Linguistic Features of Idioms Functioning in the Territorial Variant of English of Nigeria in 20th–21st Centuries

Purpose: The article is devoted to the problem of linguistic features of idioms functioning in the territorial variant of English of Nigeria. Due to the multi-ethnic nature of Nigeria, the lexical layer of the language contains many linguistic definitions of the indigenous languages of Nigeria. The aim of the article is to identify the characteristic linguistic features of idioms of the territorial variant of the English language of Nigeria, functioning in the period of 20th–21st centuries.
Methods: In the course of the work, the authors apply general and special research methods. General methods of scientific research include the comparison; theoretical methods include analysis and synthesis. Special research methodology included methods of component and critical analysis.
Results: After analyzing the actual material the authors concluded that the idioms of Nigerian English represent an important part of everyday life in different periods of Nigerian life. A feature of idioms, found in the sources in the 21st century, is the
maximum compliance with the Standard English language. A specific feature of the Nigerian English language is the emergence of a certain number of neologisms in recent years.
Discussion: Given the particular attention to the idioms functioning in different language variations, Nigerian English presents the substance which is strongly influenced by the English language structure.