British or American English? A Survey of Variety Preference in the English of L2 University Undergraduates

Abstract

English has been observed to be a global language. The spread of English in Nigeria has also been observed to introduce several spelling discrepancies between American and British English. This phenomenon, in recent times has been a challenge to educationist, linguist and stake holders in the academia due to the inconsistencies in use by L2 users. Extant researches have established the intrusion of the American English into the British English usage of many Nigerian users of English. Also, other researches establish the emergence of the Nigerian English lexical innovation Upholding this view, however, this study attempts to investigate, through survey and statistical evidence, the level at which selected Nigerian university undergraduates defer to British English lexis and orthography, and the American and Nigerian English variants. A short quiz, designed and placed in online Google form, was administered as questionnaire to students. Five hundred university undergraduates were sampled from five different universities in Nigeria. Responses were elicited from one-hundred undergraduates from each of the five selected institutions. Analysis reveals that of the ten test items administered to the respondents, six British English word variants (holiday, generator, biscuits, university, carpark, hostel) are most often used while the other four American English lexemes (kerosene, kiosk, elevator, expressway) amass high statistical usage by students. Also, the respondents prefer the British English spelling style of four (favour, fulfilment, programme, dialogue) test items while the preference of the American English style dominate other three test items (center, criticize, encyclopedia). There is rampant use of “torch” (BrE), “salon” (BrE), and “shorts” (AmrE) despite existence of their Nigerian English variants – “torchlight”, “barbing salon”, and “shortknicker”. The study concludes that to a greater extent, the use of the American English and Nigerian English lexical and spelling conventions have not totally eroded or overwhelmed the expected British English usage.