NEWS

One of the lofty goals of the Institute is to bequeath the African race a common English accent that would enhance the ease of communication among ESL communities and native speakers of English. This would be realized through its Accent Reduction course. This is vital because the common language spoken in this part of our village is English. And just as each language has its many dialects, we also have many Englishes.  Thus we have British English, American English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English, East African English, West African English, South African English, South Asian English, and South-East Asian English.  The West African English is spoken mainly in Nigeria and Ghana. And even at that, there is a difference between Nigerian English with its tribal variants and Ghanaian English.

However, all over the World, educated people speak ‘Standard English’, ordinary people speak dialectic English—substandard or non-standard English.   Formerly, the Queen’s English was reserved for the educated elite, never spoken on the streets of England. The book The Queen and I, explains this in graphic terms.

Today, in a bid to standardise and enhance communication in the US, we have the GA. “General American, like British Received Pronunciation (RP) as well as most standard language varieties of many other societies, has never been the accent of the entire nation. However, it has become widely spoken in many American films, TV series, national news, commercial ads, and American radio broadcasts.”    The GA is spoken by over a hundred million Americans and Canadians. 

What is happening in our part of the village—Africa? How long would Africa continue to speak substandard and non-standard English? When would educated Africans speak English without an interpreter?   When would the incidence of mutual pardon between Africans and the rest of the World be a thing of the past?

We are happy to announce that speech organisations in Africa, especially in Nigeria, Ghana and the Gambia are making concerted efforts to bring about a common English accent to be used by educated Africans. It is known as the Common African English Accent (CAA).   The CAA is a standard way of speaking English the way it is spoken by the educated class all over the World. It respects, in the absolute sense, the rules of English grammar and the IPA standards for pronunciation—the two major components of oral communication.

The CAA is a reflection of the Anglo-American English. However, it adheres strictly to British spelling. Its pronunciation is the standard pronunciation of educated speakers in the UK and the US as found in the Daniel Jones Pronouncing Dictionary. The Institute of Certified Communicators of Nigeria is proudly promoting the CAA. Those who offer the Accent Reduction course would acquire the Common African English Accent.