Dr. Rudolf Gaudio, of the State University of New York Colleage at Purchase, will undertake sociolinguistic research on Nigerian Pidgin (NP), a low-status, English-based creole language, used by poorer residents in urban areas to communicate across ethnic lines. The goal of the research is to investigate the interactions between the material and symbolic processes that organize cultural and social diversity in contemporary cities of the developing world.
The research will be carried out in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. In 1976, after a civil war and with the benefit of new oil wealth, the Nigerian government relocated the nation's capital from Lagos, a metropolis in the southwest, to Abuja, a new capital in the heart of the country that was sparsely populated and ethnically neutral. Today, English is promoted as a means of transcending the country's considerable ethno-linguistic diversity as well as facilitating participation in the global economy. Yet many Abuja residents have only a limited command of English. These migrants typically live in suburban slums and often use Nigerian Pidgin. The gap between Abuja's official image and its residents' lived realities highlights the political, economic and sociocultural contradictions that have accompanied rapid urbanization in Africa and elsewhere.
The researcher will employ a mix of social science research methods, including: participant observation; audio recording of naturally occurring speech; collection of social network data; semi-structured interviews; a household survey; and the collection and analysis of language media. The researcher hypothesizes that rather than being simply linguistically disadvantaged, some of Abuja's residents may be forging a specifically working-class version of a modern Nigerian identity, and (2) that this identity is expressed in part through the use of Nigerian Pidgin.
Findings from this research will contribute to better theoretical understanding of the spatial, technological, and political-economic dimensions of language use and the foundations of inter-ethnic relations in changing urban environments. More practically, research will be of use to urban planners and to policy makers concerned with language policy.
