A SOCIOLINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION OF SLANG USAGE ON CAMPUSES

Abstract

The ultimate goal of language study is to develop language users’ linguistic and communicative competence. To this end, it is highly effective to investigate slang usage in order to reveal its linguistic ingenuity. Adopting Hymes’ “situational context” as the theoretical framework, this paper seeks to examine the ingenuity of linguistic revolution among students on Nigerian campuses. To achieve this, data were collected from recorded utterances and the researchers’ participatory observation in natural settings over the course of three years. These settings are “school bus parks”, “kegite ceremonies”, “students’ hostels” and “students’ protests”. Three tertiary institutions were randomly selected: one each from colleges of education, polytechnics, and universities. Over forty recordings of slangy expressions were documented, out of which twenty-one were used for analysis. Slangs that bordered on “internet fraud”, “kegite clubs”, “prostitution” and “students’ unionism” were investigated. The findings revealed the ingenuity of language use among students while they are on campuses. There were the use of “semantic extension”, “semantic shift”, “coinages”, acronym, and “loan words” in the slangs examined. Each of the slangs examined had its underlying representation in the context of usage. “Bad market” whose contextual representation is “unsuccessful illegal deal” is a good example of internet fraud slangy expression. Some slangs are also used figuratively. The slangs “eke” and “alutagbo-gbo” are examples of metonymy and onomatopoeia. This study, therefore, recommends that linguists should endeavour to research on other areas where slangs are used as this will expand frontiers of knowledge in language study.