SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.17 issue2CORRELATIONS BETWEEN THE PRONOMINAL ADDRESS FORMS, ORIGIN (URBAN/RURAL) AND AGE: THE CASE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS IN MEDELLIN (COLOMBIA)THE ABDUCTIVE HYPOTHESIS AS A TEACHING STRATEGY FOR RESEARCH IN THE CLASSROOM author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Journal

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • On index processCited by Google
  • Have no similar articlesSimilars in SciELO
  • On index processSimilars in Google

Share


Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura

Print version ISSN 0123-3432

Abstract

OFFIONG MENSAH, Eyo. GRAMMATICALIZATION IN NIGERIAN PIDGIN. Íkala [online]. 2012, vol.17, n.2, pp.167-179. ISSN 0123-3432.

Nigerian Pidgin (hereafter NP) has assumed elaborated roles and functions, gaining new grounds in different sociolinguistic domains as a result of its sustained social expansion process. One of the consequences of this increased dynamism of NP is the development of lexical items into grammatical markers which is an expected natural process. In this paper, we examine language-internal mechanisms that transform lexical items into morphosyntactic items either for semantic value, creativity, expressivity or routinization. Our basic argument is that grammaticalization in NP is not contact-induced but a language-internal phenomenon, which reveals that NP has both a synchronic and diachronic existence that are imperative in evolving its unique grammar.

Keywords : grammaticalization; Nigerian Pidgin; contact linguistics; grammar; semantic change.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in English     · English ( pdf )