Linguistic creativity in Nigerian Pidgin advertising

Abstract

Advertising communication aims at attracting audiences’ attention. It also motivates interest, changes perceptions, stimulates desires and manipulates social values and attitudes. In achieving these objectives, the language medium needs to be carefully selected, especially in a multilingual setting like Nigeria, given that language is the driving force that determines the effectiveness of ad messages. This paper explores the (socio)linguistic devices that are exploited in ad discourse in Nigerian Pidgin (NP) as well as the pragmatic and creative potentials of lexical innovation, code-switching, proverbs, humour and other stylistic strategies that are employed in both print and electronic ads in NP. The paper discovers that advertising in NP commands enormous public appeal because of its spread, flexibility and the creative possibilities it allows. Advertising communication presents yet another platform to further deepen the social utility and functional relevance of NP in the public space in spite of the widespread and age-long misconceptions and prejudices against it.

Morphological Features of Nigerian Pidgin in the Football Commentary

“…It is evident that NP commentary accommodates high morphological innovations to project how NP can function freely in new domains of use. We agree with the view of Mensah (2011) that language often develops new linguistic properties morphologically to accommodate diverse areas of meanings which could be cultural, social and political in orientations. The paper concludes that the characterization of NP commentary with productive morphological features indicates that the language has the stamina and vivacity to express all facets of our daily life.…”

“…This means that NP is not rich in the area of inflectional morphology when compared with English in the period of study. Similarly, Mensah (2011) and (2012) examine lexicalization and grammaticalization in NP respectively. He notes that lexical items in NPE are undergoing semantic expansion due to the creativity of the users.…”

“…The implication therefore is that NP can be said to be spoken by more than 100 million Nigerians. The acceptability of NP across ethic boundaries cannot be detached from the nature of its linguistic simplicity and ethnic nonalignment (Deuber 2005, Mensah 2011). The language does not require any formal education to acquire unlike English and does not belong to any ethnic group in Nigeria.…”

“…Apart from this, Deuber (2005) also describes the grammatical and sociolinguistic features of Lagos Pidgin ranging from grammatical units, gender implication to codeswitching. Mensah (2011Mensah ( , 2012 focuses on Calabar variety by analyzing how linguistic items are developing internally in NP to account for lexical development in the code and how such items are deployed to respond to the use of NP in new domains. Osoba (2015Osoba ( , 2018 concentrates on Ajegunle Pidgin by investigating the conversational discourse functions and features as well as power relations among speakers of this variety of NP.…”

Explicating Choice of MTN® Advertising Frameworks in Nigerian Print Media

“…Moreover, Isabona (2013) addresses the revolution of telecommunications advertisements (henceforth: ads). Mensah & Ndimele (2013) analyse linguistic creativity, while Osoba's (2014) concern elucidates Anglo-Nigerian Pidgin. The Anglo-Nigerian Pidgin, in Osoba's elucidation, is a tool of persuading viewers of advertising phenomena.…”