A Pragmatic Analysis Of Language Use By Bus Drivers, Motorcyclists And The Students Of A.B.U. Zaria.

📄 Project Abstract

Language in a cosmopolitan setting reflects the various features of the complexities of the different languages that interact in that setting. This leads to different forms of interaction in order to find common meeting grounds for communication in a context which would have been made impossible by the non-availability of a common means of interaction. That language is sensitive to its context of use, is the defining insights of linguists on the subject. In Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where this study focused on, students who come from different linguistic backgrounds are forced to interact on the platform of a common code of communication. However, the situation becomes slightly different when the students interact with the community most members of which (like drivers and commercial motorcyclists) lack access to the sort of linguistic codes which the students use. This situation gives rise to different sorts of departures from the norm which in turn affects the outcome of verbal i...