ABSTRACT

Abstract

The discourse marker ‘like’ is a feature of English usage which reveals some sociolinguistic peculiarities and the processes of communication in English among educated Nigerians. This study investigates the occurrence of ‘like’ before content words in educated Nigerians’ formal discourse in English. This is with a view to identifying their communicative and sociolinguistic functions in addition to their implications for public speaking in English. Labov’s variability theory which explains language variation in relation to social variables was adopted for the study. Relevant data on the use of ‘like’ were drawn from purposively sampled radio and television programmes. Qualitative data were subjected to sociolinguistic analysis while quantitative data were analysed using frequency count. Findings revealed that there were more occurrences of ‘like’ before content words in the speech samples of the undergraduate participants than there were in those of the graduates. Also, ‘like’ occurred before nouns or noun phrases, adjectives, adverbs, and more often before verbs. When ‘like’ occurred before content words, it appeared to help users select appropriate content words needed in the ongoing discourse. This also helped the speaker to continue to hold on to the discourse floor. However, the occurrence of ‘like’ before noncomplex and commonly used content words, most of which are monosyllabic or disyllabic, is quite worrisome. Care must be taken to avoid unnecessary and preponderant use of ‘like’ which may result in a kind of cacophony or ‘babytalk’ not suitable in formal speech situations.

Keywords: discourse markers, formal discourse, communicative functions, Nigerian English usage.