Syntactic Features of Plateau State English: A Study of Mother Tongue Influence

This study investigates the syntactic features of English as spoken by residents of Jos and environs in Plateau State, North Central Nigeria, with a particular focus on the influence of local mother tongues including Berom, Angas, and Ngas. Nigeria's linguistic diversity produces regional varieties of English that reflect substrate language structures, yet the English of Plateau State has attracted less systematic linguistic study than those of the South West or South East. The study adopts a descriptive variationist approach within the theoretical framework of contact linguistics. Data were collected from 90 participants across three age groups using sociolinguistic interviews and reading passage tasks. The collected speech samples were transcribed and analysed for deviations from Standard British English in areas of subject-verb agreement, relativisation, tense-aspect marking, and question formation. Findings reveal systematic patterns of tense neutralisation, double object constructions, and postverbal negation that are attributable to structural features of the Berom and Ngas substrate languages. The study also notes that higher formal education levels correlate with reduced substrate influence, though some features persist regardless of educational background, suggesting entrenchment as regional norms. The research contributes to the documentation of Nigerian English varieties and recommends their inclusion in teacher training curricula. Keywords: Nigerian English, syntactic features, Plateau State, substrate influence, contact linguistics.