Morphopragmatic analysis of reduplication in Nigerian Pidgin (Naija)

Abstract

Reduplication has a strong presence in creoles and expanded Pidgins. It has been studied for the several grammatical functions it performs in these languages. The present study is based on morphopragmatics theory, and explores reduplication in Nigerian Pidgin with the goal of identifying the pragmatic meanings it conveys. To achieve this, we analysed data from Wazobia FM, a Nigerian Pidgin-based radio station in Nigeria. The analysis process involved interviews and a focus group discussion with native informants. Our results show that in addition to more prototypical iconic meanings, some categories of reduplication in Nigerian Pidgin convey secondary meanings that are often heavily pragmatically and pejoratively charged, and which speakers strategically use to mark in-group and out-group associations, as well as to neutralize or attenuate the inherent negative meanings of the simplex forms.