The use of Argots by Political Thugs

Adamu Usman, Isah Abubakar Kumbi, Abdulmalik Usman

Abstract


Urban youth languages in Africa are usually characterized by illicit codes which form part of youth languages.  These secret codes do not only identify the group but also a reflection of deviant linguistic behavior. The language is informed by the use of graffiti in various platforms to showcase their illicit activities. The paper seeks to identify the use secrete language called argot used by political thugs in Nigeria, and the linguistic strategies used by youth in increasing the vocabulary size of their secret code. The study will be guided by Interactionist Theory (Rudd & Lambert, 2011) and Word Formation Processes of Finegan (2012). The study will cover 3 states which includes Bauchi, Gombe and Kano and purposive sampling will be used to select the participants. Participants will be drawn from members of three political thugs (Sara-suka, Kalare and Yan daba). The researchers will select 36 respondents based on data saturation.  Qualitative research paradigm will be adopted. Data will be analyzed based on themes and objectives of the study.


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