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The social and functional power of Nigerian English
Author(s) -
BAMIRO EDMUND O.
Publication year - 1991
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.1991.tb00161.x
Subject(s) - pidgin , solidarity , sociology , power (physics) , sociolinguistics , prestige , social distance , politeness , social psychology , variety (cybernetics) , gender studies , linguistics , psychology , political science , law , politics , infectious disease (medical specialty) , medicine , philosophy , physics , disease , covid-19 , quantum mechanics , pathology , artificial intelligence , computer science , creole language
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.