{"title":"Tomorrow May Not Be Yours: Military Slang and Jargon as Linguistic Performance in Nigeria","authors":"G. Uwen, Eyo O. Mensah","doi":"10.1080/10228195.2022.2122540","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article explores the expressive use of slang and jargon by officers and men of the Nigerian Army in a bid to construct social identity, enforce discipline, and conform to work ethics. The study adopts linguistic ideology and community of practice theories which are complemented by the notion of style as performance to provide frameworks for understanding military subjectivities and attitudes represented by these emblematic linguistic resources. Data were sourced through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 30 participants. The study found that military slang and jargon help ease communication between officers and men as they index power, enhance solidarity, facilitate inclusion (and exclusion), and promote varied military subcultures. We conclude that situated language practices provide a site for linguistic creativity and the enactment of style that sustain meaningful relationships between personnel in the army. This linguistic practice, therefore, offers strong social capital in defining collective identities and professional belonging.","PeriodicalId":43882,"journal":{"name":"Language Matters","volume":"53 1","pages":"91 - 111"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Language Matters","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2022.2122540","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
Abstract This article explores the expressive use of slang and jargon by officers and men of the Nigerian Army in a bid to construct social identity, enforce discipline, and conform to work ethics. The study adopts linguistic ideology and community of practice theories which are complemented by the notion of style as performance to provide frameworks for understanding military subjectivities and attitudes represented by these emblematic linguistic resources. Data were sourced through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 30 participants. The study found that military slang and jargon help ease communication between officers and men as they index power, enhance solidarity, facilitate inclusion (and exclusion), and promote varied military subcultures. We conclude that situated language practices provide a site for linguistic creativity and the enactment of style that sustain meaningful relationships between personnel in the army. This linguistic practice, therefore, offers strong social capital in defining collective identities and professional belonging.
期刊介绍：
The purpose of Language Matters is to provide a journal of international standing with a unique African flavour focusing on multilingualism in Africa. Although the journal contributes to the language debate on all African languages, sub-Saharan Africa and issues related to multilingualism in the southern African context are the journal’s specific domains. The journal seeks to promote the dissemination of ideas, points of view, teaching strategies and research on different aspects of African languages, providing a forum for discussion on the whole spectrum of language usage and debate in Africa. The journal endorses a multidisciplinary approach to the study of language and welcomes contributions not only from sociolinguists, psycholinguists and the like, but also from educationalists, language practitioners, computer analysts, engineers or scholars with a genuine interest in and contribution to the study of language. All contributions are critically reviewed by at least two referees. Although the general focus remains on multilingualism and related issues, one of the three issues of Language Matters published each year is a special thematic edition on Language Politics in Africa. These special issues embrace a wide spectrum of language matters of current relevance in Southern Africa.
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