Investigating the Language of Sexting on the Social Media and Its Impact on Spousal Relationships in Nigeria

Abstract

Several scholarly works abound on the language of sexting and how it affects users’ lives. This study is an attempt to investigate the language of sexting on the social media and its impact on spousal relationship in Nigeria. Sexting is defined here as the sending and receiving of sexually inclined messages or pictures via any of the social media. We have purposively selected a screenshot sexting message of a popular Nigerian comedian. The methodology adopted is eclectic. We use pragmatic tools with insights from the epistemological and critical tools of philosophy. We also use ideas from semiotics to analyse the smileys in the text. We also conducted interviews with purposively selected educated married Nigerians to study the printed screenshot message and interpret the meanings they can deduce from the message. Findings reveal that the language of sexting is highly of coded forms. The discourse strategies used include: slang, ellipsis and smileys. The conversational pattern reveals a flouting of the conversational maxims of quantity and relevance. A lot of shared beliefs are also foregrounded in the use of the elliptical sign and slang words. The message attached to the screenshot message is a pract of warning with 3 speech acts: declarative, assertive and directive. Sexting is a common feature of new trends on the social media. It serves several functions for the chat partners. If the motivation for sexting is not understood, its practice could generate crises among spouses. Sexting opens up different angles for linguistic interpretation and its psychological realities cannot be generalized.