Negotiating Identity through Music: Code-switching between English/Nigerian English and Indigenous Languages

Abstract

This study investigates the phenomenon of code-switching in Nigerian music, focusing on the interplay between English/Nigerian Pidgin, to indigenous languages – specifically Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and Eggon. There are a number of articles on code-switching from English to the majority languages particularly Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. But there are few works on code-switching in the minority languages and none in Eggon to the knowledge of the researchers. These and more prompt the current study in other to fill the existing gaps. Drawing from some selected songs, the research explores the sociolinguistic, cultural and communicative functions of code-switching in musical context. The study also explains the types of code-switching in the languages under study and their similarities and differences. The researchers analyse the data using Markedness model, Interactional sociolinguistics, and description in order to explain code-switching as used in the data sourced from five songs’ official recording and online lyric data base. The analysis reveals that musicians deploy multilingual resources not only for stylistic and aesthetic purposes but also as a means of negotiating identity and reaching diverse audiences. The findings highlight music as a dynamic site of language contact, where global and local identities intersect and where minority languages gain visibility alongside dominant national and international languages.  This research shows that code-switching in music illuminates unique linguistic strategy in performance art, enriches understanding of language contact and creates multiple identity construction. It also serves as a means of preservation of indigenous languages including minority varieties like Eggon.