MOTHER TONGUE INTERFERNCE ON THE SPOKEN ENGLISH OF NEWS CORRESPONDENTS

Language and Literature

Mother tongue interference has been one of the major problems in sociolinguistics affecting people speaking English as second language in Nigeria and the world over. This Paper therefore examines the influence of Mother Tongue on the spoken English of selected native Hausa journalists reporting news in English Language in the news and current affairs department of Rima Radio Sokoto with a view to determining whether or not, the correspondents’ use of English vowels and consonants sounds are influenced by their mother tongue interference. Tape recorder was used and recorded ten (10) reporters live on different occasions to ascertain the level of mother tongue interference in their use of spoken English. Errors detected were grouped according to whether they are Substitution or Epenthesis and analyzed in tabular form. The aim is to remind the media personnel on the importance of maintaining Standard English pronunciation in information dissemination so as to avoid misleading the public through wrong pronunciation. The paper finds out that there are lots of errors committed by the native Hausa reporters presenting reports in English at the Vowels and Consonants levels due to their mother tongue interference. It therefore recommends that media houses should be organizing in-house training on the proper use of spoken English language and ensures that only English language graduates with very good command of English language should be employed as reporters in order to avert errors that will mislead their teaming listeners.

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