A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF SLANG AND CATCHY PHRASES USED IN SOME SELECTED NIGERIAN HIP-HOP SONGS

GENERAL INTRODUCTION: Language is a major and an indispensable tool in human existence. No wonder Microsoft Encarta (2009) defines it as “the principal means used by human beings to communicate with one another”. Language is primarily spoken, although it can be transferred to other media such as written, non-verbal and so on. It is therefore, the bedrock of communication which holds a society together.

Communication occurs in various ways: in the forms of, interaction through conversation (discourse), speech delivery, the media (such as radio and television), sign language, music (irrespective of the genre) and many others. It is a point worth nothing here that, in each of these forms, pieces of information are essentially being invested with different senses(meanings), and passed across to different kinds of individuals who in turn deduce various meanings from the information passed, based on their individual views and prejudices about such information. Therefore, Mr. Ade’s interpretation of “i love you” may be different from that of Miss Kemi’s, even if the person singing/saying the utterance is the same. The whole of this process is called “encoding and decoding”.

Hip-hop is one of the genres of music, it is denotatively referred to as a type of modern dance music with spoken words and a steady beat played on electronic instruments. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000, p.566). Nigerian hip-hop, the major concern of this research work consists of hip-hop songs, written, composed, arranged, sung, promoted, and marketed in Nigeria for Nigerians.The composition of Nigerian hip-hop songs involves the careful use of lexis (the total of words or vocabulary in a language) which appropriately expresses minds of hip-hop singers.Another important aspect in the lexis of Nigerian hip-hop is the “use of slang”. Elbe, (1996,p.3) defines slang as an ever changing and fashionable set of vocabulary of sociability used to express or reinforce identity cohesiveness within a group with a trend or fashion in a society at large.

It is to be  noted that, certain lexical items are used in Nigerian hip-hop songs, especially those sung in Nigerian native languages (Yoruba,  Igbo and Hausa), which do not perfectly fit into the space of a slang but are at the same time, not to be categorized as conventional day to day lexis. These lexical items for the purpose of this work, are tagged, “Catchy phrases”. An example is Atilaawi (Yoruba) (meaning “the one, whom we are talking about’’) which is deliberately chosen by a Yoruba hip-hop singer to satirize (criticize) a particular leader.

At this juncture, we can easily assert, that slangy forms and catchy phrases take an important quota in hip-hop songs in Nigeria.However, if the real meanings of these slangy forms and catchy phrases within the contexts of these songs will be known, a particular level of language analysis has to be put in place. This level of language analysis is found to be pragmatics.

Adegbija (1999, p.18) defines pragmatics as “the study of language use in particular communicative contexts”. Pragmatics is an important aspect in the use of slangy expressions because it is necessary to decode the messages embedded in slang. Olukoya (2010, p.2), this is to enable listeners to deduce the overall meanings of the utterance within which these slangy forms are used.

As a result of this, in this research work, we intend to identify the real meanings of slangy expressions and catchy phrases that are used in Nigerian hip-hop songs with reference to the overall meanings of these songs themselves. This will enable us to point out the reason why they were used in the songs and their contributions to the singers’ intended meanings. The purpose of all these is to make this form of music more accessible to all and sundry by enhancing their comprehension through a pragmatic analysis