A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF THE ‗NIGERIAN-NESS‘ OF NIGERIAN PIDGIN IN SELECTED LITERARY WORKS
A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF THE ‗NIGERIAN-NESS‘ OF NIGERIAN PIDGIN IN SELECTED LITERARY WORKS
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Date
2015-01
Authors
AFOLAYAN, ABIGAIL MODUPE
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Abstract
This thesis titled “A Linguistic study of the „Nigerian-ness‟ of Nigerian Pidgin in Selected
Literary Works” was embarked upon because of the resistance many Nigerians have to the
use of Nigerian Pidgin (NP); they see it as foreign and a corruption of the English
Language. Besides, many people, especially non-linguists feel that pidgin Englishes in
West Africa are all the same no matter which country the Pidgin exists in. The researcher
therefore sets out to investigate the lexical and syntactic features in NP to find out whether
they are uniquely Nigerian. Two texts were used for analysis - an earlier text: “Sozaboy”
by Ken Saro Wiwa (1985), and a contemporary one: “Abuja na Kpangba an oda Puemdem”
by Eriata Oribhabor (2011). Jowitt„s (1991) ―Theory of Interlanguage” (which
involves borrowing) and Fishman‟s (1971) theory of the “Great Tradition” (which refers to
the presence of a national symbol of identity) were useful in identifying various features of
NP which are unique to Nigeria. The contributions of various Nigerian Languages to the
vocabulary of NP were identified and it was noted that cultural influences from the
indigenous languages are important constituents of NP. Our findings confirm the works of
many researchers that NP is a language with a fixed and describable grammar like any
other living language. Our work shows that NP is clearly distinct from the English
Language, even though the bulk of its initial vocabulary was derived from the English
Language. Our research also reveals that all things considered- vocabulary, syntax and
other linguistic features- NP is uniquely Nigerian.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF
POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO
UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE AWARD OF A MASTER DEGREE IN ENGLISH
LANGUAGE.
Keywords
LINGUISTIC,, STUDY,, NIGERIAN-NESS,, NIGERIAN PIDGIN,, LITERARY,, WORKS,, LITERARY WORKS.