Paper short abstract:

One important consequence of coloniality is the radical alteration in the sociolinguistic profile of African societies. This paper examines the changing sociolinguistic profile Lagos in Nigeria. Of particular interest are: the colonial trajectory and the linguistic artifacts of this trajectory.

Paper long abstract:

One of the important consequences of coloniality is the radical alteration in the sociolinguistic profile of African societies. Not just that individuals confront new words and new significances, but that the lexicon of entire societies, and the associated patterns of knowing that go with these lexicons, change; sometimes for the better, and sometimes for worse. Contact phenomena such as Pidginisation and Creolisation, diglossia, borrowing, code-mixing, code-switching, bilingualism and others have profound effect on the linguistic life of African communities. At the negative extreme is language loss or language death (which may be virtual or real), while at the positive end is multilingualism and multiculturalism and their possible national and international socio-economic appurtenances. This paper examines the changing sociolinguistic profile of one of the most populous cities in Africa - Lagos in Nigeria. Of particular interest are: the colonial trajectory and the linguistic artifacts of this trajectory, the effect of this trajectory on the characterization the urban language of Lagos in terms of connections and disruptions, and the sociolinguistic principles to be derived from the trajectory.