{"title":"Pidgin English proverbs as a source of structural nativization in Nigerian English","authors":"Marcus Callies, Folajimi Oyebola","doi":"10.1111/weng.12699","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we explore the role of Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) proverbs in language contact settings and their impact on the development of idiomatic phraseology in Nigerian English (NgE). In a set of 100 NPE proverbs, we identified lexical keywords that served as anchors for searches in the large‐scale Nairaland corpus to detect recurrent collocational patterns that in further proximity searches yielded frequent, lexico‐grammatically variable patterns that may be interpreted as innovations at the early stages of idiom formation. The findings suggest that cognitively motivated key lexical items of NPE proverbs may serve as a basis for the formation of variable but also lexico‐grammatically more condensed idiomatic expressions in NgE.","PeriodicalId":23780,"journal":{"name":"World Englishes","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"World Englishes","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12699","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
In this paper, we explore the role of Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) proverbs in language contact settings and their impact on the development of idiomatic phraseology in Nigerian English (NgE). In a set of 100 NPE proverbs, we identified lexical keywords that served as anchors for searches in the large‐scale Nairaland corpus to detect recurrent collocational patterns that in further proximity searches yielded frequent, lexico‐grammatically variable patterns that may be interpreted as innovations at the early stages of idiom formation. The findings suggest that cognitively motivated key lexical items of NPE proverbs may serve as a basis for the formation of variable but also lexico‐grammatically more condensed idiomatic expressions in NgE.
期刊介绍：
World Englishes is integrative in its scope and includes theoretical and applied studies on language, literature and English teaching, with emphasis on cross-cultural perspectives and identities. The journal provides recent research, critical and evaluative papers, and reviews from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas. Thematic special issues and colloquia appear regularly. Special sections such as ''Comments / Replies'' and ''Forum'' promote open discussions and debate.
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