An Exploratory Study of Semilingualism and Language Use among Yoruba-English Bilingual Undergraduates in Nigeria

This study investigates semilingualism in relation to linguistic proficiency in Yoruba-English bilinguals. The concept of semilingualism is a contentious issue in Linguistics. The general perception is that people who speak two languages vary in how much they use each language. However, some believe that some bilinguals have little competence in both languages. The study is based on the threshold hypothesis, which identifies the thresholds a bilingual undergoes in using the two languages in their repertoire. The study drew data from Yoruba-English undergraduates at Anchor University, Lagos, Nigeria. The researchers used oral interviews to collect data from 50 informants. For ease of analysis, the researchers used three of the six criteria Hansegård (1977) provided for identifying semilinguals to analyse the data. The study reveals that these bilinguals have more mastery of their L2 (English) than their L1 (Yoruba). While inadequate vocabulary is more apparent in the L1, incorrect grammatical expressions are more common in the L2.