THE PRAGMATICS OF INDIGENOUS LOCUTIONS IN KEGITE DISCOURSE IN SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the examination of the pragmatics of indigenous locutions (ILs) in Kegite discourse (KD) in selected Southwestern Nigerian Universities. It explores the types of ILs pragmatically engaged in KD, with consideration for the lexical practices they manifest, and the pragmatic roles that indigenous locutionary acts perform in aiding the understanding of communicative encounters among kegites in the study areas. Data for the study were got through tape recordings of kegites’ conversations and participant observation of their interactions during their gyrations. These were subjected to content analysis, using insights from John Austin’s locutionary acts, with considerations for lexical occurrences in the discourse. The findings revealed two categories of indigenous locutions in kegite discourse, namely, Englishised indigenous locutions (EILs), and strictly native locutions (SNLs). The EILs are marked for pragmatically indexing kegite activities, kegite socialising objects, and kegite identity specification, while the SNLs pragmatically index kegite activities, kegite cultural behaviours and kegite symbolic objects. These locutions demonstrate the pragmatic union between English and local lexical choices in kegites’ linguistic initiatives, especially to mark in-group language identity largely intended to be understood by kegites alone, but sometimes intended to be understood by non-kegites too. The paper contributes to the understanding of how the pragmatic engagement of indigenous locutionary choices conveys participants’ locution-constrained meanings in KD. It concludes that kegites’ further demonstration of culture-spurred innovations in locutionary types and their pragmatic engagements will enhance a more effective in-group socialisation for pan African consciousness.