REGISTERIAL VARIATION IN HIP-HOP

Abstract

Language functions as a means of communication and socialization. These tenets of language are very vital in the Nigerian Informal Business Sector. One aspect of the Informal Sector that is examined by this paper is Hip-hop (a subset of the Creative Industry). Register is a set of linguistic items associated with discrete, occupational and social groups. This paper looked at Nigerian Hip-hop songs (as a social group) and its informal language. Nigerian Hip-hop (a subset of the creative industry) in the last few years has started piling up register for itself and these registerial variations have taken the Nigerian Informal Business Sector to its next level. This paper examines the registerial variation of Nigerian Hip-hop. It employed the Beiber and Conrad (2009) model, a more recent and comprehensive registerial framework which is descriptive in its outlook. Three Hip-hop artistes with two songs each from the southern region of the country (SE, SW, and SS) were used to determine indexation of these registerial variations in their song. At the end, a register of Nigerian Hip-hop as an index of language use in Nigerian Informal Business Sector was drawn with the aim of identifying that there is a lect from the Nigerian Hip-hop and prospect of this variety in wider communication