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African Youth Languages pp 161–180Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Plurality, Translingual Splinters and Music-Modality in Nigerian Youth Languages

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Abstract

With reference to Nigeria, this article explores some innovative grids for youth language variants. First, I expound on the geo-linear notion of urbanity and youth languages, and the conceptual complexities of the sub-cultures in a multilingual space—for which I find urbanese and translingualism more descriptively resourceful. I describe mainly the structuring potential of the music media (modern Nigerian hip hop, especially) and meaning negotiations in casual talks. From the analysis of lyrical fragments and informal chats, I also weigh up the discursive trajectories of these creations—which amply consist of mainly diglossic shifts, argot metaphors, neologisms, phraseologies, meaning extensions and translingual gleanings. In general, I illustrate the mediating force of the Nigerian hip hop genre in the evolution of youth’s language varieties, and argue that such lingos remain nebulous and linguistically dependent on the host systems; and that, at the heart of stylistic levelling and postmodern deconstructions are diverse elements of language shift—chiefly youth-driven.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Nigerian Pidgin (NP) , formally known as Anglo Nigerian Pidgin (ANP), is believed to have morphed from language contacts between the indigenes of coastal areas of the Nigerian territories, and the Portuguese sailors in the fifteenth century—giving rise to Negro-Portuguese; and later the British missionaries and traders in the eighteenth century (Brosnahan 1958). NP has, over the years, undergone structural naturalization or (readjustment) in that it is now being used even among mutually intelligible speakers with a common mother tongue.

  2. 2.

    A group or class of mostly rough-looking men who call in passengers at motor parks.

  3. 3.

    Aro is a township, home to a major psychiatric facility in Nigeria .

  4. 4.

    Kisangani is the third largest urbanized city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) .

  5. 5.

    Lagos is Nigeria’s most metropolitan city and nerve centre of musical productions.

  6. 6.

    Olamide won the City People’s Best Artist of the Year and the Best Rap Artist of the Year in 2015.

  7. 7.

    The interview excerpts were drawn from a larger corpus of naturally flowing discourse I collected over a span of two years for the AUYL Project hosted at the University of Cape Town (UCT), SA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. English Studies Department, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Nigeria

    Adeiza Lasisi Isiaka

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  1. Adeiza Lasisi Isiaka
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Humanities Education Development Unit, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Ellen Hurst-Harosh

  2. Department of English & Linguistics, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

    Fridah Kanana Erastus

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Isiaka, A.L. (2018). Plurality, Translingual Splinters and Music-Modality in Nigerian Youth Languages. In: Hurst-Harosh, E., Kanana Erastus, F. (eds) African Youth Languages . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64562-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64562-9_8

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