“He’s an English man; can his English be wrong?”

“He’s an English man; can his English be wrong?”

Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose, PhD.

Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose, PhD.

Let’s start from the main point: Yes, his English can be wrong! The title of the short piece was a question I was asked by a young man after I confirmed to him that an utterance by a native speaker of English was ungrammatical.

I will state clearly the two most important definitions of grammar so as to establish my stance in this article.

First, grammar is the intuitive knowledge that native speakers have of their languages. Such knowledge comes from being exposed to the language from childhood and being resident in native speakers’ environment. This intuitive knowledge makes for fluency especially at the levels of appropriate articulation of words and mastery of stress, rhythm and intonation, in the case of English.

It is pertinent to state that this intuitive knowledge of grammar does not guarantee a sound knowledge of the intricate aspects of the language especially at the level of rules which guide the formation of words into sentences.

The rules guiding how words are formed into sentences are collectively referred to as the grammar of the language from the second perspective. It is important to state that every language has its standard varieties which mostly are acquired through formal education.

As much as modern linguists frown at the use of terms such as correct, incorrect, right and wrong, expressions such as standard, and appropriate are often used to describe the educated variety of any language which being a native speaker does not necessarily guarantee.

It should also be stated that what can be equated to Pidgin English in our clime also obtains among native speakers of English in the United Kingdom and this is called Cockney. You must have been accused of not speaking your indigenous language very well even as a native speaker of any Nigerian language at one point or the other. Such finesse which marks the standard, appropriate or professional uses of a language comes from being trained and further training oneself.
As natural as language use is, aspects of communication skills which are listening, reading, speaking and writing, require formal knowledge which is never tied to being a native speaker of the language.

Finally, grammar, when it means the rules that guide the use of a language, is an ever progressing venture as contemporary usages even lead to the acceptance of some structures and the obsoleteness of other known rules. It is, therefore, pertinent to note that as much as native speakers of English serve as good models for how the language should be spoken, a background check into the level of education of the supposed speakers is necessary in trying to emulate them especially at the level of how words combine to form grammatical sentences.

A white is not necessarily right!

(c) 2019 Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (Dr GAB)