THE SOCIOLINGUISTICS OF SLANG AMONG STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY IN NIGERIA
Abstract
This paper sets out to investigate the sociolinguistics of slang among students of University of Ilorin, Nigeria. To accomplish its aim, the paper used questionnaire through accidental sampling to collect the data from the respondents. Out of 100 copies distributed, 79 were filled and returned. 349 slang expressions were collected and subsequently analysed. The results are presented in simple tables and each category of the data is discussed. The findings revealed that: Unilorin students use slangy expressions to refer to/describe so many things and they do so for various reasons; their use of slang is determined by the situations in which they find themselves; they use slang in many forms of communication including conversation, text messaging, and social networking; and the use of slang has some negative effect on their academic performance. Finally, based on the findings, the paper recommends: the collection of more students and staff slang expressions, focus on linguistic features of Unilorin slang in subsequent researches; and the compilation of Unilorin Slang Dictionary using the collected slang expressions on the campus.
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