Phonology

The phonology of EAfE is of particular importance because (non-standard) pronunciation features seem to be the most persistent in African varieties, i.e. they are retained even in the speech of the most educated speakers. This may be because in many languages pronunciation seems to be the most flexible element, which can be used (subconsciously) to express subtle sociolinguistic messages of speaker identity and of distance from or solidarity with the listener. English appears to be particularly fluid at this level. Even the supposed norms in Britain have moved so far away from the institutionalized written form that the graphemic system cannot symbolize the diverging phonemic systems any more. Mistakes in the form of phonetic spellings do, however, allow conclusions on the pronunciation even from written texts. The features characterizing African pronunciations of English can be found at subphonemic, phonemic and supraphonemic levels.

Differences at the phonemic level are important because here differences of lexical meaning are maintained. This can be illustrated (and elicited) in minimal pairs like ram and lamb; beat and bit; or show and so. Many Africans would not distinguish clearly in pronunciation between the elements of such pairs tending towards the same pronunciation (homophony).