Suggested Spelling Reform in Educated Nigerian English (ENE)

Written English is one area in which Nigerian linguists andgrammarians do not accommodate variations of spelling for any sociolinguistic reason,even though they at times misspell or forget the spelling of some confusing words. Mostpeople agree that English spelling system is problematic and therefore needs urgentreform, but who bells the cat? This article examines the English spelling system againstthe backdrop of Educated Nigerian English and the concept of nativization, stressing theneed for reform or nativized spelling in Nigerian English. Questionnaires, libraryresearch, and the Internet were used to gather data for this study. The qualitativeapproach has been adopted in the main for the interpretation of data. The educatedNigerians studied admit that the English spelling system is in part so confusing thatthey misspell words at times. Therefore, they support the reform or nativization ofEnglish spelling. Consequently, this article presents and illustrates proposed reformedspelling by deleting redundant letters, unnecessary clusters of letters, droppinguseless silent letters, regularizing digraph, and spelling compound words in one formonly. These changes will enhance spelling skills, teaching, reading, and writing inEnglish as a Second Language