English Language has recorded certain changes in time past. At the lexical level for instance, to be nice in the Shakespearean era meant to be foolish and rheumatism meant a pain in the head. Parlour was the word till the 90s but even the dictionary describes it as informal today and so it will be sophisticated to use the word ‘sitting room’ now. The dictionary also refers to some words as obsolete and this only testifies to the fact that the language is living.

At the syntactic level, negators used to come after verbs sometime in the past and that is even the Biblical language: Touch not my anointing. That would be written now as: Do not touch my anointing.
These and more are the changes the English Language has gone through and will continue to go through.

But: THESE CHANGES ARE DIFFERENT FROM ERRORS! Errors are incorrect usages that are borne out of improper mastery of the rules of any language. Errors are universally wrong irrespective of who says them, whether a native speaker or a second language user. Language is systematic and rule governed and a speaker must adhere to the rules of usage, especially in formal contexts of use.

Also, idioms of a language are words put together to derive a connotative meaning which might not be suggested by the individual meanings of the words. Many English idioms have been changed by second language users who do not share in the socio-cultural realities that birthed such idioms. An example is MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES. The climatic condition which necessitates making hay is alien to Nigerians and so we, for our convenience, change hay to haste and more Nigerians say: Make haste while the sun shines. The number of years of saying such will never make it right.

This article does not dispute the fact that the indiginisation, nativisation and Nigerianisation of English can result in our own peculiar usages. The Nigerianisation of English has warranted coinages such as: bean cake, well done, go-slow and many other words and expressions which are peculiar to our experiences. The point however is that as much as creativity is allowed, it should not be likened to bastardisation. English is some people’s mother tongue and should not become a murdered tongue on the ground of its spread. Second language users must adhere to the rules of standard usage for, if no other reason, globally mutual intelligibility.

(c) 2018 Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB)
Doctoral Candidate, Department of English, University of Ibadan
&
Academic Advisor, Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan.
Website: www.englishdietng.com
Facebook: Gani Gab Abisoye Bamgbose