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Article published In:
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Vol. 38:2 (2023) ► pp.263–289

Morphopragmatic analysis of reduplication in Nigerian Pidgin (Naija)

ORCID logo | Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
| Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

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.

Keywords: reduplication, morphopragmatics, Nigerian Pidgin, creoles, Naija, iconicity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Morphopragmatics
  • 3.Methodology and data
  • 4.Reduplication
    • 4.1Reduplication and repetition
    • 4.2Reduplication in pidgins and creoles
    • 4.3Reduplication in Nigerian Pidgin
  • 5.The morphopragmatic functions of reduplication in Nigerian Pidgin
    • 5.1In-group affiliation and otherization via reduplication of pronominal simplex forms
    • 5.2Verbal and deverbal reduplicatives
      • 5.2.1Intensification of the negative readings of deverbal reduplication of ‘negative’ simplex forms
      • 5.2.2Pejoration via reduplication of deverbal ‘non-negative’ simplex forms
      • 5.2.3Attenuation and jocularity
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 1 May 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.22013.odi
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