Patterns of Nigerian English intonation

This paper presents some of the findings of a new experimental study based on Cruttenden’s model of intonation and using O’Connor and Arnold’s pedagogical materials. The study was designed to examine chiefly the form and frequency of intonation patterns among educated Nigerian speakers of English, not the communicative value of these patterns. The general conclusion is that certain patterns having a high frequency constitute a system in Nigerian usage, differing in important respects from native-speaker systems, though lacking stability.