Slang in Yorùbá Home Videos: A Morpho-pragmatic Analysis

Abstract

Slangy expressions are creative linguistic practices which have increasingly become unconscious impositions in the lexicon of different languages of the world. This may not be a surprise; on the one hand, what ultimately constitutes the lexicon of any language at diachronic and synchronic spaces must have had its etymology from somewhere or something. On the other hand, language is not a fixed entity; its lexicons broaden by the day and semantics change in order to accommodate the changing communicative needs of users. These features of inclusion and change in Yoruba lexicology are most noticeable in Yoruba home videos. In fact, slangy expressions have become a ‘universal phenomenon and aspect of social language that cannot be underestimated in every sense of functional human society where language and culture are seen as natural, divine and systemic in the 21st century’. In this study therefore, we examine the instances of slang in selected popular Yoruba home videos with the intent of analysing their morphology and exploring their contexts of usage. The study also examines the implications of slang on the interpersonal relationship of users (mostly youth), and the sociocultural beliefs and attitudes of Yoruba people. Two award-winning popular Yoruba home videos, ‘Jẹnifa’ and the ‘Return of Jẹnifa’ written by Funke Akindele and directed by Muyideen, S. Ayinde in 2008 and 2011 respectively, and two other home videos, ‘Sunday Dagboru’ written and directed by Odunlade Adekola in 2010 and ‘Dagbere’ directed by Afolayan, O. in 2015 were selected for this study. The study is situated within a sociolinguistic frame of language study and it adopts Yule (The study of language. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006) Word Formation Processes and Giles and Ogay (Communication accommodation theory. In: Bryan W, Samter W (eds) Explaining communication. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc, Mahwah, 2007) Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT).