Patterns of Nigerian English intonation

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