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ABSTRACT
Secret languages have been used by different individuals or a group of people in conducting their private or secret deeds. Abã is a terminally endangered secret language used by Awka men in the past in conducting their business associated with the “Agbala goddess”, in slave trade practices and other forms of cheating. The interference of the colonial administrators and the introduction of western education stopped the above mentioned activities thereby endangering the secret language. This work aims at carrying out a linguistic study on the phonology and morphology of the Abã language. The study reveals that the secret language shares some phonological and morphological features with the Awka Igbo and this suggests that language is Awka Igbo based. Tonal modulation, stylistic declension, word inversion and ascribing meanings arbitrarily was discovered as the key strategies exploited by these Awka men of the past to enshroud their conversations in secrecy.
