IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol 9 No.2, 2023 www.igwebuikeresearchinstitute.org/igwebuikejournals.php A Publication of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University, Umunya 65 PHONOLOGICAL DEVIATION AMONG KORO ASHE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH IN KARU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, NASARAWA STATE Jatau Stephen Department of Arts and Social Science Education Nasarawa State University, Keffi jataustephen@ nsuk.edu.ng Tanimu Yusuf, PhD Department of English Nasarawa State University, Keffi tanimuy@nsuk.edu.ng & Shehu Ibrahim Ahmad, PhD Department of English Nasarawa State University, Keffi shehuibrahimahmad@nsuk.edu.ng DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31621.83688 Abstract The paper examines the phonological deviation of Koro Ashe learners of English in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, with the view of helping them to improve in their spoken aspect of English. A survey research design was employed to carry out the study. The population of the study comprises of 50 randomly selected Koro Ashe learners of English from the 20 hamlets of Koro Ashe English in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State. Oral Production Test (OPT) in form of reading test was administered to the 50 randomly selected Koro Ashe learners of English from the 20 hamlets of Koro Ashe in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State. The respondents were asked to speak on topics that are of interest to them in which their speeches were tape recorded, played and listened to ascertain their deviations from the standard pronunciation. Contrastive Analysis model is the theoretical framework for this study. the English monothongs /ǝ/, / ɜ:/, /ᴧ/; the diphthongs /ǝu /, /iǝ/, /eǝ/, /uǝ/; the dental fricative / stop //, and /ð/; the consonant clusters that have the dental fricative // and /j/; the plural morphemes /-iz/ and /–z/, the past tense morpheme /–id/ and /–t/ were among that the Koru Ashe do deviate from the standard pronunciation. The deviations in the use of English by the Koro Phonological Deviation Among Koro Ashe Learners of English in Karu Local Government Area 66 Ashe learners of English do result to unintelligible speeches and misinterpretations. It is in this regard that CA model maps these areas of difficulties for improved pedagogy. Keywords: Phonological Deviation, Koro Ashe, English Language Introduction Koro Ashe (one of the dialects of Koro) traced its origin from the then Kwararafa kingdom. Linguistically, Koro Ashe belongs to the sub - family of the proto Benue – Congo language broad family (Jatau cited in Igube, 44). Hence the Koro Ashe people are predominantly located in Karu and Kagarko Local Government Areas of Nasarawa and Kaduna states. To simply put, the Koro Ashe are conspicuously located in North central parts of Nigeria (Igube 43). The word ‘Ashe’ in this paper refers to both the ‘people’ as well as the ‘dialect’. Blench (2) identifies two standard varieties of Koro Ashe; they are Koro Ashe Itorn /itōr/ and Koro Ashe Ncheck /ntʃɛk/. Below is the glossary that distinguishes the two varieties: Itorn /itōr/ Ncheck /ntʃɛk/ Gloss uhwer /uhwer/ /ufer/ To dig aʒe /aʒe/ Aze /aze/ Tiredness Usher /uʃar/ Usar /usar/ To winnow Research in Koro Ashe dialect has continued to attract the attention of scholars to explore the history and the culture of the people (Igube 2000, Gojeh & Christopher 1988); the phonological aspect (see Blench 2009 & Jatau 2012, 2021); the orthography, morphology, Ashe words list and grammar (see Blench 2009). The most recent work going is the Bible translation from English to Koro Ashe. It is in consonant to this development that this paper was conceived. English language, a Germanic language that was first spoken in the early Medieval England, is now a global lingua Franca, named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes from England. English in Nigeria is an official language used as a medium of communication in the domains of government, the law, the media, international commerce, record keeping, and educational system. English in Nigeria also serves as a unifying factor, a lingua franca, a mark of elitism, a license for the acquisition of profitable and prestigious jobs and admissions into most tertiary institutions Nigeria. English language is also a medium of instructions in our primary, secondary and tertiary institutions of learning. English has come to stay and it has dominated and relegated our indigenous languages to the background and seen them as mere ‘vernacular’. Jatau Stephen, Tanimu Yusuf & Shehu Ibrahim Ahmad 67 Despite the importance and prestige accorded to English language in Nigeria, Koro Ashe learners of English do face pronunciation challenges largely attributed to the phenomenon of negative transfer of the features of L1 (Koro Ashe) to the target language (English). This phenomenon resulted sometimes to unintelligible speeches, misconceptions, and misinterpretations of messages being communicated. At the segmental level, most Koro Ashe learners of English do have difficulty to pronounce correctly certain English sounds and words of English. At the consonantal level for instance, the pronunciation of the dental fricative// and the dental stop /ð/ in words; ‘think’ /iŋk/ and ‘then’ /ðen/ were mostly substituted for the nearest equivalent sounds /t/ and /d/ in Koro Ashe which are realized as /tiŋk and /den/ respectively. This deviation from the correct standard pronunciation of // and /ð/ may lead to the inability of most Koro Ashe to distinguish the pronunciation of the words; ‘day’ /dei/ and ‘they’ /ðei/, ‘through’ /u:/ and ‘true’. The reasons for this deviation is that, the dental fricative // and the dental stop /ð/ are absent from the phonemic inventory of Koro Ashe phonemic inventory. Also, certain English vowel sounds that are absent in the phonemic inventory of Koru Ashe pose pronunciation challenges to most Koro Ashe learners of English. For instance, the schwa /ə/, /ʌ/ and /ɜ:/ in words like; ‘sister’ /sistə/, ‘sun’ /sʌn/ and ‘burn’ /bɜ:n/ are realized as /sista/, /sɔn/ and /bɔ:n/ respectively. Thus, vowel sounds /ə/, /ʌ/ and /ɜ:/ are being substituted for the nearest equivalent sounds /a/, /ɔ/ and /ɔ:/ respectively. The consequences of this deviation may result in the inability to differentiate the production of the pair the words; ‘born’ and ‘burn’; ‘sun’ and ‘son’ which creates confusion to the part of the listener. The differences arise from the syllabic structures of English and Koro Ashe pronunciation difficulty to Koro Ashe L2 learners of English. English allows very complicated syllable structure of three consonant clusters at the beginning of word and three to four consonant clusters at the end of word as in ‘prompts’ ccc-v-c ‘stress’ /stres/, cc-v-cccc and ‘prompts’ /prɔmpts/ respectively. However, Koro Ashe permits CV- CV; V- CVC syllable structures as in words like; ‘jawa’ /dʒawa/ (give me), ‘iban’ /iban/ (enjoyment). There is a tendency for Koro Ashe learners of English to insert a vowel in between the two consonants or delete any of the consonant clusters to simplify the pronunciation. The way and manner English language words are spelled compounded the problem that most Koro Ashe learners of English do have with regard to pronunciation. Consider the spelling of the words; ‘ewe’ and ‘you’ and ‘ewer’ and ‘your’, most Koro Ashe learners of English will not be convinced that the two pairs of the words ewe’ and ‘you’ are Phonological Deviation Among Koro Ashe Learners of English in Karu Local Government Area 68 pronounced /ju:/ and ‘ewer’ and ‘your’ are pronounced /juə’ respectively. This lack of one to one correspondence between letters and sounds or spelling and pronunciation pose pronunciation problem to Koro Ashe learners of English. It is in consonance of the differences between the features of L1 and L2, Robert Lado, a famous linguist, founded Contrastive Analysis (C.A.) approach to this problem. Contrastive Analysis procedure identifies the pronunciation difficulties suffered by L2 speakers of English in (a) sound articulation, (b) distinguishing between phonemes and allophones of the mother tongue and the target language (L2) and (c) CA is one of the few investigations into language structure that has improved pedagogy ( Jatau cited in Zubairu and Rashida 106). This research aims to study the phonological deviation of Koro-Ashe speakers of English with the view of helping to improve in the spoken of the language. The objectives of this study are; to determine the areas of pronunciation difficulties suffered by most Koro-Ashe speakers of English, to determine the areas and causes of the pronunciation difficulties suffered by the study population, and to examine the possible consequences of this phonological deviation in their use of English. The study helps to bring an insight into the phonological system of Koro-Ashe and thereby prepares ways for other researchers to come and investigate in this spoken aspect the language. The present study will also contribute to the identification of specific areas of difficulties, which hamper communication in English. Awareness of the problem areas will assist the curriculum planner/ designers and textbooks writers to provide suitable materials that will meet the needs of the study population (Koro Ashe). There are so many linguistic deviations associated with the L2 speakers of English, which include: the syntactic, lexical, semantic, phonological deviations. This investigation focuses mainly on the Phonological deviation at the segmental level. Also, the study will focus on Koro Ashe as opposed to any other dialects of Koro. Literature Review Phonological Deviation The Concept of phonological deviation is viewed from different perspectives by different scholars. Some scholars see the term ‚phonological deviation‛ and ‚phonological interference‛ as synonymous. Some maintain that any deviation in the use of English from the standard norm is classified as ‘error’, while others associate the terms with the bilingual speakers. Weinrich cited in Ashikeni and Akoshi (136) sees ‚phonological deviation‛ and ‚phonological interference‛ as synonymous that is, it refers those instances Jatau Stephen, Tanimu Yusuf & Shehu Ibrahim Ahmad 69 of deviating from the standard norms of a language as a result of their familiarity with more than one language. The ESL language speakers who have the command of more than one Language are capable mispronounce sounds and words of English which may result to what Trubertkoy (51) cited in Ashikeni and Akoshi calls ‘numerous mistakes’ and ‘misinterpretations’. NCE DSL English Course Book (116) concords with the above view of Weinrich (Ibid) and adds that, the deviation in the use of English is occasioned by the L2 learners having contact with more than one languages. Supporting the above views, Weinreich et al (125) maintains that deviations from the homogeneous system are not error like vagaries of performance, but are to high degree coded and part of a realistic description of the competence of member of a speech community. Envin Tripp cited in Ashikeni and Akoshi (136) sees deviation of the speaker’s output from the norm of a language is attributed to the differences in the structure of (L1) and (L2) (English). Williams (79) maintains that, Phonological deviation from the norm of speech is a continuum, starting from the acceptable variations in accents and worsening to the point where communication breaks down because of the failure to distinguish contrastive features of sound. Banjo (72) in his famous book titled: An Overview of English Language in Nigeria, asserts that the deviation in the use of English from the standard norm were regarded as ‘errors’ which users must be encouraged to eliminate. This paper sees the terms ‘deviation’ and ‘interference’ as synonymous. They both refer to the inappropriate use of a language form or the act of moving away from what is acceptable or normal in a language. Therefore, phonological interference or deviation is the act of moving away from the ‘standard’ or acceptable pronunciation which is caused by the already mastered phonological features of the L1 (i.e., Koro Ashe). In attempt to produce the sounds or words of the target language, the bilinguals due transfer negatively, the phonological system of the L1 to the target language (English). In this paper, the deviations that distort the intelligibility of what is communicated are termed as ‘errors’, while those that do not distort the intelligibility of what is communicated are termed ‘substandard usages.’ This paper will focus on both deviations that are termed as ‘errors’ and the one called ‘substandard usages’ Phonological Deviation at the Segmental Level The deviation occurs at the phonemic level is mostly tied to the pronunciation difficulties suffered by most Nigerian speakers of English. Jayarama (46) explains that, in pronouncing the sounds of L2, the L2 speakers often used sounds outside the phoneme Phonological Deviation Among Koro Ashe Learners of English in Karu Local Government Area 70 system of their mother tongue, as such, they produce sounds which are closest to those of L1. This sometimes leads to not only unintelligible speech but implies incomplete learning of L2. The pronunciation difficulty in English is a teething problem confronting the speech of most Nigerian speakers of English. To buttress this fact, Rodgers, Higa, Ellis and Beaton cited in Nation (40), assert that an important factor affecting learning is pronunciation of words. Other linguists such as Nation (40), Alagbe (78), Roach (2), O’Connor (1), Cruttenden (314) and Alagbe (79) concord that, most Nigerian speakers of English do have difficulty in pronouncing, identifying and distinguishing some English sounds. However, these scholars have different reasons with regard to the causes of pronunciation difficulties. Bem (31) and O’Connor (1) give a neuropsychological reason that is related to age and the decrease level of the brain to adapt to different pronunciations of certain sounds when they L2 speakers of English get older. They tend lose the capability to adapt their brain to different pronunciation of certain sounds due to the fact that the habits of the mother tongues are so strong to break. This has explained why grown up people have less ability to pick out the sounds characteristics of the foreign language as children do. Aboderin, etal (99) associate the difficulty in pronunciation by most Nigerian speakers of English to ‚the differences between the sounds available in the mother tongues and those of English‛. There are certain sounds in English language that are mostly absent in most Nigerian languages, as a result, most Nigerian speakers of English do substitute these unfamiliar sounds with the most nearest unfamiliar sounds with the most nearest Nigerian equivalents. Other scholars such as Corder (27), Stewart and Nathan (37), David (11), Michael (80), Roach (2), Ayodele, etal (32) and Williams (80) attribute the difficulty in pronunciation among L2 speakers of English to ‚the complex nature of the English spelling system‛. Alagbe (83) associates the problem to age of the speakers, mother tongue interference and ‘noise’. However, these scholars comment differently with regard to this problem. Corder (27) says that, ‚the spelling system of English is highly arbitrary and confusing.‛ Ayodele, etal (32) maintain that ‚the sounds of English do not correspond with the letters of alphabet‛. Roach (2) posits that, ‚the English spelling is notorious and confusing‛. Weinrich and Niyi (Ibid.) assert that, ‚there is no fit between sounds and sign in English‛ Michael (80) claims that ‚the pronunciation of English words, has changed over the last hundred years while the spelling system remains the same It is quite obvious that some English language spelling system is some-how complex. i.e., there is no correspondence between spelling and the pronunciation. Most Nigerian Jatau Stephen, Tanimu Yusuf & Shehu Ibrahim Ahmad 71 speakers of English and Koro Ashe in particular, do expect a fit between sounds and signs (letters), this expectation results to faulty pronunciation which sometimes affects the intelligibility of what is communicated. Some scholars have tried to proffer solutions to the general pronunciation problem suffered by most L2 speakers of English. For instance, Roach (Ibid) suggests that, L2 speakers of English should think of pronunciation in terms of phonemes rather than letters, while Cruttenden (314) suggests that pronunciation should be taught at early age to minimize the neuropsychological pronunciation problem that mostly affects adults at old age. Alagbe (84) suggests direct teaching of the second language (English) and maintain that the content of pronunciation syllable should be organized under segmental features (consonants, vowels, syllabic and syllabic boundaries and juncture), supra segmental features, (stress, intonation and rhythm). Corder (29) advises that the L2 speakers of English should first of all master the English sound system before learning the approximate production. Oyeleye and Moji (504) advise that the L2 speakers of English should concentrate on how the sounds are pronounced rather than spelling. Alagbe (6) suggested the use of pronunciation dictionary and to understand the basks of English phonology. The researcher agrees with the suggestions above and reiterates that the L2 speakers of English should learn to perceive the L2 sounds distinctly correctly in order to achieve mutual intelligibility among speakers. Empirical Review There are numerous researches focuses on phonological deviation, interference or errors in pronunciation difficulty. Few among them is the study of pronunciation difficulties by Atalah and Hammad (2019), explored the pronunciation difficulties experienced by Saudi EFL learners at Jouf University. The findings revealed that EFL learners experienced six phonetic and phonological problems relating vowels, voiced or initial voiceless phonemes. The study also found out that the EFL learners and instructors had different views regarding the issues. Pronunciation errors were committed by EFL Arab learners were investigated in terms of learning difficulties of the English phonology (Abdul Hag, 1982); (Icharma & Hajjai, 1989); (Wahha 2008 & Al shuabi, 2009). Al shuabi, (2009) cited in Atalah and Hammad (2019), for instance found that EFL and ESL learners experienced difficulties in pronouncing the initial three consonant clusters and the final three or four members of English correctly. The study concluded that the learners used reduction, substitution and deletion as an alternative process in pronouncing these consonant clusters. Phonological Deviation Among Koro Ashe Learners of English in Karu Local Government Area 72 Alagbe explores the areas of pronunciation problems encountered by Hausa, Yoruba, Tiv, Igbo speakers of English and came up with the following findings; that the Hausa speakers of English do substitute /p/ for /f/, // for /s/, /ð/ for /z/, /v/ for /b/ and /k/ for /kw/. While the Yoruba speakers of English do substitution // for /t/, /ð/ for /d/, /p/ for /kp/, /ʃ/ for /s/. The Tiv speakers of English do confuse the realizations of /l/ and / r/ in ‘light’ and ‘right’. The sounds /ə/, /ʌ/ /ɜ:/, // and /ð/ pose pronunciation problem to the Igbo speakers of English. These challenges become eminent as a result of the absence of these sounds in most of our Nigerian Languages (82-84). In a similar context, Abahneh, (2018) compared pronunciation errors of two Saudi groups; one studying English major and the second was studying Arabic major in order to find out the effect of first language sound system on participants pronunciation of English sounds. The findings showed that, there was no significant error between the two groups, there was strong correlation the period of study and the number of pronunciation errors committed while learning English. Results of intelligibility test carried out on Nigerian English by Tiffen (1974), Stevenson (1969), Strevens (1965), Ufomata (1984), shows that the greatest area of difficulty in pronunciation is in the areas of rhythm, and intonation (Alagbe 86). Jam, Damakani & Kasegari did an intralingual analysis of Iranian EFL learners’ difficulties caused by the inconsistency between spelling and pronunciation. The study revealed that, most of the problematic features were silent consonant letters. Next, is the study of Fitria (2014) on the errors of English pronunciation on vowels made by the second year students at SMPN 2 Menganti,Gresik. The results of the study showed that, majority of the students of SMPN 2 Menganti made pronunciation error on diphthong [au] with 93.33 as the average students’ that made the error due to the phenomenon of transfer from their mother tongue (Interlanguage). Earlier study related to the current study was a study on the common errors made by L2 learners of English while speaking English was conducted by Fitriani & Zulkanain (2019), which revealed that the errors made by students were in form of pronunciation and grammatical errors. Related to segmental pronunciation errors and difficulties, were the studies conducted by Refnaldi, 2019, Ahmad, 2017; Atug, 2015; Fauzi, 2020; Hassan, 2014) all cited in Sukarni et al (2020). Theoretical Model (Framework) Contrastive Analysis (CA) model is the theoretical framework employed in this study. Contrastive Analysis henceforth (CA) as an approach that was developed in the 1950’s and 1960’s as an application of structural linguistics to language teaching and is based on Jatau Stephen, Tanimu Yusuf & Shehu Ibrahim Ahmad 73 the assumption that, the main difficulties in learning a new language are caused by interference from the first language, these difficulties can be predicted by contrastive analysis and teaching materials may make use of contrastive analysis studies to reduce the effects of interference. Therefore, the difficulty in mastering certain structures in as second language depended on the differences between the learners L1 and the L2 they are trying to learn. It was expected that once the areas of potential difficulty had been mapped out through CA, it would be possible to design language courses more efficiently. Wilkings cited in Ashikeni and Akoshi assert that Contractive Analysis is one of the few investigations into language structure that has improved pedagogy (224, 105). Williams concords with the view above and further explains that contrastive analysis procedure makes it possible to identify the pronunciation difficulties in (a) sounds articulation (b) distinguishing between phonemes of the mother tongue (L1) and the target language system. The result of such comparison aims at yielding insights which are relevant to the compilation of syllabuses, teaching materials, tests etc (80). Justification of the Theoretical Framework The reason for the choice is that, this investigation involves contrasting the phonological features of two different languages, with practical objectives of showing in what respect the two languages differ from or resemble each other for improved pedagogy for L2 (Koro Ashe) learners of English. Methodology The paper uses descriptive research design for the study. The population of this investigation is the Koro Ashe learners of English who can communicate in English and have National Diploma or Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) as the minimum qualification. Out of the 15 villages of Koro Ashe in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa state, five (5) villages were randomly selected to carry out the investigation. Thus, one (1) respondent was randomly selected from the 5 randomly selected villages to carry out the study. We have a total of five (5) respondents selected for the investigation. Oral Production Test (OPT), was the instrument used for this study. The instrument has been used and validated by researchers to be an effective tool. The respondents were asked to speak for two (2) to three (3) minutes in English on issues relating to religion, politics, education, Agriculture etc., while their oral speeches were tape – recorded, played several times, listened, transcribed and studied carefully, noting the areas of the phonological deviations committed by Koro Ashe learners of English. This was further Phonological Deviation Among Koro Ashe Learners of English in Karu Local Government Area 74 compared with the standard pronunciation. This will help to ascertain the areas of differences and similarities between the two languages for improved pedagogy. Data Analysis Table 1 Respondent number one (1) speaking on the challenges facing the maternity section as it concerns pregnant and nursing mothers. di ʧæleinʤis wi a: feisƞ in di mæta:niti sekʃᴐn inklud læk ov insᴐfiʃient drᴐgs fᴐ: di pregnænt mᴐdas pua rᴐd netwᴐ:ks end læk ov mᴐni . mai krait u di gᴐvæment is dæt dei ʃuld kᴐm tu di eid ᴐv dᴐ:s wumen bai sᴐplai fri: ænti nætæl drᴐgs, kᴐnstrᴐkt gud rᴐds end briʤis fᴐ: i:zi trænspᴐ:teiʃᴐn tu di klinik. Words Deviations Correct Standard pronunciation the, that, they /di/, /dæt/, /dei/ /ði/, /ðæt/, /ðei/ Maternity /mæta:niti/ /m∂tз:niti/ insufficient, drugs, money /inכsfiient/, /drכgs/, /mכni/ /insii∂nt/, /drgs/, /mni/ mothers roads, is /mכdæs/, /rכds/ /is/ /mð∂(r)z/, /rכudz/ /iz/ Network /net–wכ:k/ /net–wз:k/ Women /wumen/ /wimin/ Construct /kכnstrכkt/ /k∂nstrkt/ From the table above, the respondent substituted the dental stop sound /ð/ for the alveolar stop sound /d/ in words like ‘the’ and ‘they’. The schwa /∂/ in maternity is substituted for /æ/, while he same schwa /∂/ in ‚construct‛ is replaced by / כ / respectively. The monothong // in ‘insufficient’, ‘supply’ ‚mother’, ‘money’ and ‘construct’ is being substituted with /כ/. The /i/ in women is being substituted with /u/ and /e/ respectively. The plural morpheme /-z/ in ‘roads’ is substituted for /-s/, while the monothong /з: / in ‚work‛ is replaced by / כ :/. Table 2: Respondent number two (2) speaking generally on the cause(s) of examination malpractices in our schools. di kᴐ:sis ᴐf ikzæmineiʃᴐn mælpræktisis in auwa sku:ls a: meni ,haueva ,wæn ᴐf di prinsipl kᴐ:s is di students lezines, meni students di:s deiz wᴐnt tu ri:p wia dei du nᴐt sᴐ. ᴐda kᴐ:sis inklu:d ,læk ᴐf ti:ʧæs kᴐmitments æbsens ᴐf ti:ʧiɳ æbsens ᴐf regula su:pæviʃn bai di ᴐ:tᴐriti, æbsens ᴐf ti:ʧiɳ ænd leniɳ mæteriels ,læk ᴐf ikwipt læbᴐritri ænd kwᴐlifaid sta:f. Jatau Stephen, Tanimu Yusuf & Shehu Ibrahim Ahmad 75 From the table above, the respondent substitutes the plural morpheme /-iz/ in ‚causes‛ ‘malpractices’ for /-is/, the plural morpheme /-z/ in ‘schools’ ‘materials’ and ‘reasons’ were replaced by /-s/. The dental stop /ð/ in ‘the’ ‘they’ and ‘these’ were substituted for the alveolar stop /d/. The schwa /∂/ in ‚commitments‛ is substituted for /כ/. Also, the palato alveolar voiced fricatives sound /ʒ/ is substituted for the voiceless counterparts // in ‚supervision‛. The dental fricative sound /θ/ in ‘authority’ is substituted for the alveolar stop sound /t/. The /∂/ sound in ‘laboratory’ and ‘materials’ is replaced by /æ/, while the monothong // in ‘other’ is substituted for /כ/. The consonant /v/ in ‘of’ is substituted for /f/, the voiced fricative sound /z/ sound in ‚schools‛, ‘reasons’ and ‘is’ is substituted for /s/, the diphthong /∂u/ in ‘sow’ is substituted for /כ/, the /j/ consonant sound in ‘student’ is often omitted. Table Respondents number three (3) supporting the motion that says; religion has made us happy in Nigeria. Ai em in tᴐtæl ægri:ment dæt riliʤᴐn meiks ᴐs hæpi pi:pul wit brait hᴐps ænd fju:ʧᴐ .nᴐ wænda ‘ naiʤerians a: hæpi pipul .gᴐ tu di mᴐsks ænd si: hau pækt dei a: ænd hau devᴐted muzilems a: in dia wᴐ:ʃip ᴐf æla . ægein, gᴐ tu di ʧᴐʧis ᴐn sᴐdeis ænd si: miliᴐns ᴐf naiʤerians wit hæpi feisis wit melidiᴐs vᴐisis siɳgin sᴐɳs ᴐf preizis tu jihᴐva. Words Deviations Correct Standard pronunciation total, /tכ’tæl/ /tכlt/ with, the /wit/ /di/ /wiθ/, /ði/ religion /rilidʒכn/ /rilidʒ∂n/ Nigerians, Sundays, Muslims /naidʒeiriens/ /sכndeis/, /muslims/ /naidʒ∂ri∂nz/ /sndeiz/ / muzlimz/ Words Deviations Correct Standard pronunciation causes, malpractices /kכ:sis/, /malpræktisis/ /kכ:siz/ /malpræktisiz/ schools, reasons, is /sku:ls/, /ri:zns/, /is/ /sku:lz/, /ri:znz/, /iz/ the, these, they /di/, /di:s/, /dei/ /ði/, /ði:s/, /ðei/ Commitments /kכmitments/ /k∂mitm∂nts/ Supervision /su:paivin/ /su:pa:viʒn/ Authority /כ:tכriti/ /כ:θכr∂ti/ laboratory, materials /læbכritri/, /mætials/ /l∂bכr∂tri/, /m∂ti∂ri∂lz/ Other /כda(r)/ /ð∂(r)/ Sow /sכ:/ /s∂u/ Of /כf/, /כv/, Students stu:dent /stju:d∂nt/ Phonological Deviation Among Koro Ashe Learners of English in Karu Local Government Area 76 of go, so, ./fכ/ /gכ/, /sכ/ /vכ/ /g∂u/, /s∂u/ Mosques /mosk/ /mosks/ Devoted /devכted/ /devכtid/ churches, voices, praises /tjכ:tis/ / /tjз:tiz/ Singing /singiŋ/ /siŋiŋ/ Future /fju: tjכ: / /fju:tj∂(r)/ From the table above, the past tense morpheme /-id/ in ‘devoted’ is substituted for /-ed/, the vowel /з:/ in ‘churches’ is replaced by /כ:/, while the plural morpheme /-iz/ in ‘voices’ and ‘churches’ and ‘praises’ is being substituted for /-is/, while the plural morpheme /-z/ in ‘songs’ ‘millions’ and ‘Muslims’ is substituted for /-s/. The letter ‘g’ in ‚singing’ is often pronounced. The schwa /∂/ in ‘future’ is replaced by /כ:/, while the same schwa /∂/ in ‘religion’ is substituted for / כ / respectively. The diphthong /∂u/ in ‘go’, ‘so’ is being substituted for the monothong /כ/, the dental stop /ð/ in ‘ with’ is substituted for /t/, while the same dental stop /ð/ in ‚the‛ is substituted for /d/. The monothong /æ/ is inserted before the syllabic consonant /l/ in ‚total‛. Table 3: Respondent number four (4) disagreeing with the claim that says, religion helps in uniting us as one Nigeria. Ai stænd tu disagri: wit di seid kleim. riliʤᴐn in meni instænsis tends tu divaid insted ᴐf ju:naitiɳ ᴐs di veriᴐs brænd ᴐf riliʤᴐn ænd tauzænd ænd wæn kreit e lᴐt ᴐf diviʃᴐns, hatred , enmity ,raiᴐts ænd ivin wᴐ: Words Deviations Correct Standard pronunciation thousand /tausænd/ /θausænd/ the, with /di/, /wit/ /ði/, /wið/ Religion, instances /relidʒכn/, /instænsis/ /relidʒ∂n/, /instæsiz/ tends, divisions, has /tends/, /divins/, /hæs/ /tendz/, /divinz/, /hæz/ Of /כf/ כv One /wæn/ /wn/ Helped /helpd/ /helpt/ From the table above, the respondent substitutes the dental sound /θ/ in ‘with’ and ‘thousand’ for /t/. And also, the dental stop /ð/ in ‘the’ was substituted for the alveolar stop /d/. The same dental stop /ð/ is substituted for /t/ in ‘with’ The plural morpheme /-z/ in ‘tends‛, ‘divisions’ is substituted for /-s/, while the plural morpheme /iz/ in ‘instances’, is substituted for /-is/. The vowel // in ‘one’ is substituted for /æ/. The fricative alveolar voiceless /t/ past tense morpheme in ‚helped‛ is substituted for /d/. Jatau Stephen, Tanimu Yusuf & Shehu Ibrahim Ahmad 77 Table 4 Respondent number five (5) speaking on how the concern-worm of bribery and corruption can be eradicated. In mai ᴐn ᴐpiniᴐn di kænkæwᴐ:m ᴐf braibri ænd kᴐrᴐpʃᴐn wiʧ hæs æʧuali i:tin di:p intu di fæbrik ᴐf auwa seusaaiti kæn bi irædikeited ,if ᴐnli dea is a tᴐtæl revᴐluʃᴐn in auwa ha:ts wæns auwa ha:ts get di rait meiseiʤ di rait edukeiʃᴐn,den wi wil bigin tu si: di si:d ᴐf braibri ænd kᴐrᴐpʃᴐn æs tu: dedli ivils dæt mᴐst bi irædikeited . The result in table above, shows that the respondent substitutes the monothong /∂/ for /כ/ in ‘opinion’, ‘corruption’, the schwa /∂/, is substituted for /e/ in ‘educated’. The voiced alveolar sound /z/ in ‘is’, ‘once’, ‘laws’ is substituted for /s/. The /j/ in ‘education’ ‘opinion’ is often omitted. The dental stop /ð/, in ‘the’ and ‘there’ is substituted for /d/. The diphthong /∂u/, in ‘also’, ‘society’ is substituted for / כ /. The monothong // in ‘corruption’, ‘once’, ‘must’, is substituted for /כ/. While the /з:/ in ‚worm‛ is substituted for the counterpart /כ:/. Conclusion Taking a close look at the findings of this investigation, one could conclude that, the sounds //, /∂/, /з:/, /∂u/, /ð/, //, /i/, ф uttered ‚l‛ in ‚should‛, ‚b‛ in ‚ bombing ‛, and ‚g‛ in ‚singing‛, the plural morphemes /-iz/ and /–z/, the past tense morpheme /–id/ and /–t/ and the consonant clusters that have dental fricative // and /j/, often pose the problem of realization by most Koro-Ashe speakers of English in the area of study. The English spoken by the study subjects has been influenced by the L1 (mother tongue), custom, belief system and culture, enough to give it flavor and characteristics that could be distinctly identified as Nigerian. It is obvious from the above that when two or more languages come in contact, there is, of necessity, going to be mutual influences. This influence is responsible for new forms of English mushrooming all over the globe. The Words Deviations Correct Standard pronunciation Opinion /opiniכn/ /∂pinj∂n/ corruption, must, punishment /kכrכpn/, /mכst/ //pכniment/ /k∂rpn/, /mst/, /pnim∂nt/ society, also /sכsaiti/ / כ:lsכ/ /s∂usaiti/, /כ:ls∂u/ eradicated, educated, avoided /irædikeited/, /edju:keited/, /ævכided/ /irædikeitid/, /כdjuikeitid/ /∂vכidid/ the, there /di/, /dea/ /ði/, /ðe∂/ is, laws, once /is/, /lכ:s/, /wæns/ /iz/, /lכ:z/, /wnz/ Total /tכtæl/ /tכtl/ Cankerworm /kænkæwכ:m/ /kæŋk∂wз:m/ Phonological Deviation Among Koro Ashe Learners of English in Karu Local Government Area 78 implication of this is quite significant, not only for contact linguistics, but for the teaching and learning of English as second language by Koro Ashe. Recommendations Based on the findings in this study, the researcher recommends that; the oral aspect of this spoken English should be taught earlier to our children in nursery and primary schools, to minimize the pronunciation problem that affects the speech of most adult L2 speakers of English. While teaching pronunciation to Koro Ashe learners /speakers of English, emphasis should be focused on those difficult sounds that were absent Koro Ashe, e.g., the English monothongs /ǝ/, / ɜ:/, /ᴧ/; the diphthongs /ǝu /, /iǝ/, /eǝ/, /uǝ/; the dental fricative / stop //, and /ð/; the consonant clusters that have the dental fricative // and /j/; the plural morphemes /-iz/ and /–z/, the past tense morpheme /–id/ and /–t/ The learners of should be taught at the early age to perceive the grapheme and phoneme distinction in order pronounce sounds and words of English distinctly and correctly, this would go a long way to improve the reading as well as the spoken skills. Works Cited Ababneh, I. 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