LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Paralinguistic and Non-Verbal Props in Second-Language Use:
A Study of Icheoku and Masquerade in Nigeria

Diri I. Teilanyo, Ph.D.

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of ideophones, gestures and dramatic physical demonstrations in complementing speech by incompetent users of a second language, namely English. The paper demonstrates that while similar instruments are also used by native speakers of a language for emphasis and rhetoric, they are employed by linguistically handicapped users of a target non-native language more often to prop their speech in order to achieve communication since their knowledge of the resources of the target language are insufficient to attain the purpose. Illustrations are drawn from two Nigerian mass media comedies, Icheoku and Masquerade, which are parodies of the challenges posed by the use of English in societies where it is a foreign or second language.

Keywords: paralanguage, non-verbal language, ideophones, props, gestures, dramatic demonstrations

1. Introduction

A little learning is a dangerous thing. (Alexander Pope 1973: 1863).

This paper studies the role of paralinguistic and non-vocalic devices in the speech of individuals who are incompetent users of their target second or foreign language, where the devices serve the purpose of propping their impaired communication skills in order to attain intelligibility. Illustrations are drawn from two Nigerian electronic mass media comedies, Icheoku and Masquerade. These are radio and television series which are designed largely to parody the manifestations of these features and other non-standard elements in the use of English by real-life subordinate bilinguals. The characters whose language use is focused upon are the main heroes of the two series, the Court Clerk in Icheoku and Chief Zebrudaya Okoroigwe Nwogbo, alias 4.30 of Masquerade.

The study of second-language acquisition and learning has been characterized largely by the discussion of sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic issues as well as the identification, description and correction of errors. Not enough attention seems to have been paid to the paralinguistic and non-vocalic aids in attaining communicative competence by non-proficient users of the foreign or second language.

It has been argued that full grammatical competence may not be necessary to achieve communicative competence (Canale and Swain 1979: 11-12). Thus, where users of a language do not have sufficient mastery of the resources of a target language -- and this may apply as much to a first, native language as to a second, non-native language - they often apply paralinguistic and non-verbal aids to complement their speech. For example, a major stage in a child's development, prior to the acquisition of the vocabulary of even a native language is the use of non-verbal cues (such as producing some sounds that are unrecognizable in any language) or some non-vocalic apparatus (such as pointing to objects and persons).

The devices referred to here are different from those employed by competent native or non-native speakers of a language for emphasis or rhetorical effect. Prosodic devices like pitch, intonation, tone, etc. as well as non-verbal cues like dressing, gesture, facial expression, gesticulation, etc. may all be employed by both native and non-native users of a language for reasons other than incompetence in the use of the language in question. In our case, the devices are employed as aids not only to supplement (as with competent speakers) but to complement language in order to achieve intelligibility at all, or because the user is ignorant of the appropriate words to express the relevant concepts.

In his effort to identify and define a standard for spoken English in Nigeria, Ayo Banjo (1969) identified four varieties of the language. The variety we discuss here would be the first which is a basilectal variety, so distant from internationally standard English that its speakers, to whom English is largely a foreign language (especially in Icheoku), often have to resort to these non-verbal aids to express themselves.

The terms 'paralanguage' (with its study 'paralinguistics') and 'non-verbal communication' are used in different ways in linguistics, often with significant overlap in range of reference between them.

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