Pidgin English proverbs as a source of structural nativization in Nigerian English

Datos Bibliográficos

ID18978101
AutoresMarcus Callies (0000-0002-7069-5819, Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies, English‐Speaking Cultures University of Bremen Bremen Germany, autor de correspondencia), Folajimi Oyebola (0000-0003-4528-0563, Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies, English‐Speaking Cultures University of Bremen Bremen Germany)
Año2025
Volumen44
Número1-2
Páginas166-183
Fecha de publicación2025-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaWorld Englishes (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0883-2919 • E-ISSN: 1467-971X
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/weng.12699
OpenAlexW4401067441
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas33

In this paper, we explore the role of Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) proverbs in language contact settings and their impact on the development of idiomatic phraseology in Nigerian English (NgE). In a set of 100 NPE proverbs, we identified lexical keywords that served as anchors for searches in the large‐scale Nairaland corpus to detect recurrent collocational patterns that in further proximity searches yielded frequent, lexico‐grammatically variable patterns that may be interpreted as innovations at the early stages of idiom formation. The findings suggest that cognitively motivated key lexical items of NPE proverbs may serve as a basis for the formation of variable but also lexico‐grammatically more condensed idiomatic expressions in NgE

Creole language · Linguistics · Pidgin · Sociology · Gender Studies in Language · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Philosophy · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism