WORD FORMATION PROCESSES IN NIGERIAN PIDGIN

Abstract

This work examines word formation processes in Nigerian pidgin. The aim of this study is to examine the various word formation processes in Nigerian pidgin which is the basics ofthe morphology of the language. This would then help to broaden the scope of the study of the language and to examine the structural features that are peculiar to make shift language called Nigerian pidgin. The researcher was motivated to embark on this work due to the fact that few works only exist in Nigerian pidgin as regard morphology. Hence the researcher has decided to embark the word formation processes in Nigerian pidgin thus, to achieve these; the theoretical framework of “descriptive linguistics approach” as proposed by Lehmann (1999) was used. This theory explains that the description of a language is an activity that formulates, in most general way possible, the patterns underlying the linguistic data. Its purpose is to make the user understand the way the language works (Lehmann, 1999: 10). The Morris Swadesh (200) word list was used to elicit data from competent speakers of the Nigerian pidgin. Similarly, from the analysis carried out, the following word formation processes are found in the Nigerian pidgin: borrowing, affixation, compounding, reduplication and clipping. Finally, every language is described not in the picture of another language but in its own picture, Nigerian pidgin is therefore prescribed in its own way based on the way it is structured in this work. This work will therefore contribute to language study and linguistics as a whole.