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Lexico‐semantic variation in Nigerian English
Author(s) -
ADEGBIJA EFUROSIBINA
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-971x.1989.tb00652.x
Subject(s) - variation (astronomy) , linguistics , lexico , varieties of english , context (archaeology) , neologism , sociology , history , philosophy , lexicon , physics , archaeology , astrophysics
ABSTRACT: This study describes some aspects of lexico‐semantic variation in Nigerian English. The causes and types of variation are discussed within a sociolinguistic framework. Typical Nigerian English innovations are related to the local socio‐cultural and linguistic context of Nigerian culture and society. Five major classes of lexico‐semantic variation are identified: transfer, analogy, acronyms, semantic shift or extension, and coinage or neologisms. The paper also discusses the implications of such variation with reference to international intelligibility and communicative strategies.