Of viVAcious, hiLArious, saGAcious, faLLAcious and others

How do Nigerians pronounce these words? Find out here!

Using our Nigerianness to teach some aspects of English pronunciation

Most Nigerians have this natural inclination of substituting the sound ’arh’ where ‘arh’ is not even found in the words. I’ve discovered, from years of teaching English pronunciation, that our Nigerianness may suffice in teaching some aspects of English pronunciation. Sometime ago, when I told my UTME students this pattern, they couldn’t help laughing. It is funny, but it is true.

Let me give you some of those words. They are:

• contagious

• fallacious

• hilarious

• sagacious

• loquacious

• vivacious

• precarious

• fatal etc.

None of these words has ‘arh’ in their second syllables, but most Nigerians always stick to ‘arh’.

For correctness, ‘contagious’ is pronounced /kənˈteɪdʒəs/, fallacious as /fəˈleɪʃəs/, hilarious as /hɪˈlɛːrɪəs/, sagacious as /səˈɡeɪʃəs/, loquacious as /ləˈkweɪʃəs/, vivacious as /vɪˈveɪʃəs/, precarious as /prɪˈkɛːrɪəs/, and fatal as /ˈfeɪt(ə)l/.

Please note that this rule is borne out of my personal experience with how most Nigerians pronounce these words and many other words that follow this pattern.

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Yours in English,

Francis