A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF LOAN WORDS IN NIGERIAN PIDGIN
A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF LOAN WORDS IN NIGERIAN PIDGIN
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Date
2017-11
Authors
OKOYE, RAPHAEL IKECHUKWU
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Abstract
The tittle of this work is A Linguistic Study of Loan Words in Nigerian Pidgin. Researches
have shown that Nigerian Pidgin (NP) is a Nigerian language and clearly different from other
varieties of West African Pidgins. Pidgins are known to have small vocabularies which
continue to expand to fulfill the linguistic needs of their users. Nigerian Pidgin is no exception.
This work sets out to identify the sources of the words that came into NP. Data for this
research were got from two sources - a book ―Sozaboy‖ (1985), which is a relatively earlier
variety of NP, and news scripts from three NP using radio stations (2015): the latter is a
relatively current variety. A questionnaire listing words got from our data was administered to
NP speaking ABU students, and the respondents were required to provide or confirm the
sources and meanings of the words. The responses were analyzed using Serjeanston and Erik
Bjokman‘s models. The findings reveal that specific languages have contributed to the
vocabulary of NP, and that a difficulty exists in identifying the real provenance of every
linguistic item. The findings, while maintaining that English is the initial lexifier language,
show that words from other languages have come into NP. This research goes further to prove
that NP is like any other natural language in active use, in that it has borrowed and continues
to borrow to swell its initially small vocabulary.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE
STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE IN
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Keywords
LINGUISTIC STUDY,, LOAN WORDS,, NIGERIAN PIDGIN