PRONUNCIATION VARIATION IN IGBO RADIO NEWSCASTING

Abstract

Pronunciation Variation (PV), a situation where a lexical item is articulated differently by speakers of a language, is prevalent in Nigerian languages, especially those with multiplicity of dialects, including Igbo. Extant studies on PV in Nigeria focus mainly on its manifestations in spoken English of Nigerian television newscasters, with little attention paid to Igbo radio newscasting. This study was, therefore, designed to investigate PV among Igbo radio newscasters, with a view to determining their pronunciation patterns and describing the differences. Allen Bell’s Audience Design Theory was adopted as the framework, while descriptive design was employed. Seven radio stations were purposively selected based on the time allotted to Igbo news. They were Broadcasting Corporation of Abia (BCA), Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS), Ebonyi Broadcasting Corporation (EBBC), Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS), Bond FM, Radio Nigeria and Orient FM. Forty-two recorded news bulletins (six from each radio station) were purposively sampled owing to their relevance.The data were subjected to sociolinguistic analysis. Pronunciation variation in Igbo newscasting involved these alternating variants: [r] and [l], [h] and [r], [h] and [f]. [l] and [n], [r] and [j], [la] and [go], [-ɤi] and [-gɪ]. The variants had addressee and auditor effects. [r] recorded addressee effect in EBBC, Orient FM, BCA and Bond FM, and auditor effect in ABS, ESBS and Radio Nigeria; while [l] recorded addressee effect in ABS and ESBS and auditor effect in Radio Nigeria. [h] manifested addressee effect in EBBC, Orient FM, BCA and Bond FM and auditor effect in ABS, Radio Nigeria and ESBS; while [r] recorded addressee effect in ABS, ESBS and Radio Nigeria and auditor effect in EBBC. [h] had addressee effect in EBBC, Orient FM, BCA, Radio Nigeria and Bond FM and auditor effect in ABS and ESBS; whereas [f] recorded addressee effect in ABS and ESBS and auditor effect in Radio Nigeria. [n] had addressee effect in ABS and auditor effect in ESBS and Radio Nigeria; but [l] had addressee effect in Bond FM, Radio Nigeria, BCA, Orient FM, ESBS, EBBC and auditor effect in ABS. [r] recorded addressee effect in Bond FM, Radio Nigeria, Orient FM, BCA and EBBC and auditor effect in ESBS; while [j] manifested addressee effect in ABS and ESBS and auditor effect in EBBC and Radio Nigeria. [-la] manifested addressee effect in all stations except ABS; but [-go] manifested addressee effect in ABS and auditor effect in other stations, except Bond FM. [-ɤi] recorded addressee effect in all stations; while [-gɪ] recorded auditor effect in Radio Nigeria, EBBC, Orient FM, BCA and Bond FM. The pronunciation choices of the Igbo radio newscasters manifest addressee and auditor effects, favouring the use of the levelled Igbo accent.