The social and functional power of Nigerian English

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2268583
AutoresEdmund O Bamiro (University of Maiduguri, autor correspondente)
Ano1991
Volume10
Fascículo3
Páginas275-286
Data de publicação1991-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoWorld Englishes (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0883-2919 • E-ISSN: 1467-971X
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-971x.1991.tb00161.x
OpenAlexW2056068283
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas14
Referências citadas8

This paper employs the frameworks of sociolinguistics and social psychology to explore the social and functional power of Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) as it is featured in the novels of two prominent Nigerian authors, Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe. It is argued that, although NPE has not risen to the position of the acrolect or the prestige variety, its social and functional power as an interpreter of the Nigerian social structure cannot be discounted. Thus, the analyses undertaken in this study not only demonstrate how NPE exposes the tension and conflict between the dominant and dominated groups in Nigeria, but also how it reveals the contempt and anger the dominated have for the dominant. NPE thus becomes a code that symbolizes the solidarity of the dominated class in Nigeria. Furthermore, the analyses not only demonstrate how the dominant class use NPE as an accommodation strategy, but also how some privileged members of the dominated groups employ NPE to maintain their communicative and social distance, thereby enforcing power relations and neutralizing cultural norms. The analyses also show how the codes of the dominated groups in Nigeria become the vehicle by which they are further exploited and subjugated by the dominant class

Linguistics · Pidgin · Politeness · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Prestige · Social distance · Sociolinguistics · Sociology · Solidarity · Variety (cybernetics · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Gender Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology · Social Psychology