Understanding the Language Usage of Nigerians on Facebook.

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CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION TO STUDY
Lehman (1976:4) says that language is a system for the communication of meaning
through sounds. Although this definition is restrictive it propounds the idea that language is essential for
communication.Osisanwo (2003:1) posits that “Language is human vocal noise or the arbitrary graphic
representation of this noise, used systematically and conventionally by members of a speech community
for purposes of communication.”Uwasomba (2007) opines that, language represents a manifestation or
sum total of one’s experience, perception and conception of reality. This in a sense is a reflection of the
fact that we humans are no doubt the producers and progenitors of our conceptions and ideas which in
sense are determined or conditioned by a definite mode of production. The world as we know it is an
artifice made real through a social construct, thus the constitution of social reality, the power of
symbolic systems, especially language becomes very important. What can be deduced from the above
definition is that language is an accepted form of communication, and can either be spoken or written,
language has been made easier and enjoyable through technology.
Naughton (1999. 21:2) as cited by Crystal (2004. Vii) posits that when human beings use
language for communication, it is not only the aspect of information sharing that is the focal point, but
for there to be good communication, human beings make use of words, forms, phrases, clauses,
sentences, and all these units must contribute to meaning making. The Internet is one of the most
remarkable things human beings ever made. In terms of its impact on the society, it ranks with the print,
the railway, the telegraph, the automobile, electric power and television. Some would equate it with
print and television, the two earlier technologies which transformed the communication environment in
which people live. Yet it is potentially more powerful than both because it harnesses the intellectual

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leverage which the print gave to mankind without being hobbled by one-to- many nature of broadcast
television. (Crystal 2004) went further by saying…’ as the internet comes increasingly to be reviewed
from a social perspective, so the role of language becomes central.’ Indeed notwithstanding the
remarkable technological achievements and the visual panache of screen presentation, what is
immediately obvious when engaging in any of the internet’s function is its linguistic character. If the
internet is a revolution, therefore it is likely to be a linguistic revolution.
It is generally accepted that without the advent of Internet, social networking would have
remained a drab affair; it would have just remained at mere personal contact (solidarity) among specific
groups or a neighbourhood. The Internet revolutionised networking, now it is possible to communicate
with individuals of different culture, background, world and status, gather and share information and
experiences about varieties of issues.
This revolution in social networking gave birth to the invention of Facebook as a computer
mediated social network created by Mark Zuckerburg in 2004. Facebook since its invention has become
a means by which people stay in touch with friends and loved ones, it is a small window into the world.
Facebook navigated itself into the top by suppressing other social networks such as MySpace, Linked In,
to become the largest social network in relation to the amount of users. The Facebook chat allows for
instant messaging and response when both parties (sender and receiver) are online. Facebook allows
people from different walks of life to communicate without barriers, though the prominent group of
users are youths.
This study will delve into the widely held anxieties about the effects of the Internet and social networks
on the use of English language especially on Nigerians, the form of impoliteness among social network
users, the coinages and anomalies imported into everyday conversation.

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1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
Although different experts have conducted different research on social networks especially
Facebook, but it seems analysis on language use is inexhaustible, there are quite a number of works on
objects relating to language and the Internet. Despite all the researches, much about this new form of
communication remains puzzling. Little work has been done as regards the morphological
appropriateness of the linguistic elements on Facebook.
The complaint about the deleterious effect on language is long standing; of course in the past the main
gripes have been how the social networking site has sapped the meaning of words, i.e. , ‘friend’ and
‘like’, but now the usage of the reverse of these words in Facebook posts and comments is eminent,
‘unfriending’ and ‘unliking’ by Facebook users.
Basically, this and some other problems of compounding, reduplication and why Facebook users
use words ambiguously are the issues raised in this long essay. What more, the hidden and implied
meaning of utterances, the relationship between contact and language in sample posts and comments are
some of the reasons for this research. This study will try to bridge the gap between grammar and the
basic usage of language by Facebook surfers.
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The research aims at linguistically exploring and examining the language used by Facebook
users, paying keen attention to the internal structure of words and sentences of selected posts and
comments. The objectives are as follows:
• Identify and discuss the grammatical features of the language
• identify and discuss the lexical features of the language

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• identify and analyse the graphological features of the language
· Discuss the implications of the usage of these expressions in relation to the Nigerian sociological
context
1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY
The propelling force for this research is spurred by the need to investigate the linguistic habits of
Facebook surfers especially as it relates to morphology and syntax. The research is limited to Facebook
as a social networking site, using post and comments of selected Facebook users.
1.5 EXPECTED CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE
This research was made to highlight linguistic features of language as used on Facebook. It also
expatiates on the role of language in the use of internet and the effects of social networks, especially
Facebook on language.
1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS
· Profile: This is a user’s personal page, listing their friends, interest groups, memberships and
recent activities on the site. Profiles are unique pages where you can type into being (Sunden,
2003:3) after joining a social network. The profile contains one’s personal information and also
ones pictures, date of birth etc.
· Wall: On Facebook a wall is a section in one’s profile where others can write messages or leave
gifts, which are represented in small icon-like images. The wall is a public writing space so
others who view your profile can see what has been written, once one receives a wall message,
one can respond directly to the friend using the ‘wall to wall’ mode. Wall postings are basically a
public form of conversation.

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· Posts: Derivatively, a post is a notice in a public place, a post can be publishing a message on
someone else’s Facebook wall, it can also be made by the owner of the account, and in this form
it is called a status update. This feature came up in September 2006 and was also followed up
with a “what are you doing right now?” question, which is an update question in March 2009 it
was changed to “what’s on your mind?” A Facebook status is an update feature which allows
users to discuss their thoughts, whereabouts or important information with friends, this is similar
to a Tweet on the Twitter social networking site, a status is usually short and generally gives
information without going into details. A status can be updated from a web browser, a mobile
site or more recently through text messages.
· Comment: A comment is a remark expressing ones opinion. It usually reveals other user’ view
of one’s post or status update. Each Facebook ‘profile’ has a ‘wall’ where friends can ‘post’ their
‘comments’. All those friends who are friends of the user will be allowed to view any comment
and also ‘like’ it or ‘follow’ it.
1.7 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The data used for this research are based on message systems, chats, posts and comments from
different Facebook walls which are randomly picked. The major theory that is used in this research is
systemic functional linguistic although there is an influx of pragmatic and sociolinguistic interpretations.
Altogether the study considered language use utilising a functional and structural approach to it.
Systemic Functional Linguistics is a distinct theory of grammar propounded by M.A.K Halliday.
It is part of a social semiotic linguistics. Systemic refers to the view of language as a ‘network of
systems or interrelated sets of opinion for making meaning’ (Halliday 1994.). Functional refers to the
view that is as it is because of what it as evolved to do. Thus it refers to is the multi-dimensional

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architecture of language,(Halliday2003).The term systemic foregrounds Saususure’s “Paradigmatic
axis” in understanding how language works. (Halliday2004).
Systemic functional linguistics is also functional because it considers language to have evoled under the
pressure of the particular functions that the language system has to serve. Functions are therefore taken
to have left their mark on the structure and organisation of language at all levels, which is said to be
achieved via Metafunctions. The term Metafunction is the organisation of the functional framework
around systems. For Halliday, all languages involve three generalised functions or metafunctions: one
construes experience (meaning about the outer and inner words); one enacts social relations (meaning
concerned with inter-personal relations) and one weaves together these two functions to create text (the
wording). These three generalised functions are called meta functions (Halliday 1977)
Systemic functional linguistics addresses a lot of issues regarding grammar and sentence analysis which
cannot be tackled by traditional grammar. It is a very systemic way to analyse sentence and understand
their constituent.
 At close level, it has simple structures of alpha and beta which are independent and dependent.
 Group level it provides constituent of subject, predicate, complement, adjunct (which is the
default category for any non-sense word or group).
 Word level, it has structure like modifiers, head, qualifiers, before verb, auxiliary, verb
extension, preposition and completive.
 While at morpheme level, it provides various labels to address the issues related to word
construction: influx, suffix, prefix, blending, ending, base etc.

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Sometimes people utter words without giving heed to them, and this is where pragmatics comes
into scene to give meaning to utterance. Atchison as cited by Moore (2001) “pragmatics studies the
factors that govern our choice of language in social interaction and the effects of our choice on others”.
When human beings communicate, much of what goes on is not simply about conveying information to
others. One problem regarding the way in which semantics describes meaning is that anything that goes
beyond the content of the linguistic style itself is outside the scope of description; virtually every real
life communicative situation contains countless signs which are used to express something about the
speakers and their social relationships. In this research, pragmatics was used to study how the factors
such as time, place and the social relationship between speaker and hearer affect the ways in which
language is used to perform different functions.
1.8 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research data used in this research were mainly downloaded from posts that borders on
topics of love, politics and sports, because these are topics that most youths like to participate in. More
so, Facebook walls are public in nature; hence; the collection and the analysis of such data for this
research are not considered to be a breach on privacy.
More than 100 data were selected randomly from different Facebook walls due to their features.
These data were analysed in details using Systemic Functional Linguistics, also the use of pragmatics to
enable an intensive explanation for the topic.

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1.9 SUMMARY
In this chapter a general introduction of the research was made. The aim and objectives of the
researchwere discussed as well as the problem that led to this research and the concept of internet was
briefly discussed as well. In addition the methodology used for the research analysis was stated.

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CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Language in any society can be used to educate, crusade, entertain, manipulate, persuade, approve,
register disapproval and it can be used to control social order. Campbell (2004) explains that due to the
way in which language is transmitted between generations and within communities, language
perpetually changes diversifying into new languages or converging due to language ‘contact’. Also an
article defines language as ‘system of arbitrary vocal symbol by which thought is conveyed from human
to the other’.One of the crucial functions of any human language, such as English or Korean, is to
convey various kinds of information from the everyday to the highly academic. Language provides a
means for us to describe how to cook, how to remove cherry stains, how to understand English
grammar, or how to provide a convincing argument.
We commonly consider certain properties of language to be key essential features from which
the basic study of linguistics starts. Language is a social phenomenon employed by the speakers to
interact and communicate in certain context of situation and context of culture. As a semiotic reality,
language is a symbol that represents the social realities taking place in the context of situation and
context of culture. Hassan (1989) maintains that language should be understood in its relationship to
social structure. In short, language is the realization of the social process taking place in the society. The
meaning of language is much determined by the immediate environment where the discussion takes
place, the participants, the problems being discussed, as well as the social value working in that group of
people. All these factors simultaneously determine the configuration that influences the choice of the use
of the language. Cordin (1973:20) notes that in describing language, some people talked about how it

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works. They see it as an instrument that works, as if it is an alarm clock whose functioning could be
understood. It further notes that we write, read, speak well or badly shows that we are treating language
as skilled behaviour which improves with practice.
It is the fact that language is a major means of communication. It is usual in human discourse to
communicate effectively. Indeed, one important indication of one’s mastery of a language is the ability
to communicate effectively in the language. However, whatever definition language is given, it cannot
be out rightly separated from communication because language is basically used to communicate.
However, language can be diversified especially to the national level when they are seen as phenomena.
This is because there is a distinction between ‘language’ and what it ‘does’. Bach (1964) says “a
language is an infinite set of sentences”. A sentence is a symbol in the liberal sense. There is no doubt
that language is a reality. Again, it can be said to be a theoretical construct derived from the study of real
sentences, which are called ‘speech’. Languages are not particularly logical and as such one can suggest
that logic may be a product of language instead of the other way round. (Ogunsiji2002).
Therefore, language alone can be defined differently but is with the addition of its functional
perspective that communication can be seen as an integral part of language.

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2.2 MORPHOLOGY
The term morphology is generally attributed to the German poet, novelist, playwright, and philosopher
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832),who coined it early in the nineteenth century in a biological
context. Its etymology is Greek: morph- means ‘shape, form’, and morphology is the study of form or
forms. In biology morphology refers to the study of the form and structure of organisms, and in geology
it refers to the study of the configuration and evolution of land forms. In linguistics morphology refers to
the mental system involved in word formation or to the branch of linguistics that deals with words, their
internal structure, and how they are formed. In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and
description of the structure of a given language’s morphemes and other linguistic units, such as root,
word affixes, parts of speech, interactional stresses or implied context.
Morphology is primarily concerned with the internal structures of words. Katamba (1993)
opines that, morphology is the study of word structure. The claim that words have structure might come
as a surprise because normally speakers think of words as indivisible units of meaning. For example,
The, Fierce, desk, eat, boot, at, fee, mosquito etc cannot be segmented (i.e. divided up) into smaller units
that are themselves meaningful. It is impossible to say what the ‘quito’ part of mosquito or ‘erce’ part of
pierce means. The term morpheme is used to refer to the smallest indivisible units of semantic content or
grammatical function which words are made up of. By definition a morpheme cannot be decomposed
into smaller units which are either meaningful by themselves or mark a grammatical function like
singular or plural number in the noun.
Furthermore, if morpheme is the smallest unit of semantic content, then what is word? A reliable
definition is that they are the smallest independent units of language. Morphology as a sub-discipline of
linguistic was named for the first time in 1859 by the German linguist August Scheicher who used the

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term for the study of the form of words according to Booji (2007). Although words are the smallest
independent units of language, they have an internal structure and are built up by even smaller pieces.
According to O’ Gardy (1997), there are simple words that don’t have an internal structure and only
consist of one piece, like work. There is no way we can divide work (work?) into smaller parts that carry
meaning or function. Complex words however, do have an internal structure and consist of two or more
pieces. Consider (worker), where the ending (-er) is added to the rootwork to make into a noun meaning
someone one works. These pieces are called morphemes and are the smallest bearing units of language.
Words are independent forms, and a simple word only consisting of one single morpheme is
therefore a free morpheme, that is, it is a word itself. E.g. house, work, high etc. morphemes that must
be attached to another morpheme to receive meaning are bound morphemes. If we break the word
‘unkindness’ into three morphemes {un-kind-ness}, we get two examples of a bound morpheme (un and
ness), as they require the root (kind) to make up a word. There are also called affixes as they are
attached to the stem. Stem is that part of a word that is in existence before any inflectional bound
morpheme is added.
As already hinted, bound morphemes (affix) can be divided into two major categories according to
scholar’s namely derivational morphemes and inflectional morphemes. Katamba (1993, pg 47)
explained that both reflect recognition of two principal word building processes: inflection and
derivation. While all morphologists accept this distinction, it is nevertheless one of the most contentious
issues in morphological theory. Derivational morpheme from words in different ways either:
a. By changing the meaning of the base or root words to which they are attached, e.g. kind vs un-
kind (both are adjectives but with opposite meanings)

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b. By changing the word class that a base belongs to e.g. the addition of –ly to the adjective kind,
this will produce the adverb kindly.
Interestingly, inflectional morphemes serve as grammatical markers that indicate tense, number,
possession or comparison, whereas a derivational morpheme relates more to the identity of a word itself.
(in that it more directly affects the meaning of the stem), an inflectional morpheme relates the word to
the rest of the construction, motivating a position on the very periphery of the word. Nordquist (2014),
Janet (1993) an inflectional morpheme does not have the capacity to change the meaning or the syntactic
class of the words it is abound to and will have a predictable meaning for all such words. The meanings
of inflectional categories are certainly notoriously difficult to describe, but they exhibit all the normal
behaviour we expect from cognitive categories such as grounding in embodied experience and radical
structured polysemy.
What more, an inflectional morpheme is used to create a variant form of a word in order to signal
grammatical information. English has only eight inflectional morphemes:
Ø Noun plural (-s) boy – boys
Ø Noun possessive (-s) betty – betty’s
Ø Verb present tense (-s) eat – eats
Ø Verb past tense (ed) bake – baked
Ø Verb past participle (en) eat – eaten
Ø Verb present participle (-ing) come – coming
Ø Adjective comparative (-er) large – larger
Ø Adjective superlative (est) large – largest

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Also, we have, aside the use of derivational inflectional affixations, we can also have word formation
processes like prefixation, suffixation, conversion and compounding (Quirk and Greenbaum 1973)
2.2.1. Prefixation :It is a morphological process whereby a bound morpheme is attached to the front of
a root or stem, prefix do not generally alter the word class of the base. According to Quirk and
Greenbaum (1973), there are different types of prefixation. These include:
a) Negative prefixation: i.e. un (unexpected), non (non-smoker), a (asymmetry).
b) Reversative or privative prefixes: to reverse an action i.e. un (untie), de (defrost), dis
(disconnect).
c) Pejorative prefixes: wrong or false i.e. pseudo (pseudo-intellectual), mal (maltreat).
d) Prefixes of degree or size: i.e. super (supermarket), sur (surtax), mini (miniskirt), arch
(archenemy).
e) Prefixes of attitude: i.e. co (cooperate), counter (counteract), anti (antisocial).
f) Prefixes of time and order: i.e. fore (foretell), pre (prewar), ex (ex-husband).
2.2.2 Suffixation: Unlike prefixes, suffixes frequently alter the word class of the base, they are mostly
derivative in nature. For example, the adjective kind, by the addition of the suffix ‘ness’ is changed into
an abstract noun ‘kindness’. Suffixation is a morphological process whereby a bound morpheme is
attached to the end of a stem. Although not all suffix are derivative in nature some also show inflection
i.e. the past tense suffix –ed attaches to the end of the stem ‘walk’ to form the past tense verb ‘walked’
also we have –n’t as in isn’t, cant etc.

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Derivative suffix are as follows:
a) Noun-noun suffix: i.e. –ster (gangster), -eer (engineer), -er (teenager) etc.
b) Noun-adjective suffixes: -ful (useful), -less (childless), -like (childlike).
c) Verb-noun suffixes: -er, -or as in driver, director, actor. ee as in (employee), -ing (driving,
building).
2.2.3 Conversion: This is also called Zero derivative, a kind of word formation. Specifically, it is the
creation of a word (of a new word class) from an existing word (of a different word class) without any
change in form (Bauer 2005). A very important point about conversion is ‘context’. The conversion of
any word can only be achieved depending on the context, and the knowledge of the interlocutors. For
example, the verb ‘release (as in they released him) corresponds to a noun phrase (as in they ordered his
release), also the noun ‘nurse’ ( as in the nurse are on strike in hospitals) corresponds with the verb (as
in nursed his wounds by himself), this process under conversion is called verbification. It typically
involves simple conversion of a non-verb to a verb. Verbification may have a reputation with some
English users because it is such a potent source of neologisms.
2.2.4 Compounding: A compound is a unit consisting of two or more bases (Quirk and Greenbaum
1973). It is the process of combining two words (free morphemes) to create a new word, (O’Gordy et al
2009). They went further by asserting, compounds are written sometimes as are word (sunglasses),
sometimes as two hyphenated words (life-threatening) and sometimes as two separate words (football
stadium). Types:
a) Compound adjectives: Two or more words (such as part-time or high speed) that act as a single
idea to modify a noun. They are also called phrasal adjectives or compound modifier. i.e. some

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Americans travel abroad in search of high-quality, low-cost medical care. As a general rule, the
words in a compound adjective are hyphenated when they come before a noun i.e. (a well-known
actor).
b) Compound noun: Compound nouns are written as two separate words (grapefruit juice) as
words linked by a hyphen (sister-in-law), or as one word (school teacher). A compounded noun
whose form no longer clearly reveals its origin (such as bon fire or marshal) is sometimes called
an amalgamated compound
Besides the above named types of word formation, we can also include: Reduplication, blending and
clipping for the purpose of this research following the definition of Quirk and Greenbaum (1973).
2.2.5 Blending: It is the process of fragmenting different elements to derive a word, it is regarded as
highly informal, but some have become more or less fully accepted in the language e.g motel from
motor + hotel, smog from smoke + fog, Brunch from breakfast + lunch. Many blends have a short life
and are majorly used by younger generation, since they merge sounds and meaning of two or more
words together.
2.2.6 Clipping: The term clipping denotes the subtraction of one or more syllables from a polysyllabic
word such as ‘cell’ from ‘cellular’. A clipped form generally has the same denotative meaning as the
word it comes from but it is regarded as colloquial and informal i.e. examination, laboratory, influenza,
advert, veterinary, doctor, maximum, limousine, referee, tuxedo. Several clipped forms also show
adaptation such as ‘fries’ (from French fried potatoes), ‘Betty’ (from Elizabeth), and ‘Will’ (from
William), Crystal (2003).

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2.2.7 Reduplication: The coinage of new words and phrases into English has been greatly enhanced
by the pleasure we get from playing with words. There are numerous alliterative and rhyming idioms,
which are significant feature of the language. These aren’t restricted to poets and musicians alone,
everyone uses them i.e. hanky-panky. The repeating of parts of words to make new forms is called
reduplication. Most of the reduplicatives are highly informal or familiar, and many are derived from
nursery rhyme i.e. okeydokey, wee-wee, zigzag. The impetus for the coinages of these words seems to
be nothing more than enjoyment of wordplay, recently we have the addition of bling-bling, boko,
mumbo-jumbo, nitty-gritty, etc.
2.3 SYNTAX: This is the study of rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form
phrases, clauses and sentences, Hagris (2008). Syntax is one of the major components of grammar. It is
the arrangement of words in a sentence. Traditionally, linguists have recognized a basic distinction
between syntax (which is primarily concerned with the ways in which words are put together in
sentences) and morphology (which is primarily concerned with the internal structures of words).
However, this distinction has been somewhat disrupted by recent research in Lexico-grammar (Richard
Nordquist 2014).
“Colourless green ideas sleep furiously”. Linguist Noam Chomsky created this sentence - which
is grammatically correct, but incomprehensible to demonstrate that the rules governing syntax and
distinct from the meaning words convey. Chomsky (1971) went further by asserting syntax as the study
of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular languages. Syntactic
investigation of a given language has as it goal the construction of a grammar that can be viewed as a

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device of some sort for producing the sentences of the language under analysis.The second important
feature of language, and one more central to syntax, is that languagemakes infinite use of finite set of
rules or principles, the observation of which led the development of generative linguistics in the 20th
century (cf. Chomsky 1965). A language is a system for combining its parts in infinitely many ways.
One piece of evidence of the system can be observed in word-order restrictions. If a sentence is an
arrangement of words and we have 5 words such as man, ball, a, the, and kicked, how many possible
combinations can we have from these five words? More importantly, are all of these combinations
grammatical sentences? Mathematically, the number of possible combinations of 5 words is 5!
(factorial), equalling120 instances. But among these 120 possible combinations, only 6 form
grammatical English sentences:
1(1) a. The b. A man kicked the ball.
c. The ball kicked a man.
d. A ball kicked the man.
e. The ball, a man kicked.
f. The man, a ball kicked.
All the other 114 combinations, a few of which are given in (2), are unacceptable to native
speakers of English. I used the notation * to indicate that a hypothesized example is ungrammatical.
(2) a. *Kicked the man the ball.
b. *Man the ball kicked the.
c. *The man a ball kicked.

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It is clear that there are certain rules in English for combining words. These rules constrain
which words can be combined together or how they may be ordered, sometimes in groups, with
respect to each other man kicked a ball.(Kim & Sells 2007)
It is syntax that gives the words the power to relate to each other in a sequence, to carry meaning
of whatever kind as well as glow individually in just the right place. Burgess (1968), Lee Baker (1995)
also postulated that it is a mistake to believe that some English speakers follow rules in their speech and
others do not. Instead, it now appears that all English speakers are successful language learners. They all
follow unconsciousness derived from their early language development, and the small differences in the
sentences that they prefer are best understood as coming from small differences in the rules… the
differences of the sort that we are looking at here follow lines of social class and ethnic group rather
than geographical lines. Thus we can speak of social varieties or social dialects.
2.4 COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION
Technically speaking, computer mediated communication (or just CMC as it’s commonly known) has
been around since the first electronic digital computer was invented (some time during World War II),
or at least since the first recorded exchange of prototype emails in the early 1960s. From these moments
on, people have been communicating about, and by means of, computer technology. Either way, the
history of computer mediated communication is little more than fifty years old. For most of us it is hard
to imagine a time when computers where not such an integral part of our lives, and it is only really been
in the last twenty years that computers have gone from being highly technical and specialist to being

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personal and popular. Certainly, by the 1990s, personal computers had sprouted like mushrooms on the
desks
Computer mediated communication is an interactive exchange on any computer device. It is a
facility that enables people to simulate, to a large extent, face to face discussion online. A participant
posts his or her contribution and this is available for reading (for a long period which may run into
years), by him or her and other participants who may be resident in different countries all over the world
but united by a common language and interest.
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has been defined as "synchronous or asynchronous
electronic mail and computer conferencing, by which senders encode in text messages that are relayed
from senders' computers to receivers (Walther, 1992, p. 52). While the term has traditionally referred to
those communication that occur via computer-mediated formats (e.g., instant messaging, email, chat
rooms), it has also been applied to other forms of text based interaction such as text messaging.
Research on CMC focuses largely on the social effects of different computer supported communication
technologies.
Scholars form a variety of fields study phenomena that can be described under the umbrella of
CMC. For example, many take a socio-psychological approach to CMC by examining how human
beings use “computers or digital media” to manage interpersonal interaction, form impressions and form
and maintain relationships. These studies have often focused on the differences between online and
offline interactions, though contemporary research is moving towards the view that CMC should be
studied as embedded in everyday life. Another branch of CMC research examines the use of
paralinguistic features such as emoticons, pragmatic rules such as turn taking and the sequential analysis
and organization of talk and the various sociolects, styles and registers or sets of terminology specific to

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these environments. The study of language in these contexts is typically based on text-based forms of
CMC, and is sometimes referred to as “computer mediated discourse analysis”.
The way humans communicate in professional, social and educational settings varies widely,
depending upon not only the environment but also the method of communication in which the
communication occurs, which in this case is through computers or other information and communication
technologies (ICTs).
Popular forms of CMC include email, video, audio or text chat (text conferencing including
“instant messaging”), bulletin boards and MMOs. These settings are changing rapidly with the
development of new technologies. Weblogs (blogs) have also become popular, and the exchange of RSS
data has better enabled users to “become their own publishers”.
The first analysis of computer-mediated discourse appeared in 1985, where Dennis Murray gave
a very detailed analysis of the types of discourses which were prevalent in CMC. Since the early 1990s
there has been a rapid growth in research into computer mediated communication and computer
mediated discourse, the complexity of communicative situations with humans interacting together
through computers has turned out to be much more multifaceted than originally envisioned. There is
wide spread acceptance for example, in second language acquisition, that the use of electronically
mediated communication has definite benefits for learners (Thorne, 2006; Warschauer, 1996 as cited in
Fitzpatrick & Donnelly, 2010). The benefits which are cited range from the acquisition of metalinguistic
structures such as grammar to pragmatic competence and intercultural competence. Language learning
was one of the early adopters of CMC and the benefits of usage to second language acquisition has been
well documented in the field over two decades (Belz&Kinginger, 2002; Thorne, 2006; Warschauer,

22
1996). The benefits which are cited range from the acquisition of metalinguistic structures such as
grammar to pragmatic competence and intercultural competence.
One of the main distinctions that has been made in CMC is between synchronous (real time) and
asynchronous (delayed time) communications. Synchronous - refers to, real time communications as
between two people in a face-to-face discussion, or talking on the phone, or as in a one-to-many form,
such as a lecture has its equivalent within CMC in chat rooms and similar environment. These forms
have been used within educational contexts, but in general, asynchronous form seem predominate,
wherein there is potentially significant time delay between sending a message and it been read. In offline
communication, this latter form is similar to letter writing, or sending faxes or most time as its usual
manifestation in email discussion lists and most forms of bulletin board and computer conference.
In her discourse analysis of CMC, Herring (1999) goes as far as to say that “violations of
sequential coherence are the rule rather than the exception CMC”. Herring submits that there may be a
direct causal link between the lack of coherence in synchronous CMC and its propensity for language
play. In doing so, she goes beyond a description of synchronous CMC and asks what is about
synchronous CMC that may explain its propensity for language humour and play. Herring argues that
CMC violates a conversational maxim, namely the maxim of relevance that states that a speaker’s
contribution must be on the current topic (Grice 1975, 1978, 1989). Spontaneous verbal humour and
play is not restricted to synchronous forms of CMC. Asynchronous CMC - refers to email or discussion
boards, which lacks the speed and ephemerality, but not the interactivity of synchronous CMC (Danet,
2001), has been associated with an abundance of non-serious discourse. Even electronic mailing list
messages show evidence of spontaneous humour because, like their oral or synchronous CMC
counterparts, they are “created out of ongoing discourse” (Mulkay 1988, p. 63, cited in Hubler& Bell,
2003, p. 279). However, the fact that synchronous CMC lacks the speed and ephemerality of

23
synchronous CMC may foster more carefully crafted or sophisticated humour tokens as well as more
careful reading in asynchronous CMC (Hubler& Bell, 2003).
The synchronous modes (SCMC) include Internet Relay Chat (IRC or chat), instant messaging
(IM), and multi-user virtual realities (MOOs and MUDs), Internet phone, audio and video conferencing,
texting (a.k.a. SMS) while the asynchronous modes (ACMC) include email, bulletin boards, forums,
audio boards, blogs, wikis and video clip websites like YouTube. To date, research has focused on text-
only CMC.
CMC and CMD though have some characteristics in common but are quite different. Computer-
mediated discourse is the communication produced when human beings interact with one another by
transmitting messages via networked computers and sometimes mobile phones. The study of computer-
mediated discourse (henceforth CMD) is a specialization within the broader interdisciplinary study of
computer-mediated communication (CMC), distinguished by its focus on language and language use in
computer networked environments, and by its use of methods of grammar and pragmatics to address that
focus because most CMC currently in use are text-based, that is, messages are typed on a computer
keyboard and read as text on a phone screen, typically by a person or persons at a different location from
the message sender.
2.5 SOCIAL NETWORK SITE (SNS): New technologies have changed the ways in which people
interact and collaborate over a distance. Users can stay connected over a network and practice new ways
of collaborative working. Instead of working face-to-face most of the time, today many people
collaborate with remote peers via the Internet. In professional work life, employees in distributed
companies collaborate via distributed work groups, workers in distant parts of a virtual organization can
form dynamic ad-hoc teams for a step in a production process, and people participate in virtual

24
communities to increase their professional capabilities. This process is also visible in private life, where
computer users increasingly participate in communities to make their lives easier or more interesting. As
a result, more and more applications are designed for use by more than one user. Domains in which this
has become obvious are multi-player games, websites that foster interaction among visitors, applications
for interaction between mobile users, systems that foster collaborative learning, interactive workspaces
and smart environments, or peer-to-peer applications, to name only a few. In such areas we can see a
shift in interest from human computer interaction to computer-mediated human interaction
(Schumer&Lukosch, 2007). Since their introduction, social networks site such as MySpace, Facebook,
and Beebo have attracted millions of users many of whom have integrated these sites into their daily
practices, also there are hundreds of SNS with various affordances, supporting a wide range of interests
and practices. Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups like small rural
communities or a neighbour subdivision, if you will. Although social networking is possible in person,
especially in the work place, universities and secondary schools, SNS is the most popular online.
This is because unlike most high schools, colleges or work places, the internet is filled with
millions of individuals who are looking to meet other people, to gather and share first-hand information
and experiences about variety issues. When it comes to online social networking, websites are
commonly used. These websites are known as social sites, social networking websites function like an
online community of internet users. Depending on the websites in question, many of these online
community members share common interests in hobbies, religion, politics, and alternative lifestyle.
The friends one can make on social networks are just one of the many benefits to social
networking online. Another one of these benefits includes diversity because the internet gives
individuals from all around the world access to social networking sites. This means that although you
are in New York (The United States), you could develop an online friendship with someone is Mushin

25
(Nigeria) or (India) Mumbai. Not only will one meet new friends but might learn a thing or two about
new cultures, new languages and also new ways of using languages. SNSs belong to that kind of digital
media production that is interactive and digitally distributed by dint of the Internet or the World Wide
Web, namely new media (Herring, 2004a, p. 47). Through this lens, SNSs are defined as web-based
services which enable users to (1) create a public or semi-public profile within a circumscribed system;
(2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, the so-called “friendship”, and (3)
view and browse not only their list of connections but also those made by others within the system
(boyd& Ellison, 2007, pp. 211). In accordance with this definition, the first recognizable SNS was
Sixdegrees.com (sixdegrees.com), launched in 1997 and shut down in 2000. SNSs have pioneered a new
route to networked practices given that it is users themselves who determine and shape the service
content and style (Zikos, 2007, p. 124). The profile page functions as their personal web page and
comprises information ranging from their date of birth, gender, hometown, religious and political
beliefs, and current mood to their favorite films, quotes and activities in their leisure time. Moreover,
users are capable of designing the appearance of their page by adding graphics, photos, music and
videos (Livingstone, 2008; Ofcom, 2008). The recent widespread popularity of SNSs has been propelled
by an unparalleled combination of factors (Ofcom, 2008). In the first place, increased connection speeds
along with broadband avail- ability allow limitless Internet access even for domestic use.
The individuals that feel confident in using information and communication technologies are
multiplied in geometric progression due to their daily exposure to computer-mediated modes of
communication convoyed by the acquisition of Internet literacy. In tandem, SNSs favour
unsophisticated, user-friendly programs in designing. What is more, they are chiefly based on managing
interpersonal relationships and connections (Dwyer, 2007) rather than on merely sharing interests
(boyd& Ellison, 2007, p. 219). Finally, a plethora of extra applications, such as email, micro-blogging,

26
instant messaging, quizzes, polls, games, and photo collages have enhanced the versatility of SNSs. In
line with Schau and Gilly (2003, p. 392), the initial impetus for constructing a personal web page, and
therefore a profile page on a SNS, can derive from (a) a triggering event, (b) a desire for personal
growth, and (c) advocacy. A triggering event refers to either a crucial personal or professional change
(graduation, promotion, marriage, parenthood), or an external prompt (administrative mandate, social
prodding). On the other hand, a desire for personal growth may involve an educational achievement
(mastering of a technology), professional and personal self-promotion (search for clients, find friends/a
date) or an exercise in self-discovery. The third reason, advocacy, embays the cases where users pay
homage to a favorite artist, artistic work or social cause.
Finally, Boyd & Ellison (2007) define social network sites as a web based services that allow
individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other
users with whom they share a connection and view, traverse their list of connects and those made by
others within the system. What makes SNS unique from all other computer mediated communication is
not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but rather, that they enable users to articulate and make
visible their social views.
2.6 FACEBOOK AS A SOCIAL NETWORK
The notion that social networking especially Facebook has drastically changed or influenced the use of
language among internet surfers is the subject matter of this study, the idea that language is used in
variety of ways, sometimes anomalously to create meaning. Facebook was designed to support distinct
college networks only Facebook began in early 2004 as a Harvard only SNS (Cassidy, 2006), to join, a
user had to have a Harvard.edu email address. As Facebook began supporting other schools, those users
were also required to have university email addresses associated with those institutions.

27
Beginning on September 2005, Facebook expanded to include high school students, professionals inside
corporate networks, and eventually everyone (Boyd and Ellison 2007) furthermore, Facebook has added
many new features to their website, the inclusion of news feed, more privacy features, Facebook notes,
instant messaging, surfers are literally dwelling in Facebook when they send messages, update their
status, comment on posts, create events, share and send gifts, play games, market and create groups.
Facebook has become a go to location to vent ones anger publicly but in the confines of the social
network where people share publicly or privately their taste, ideas, opinions and interest. It is becoming
a new ‘social-dash board’ (Petro 2011).
Facebook also provides rich sources of naturalistic behavioural data. Profile and linkage data from
Facebook can be gathered either through the use of automated collection techniques or through data sets
provided directly from the company, enabling network analysis researchers to explore large scale
patterns of friendly, usage and other visible indicators (Boyd &Huberman 2007) examined an
anonymized data set consisting of 362 million messages exchanged by over million Facebook users for
insight into friendship and messaging activities. In September 2012 facebook had over one billion active
users of which approximately nine percent are fake at the end of January 2014, 1.23 billion users were
active on the website every month,while on December 31, 2013 945 million were identified as mobile
users (Dominic 2014). The company celebrated its tenth anniversary in the week of February 3, 2014 in
each of the first three months in 2014, over one billion logged into Facebook on a mobile device
(McDuling 2014).

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2.7 CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Baron (1984: 131) predicted that participants in computer conferences would use ‘fewer subordinate
clauses’ and ‘narrow range of vocabulary’ and the expressive functions of language could be diminished
as a result of communication over time. The impact of social network sites especially Facebook is a
growing concern among scholars, the infiltration of informal language used and incorrect word use
among Facebook surfers into real life situations are of great concern. Also the growing participation of
socially oriented discourse partners has evolved a lexicon that tries to simulate physical cues for more
effective social communication.
Crystal (2004) examines the role of language in the internet and effect of the internet on language. In his
book he investigates whether the internet is emerging as a homogenous linguistics medium or a
collection of distinct dialects reflecting the different backgrounds, needs, purposes and attitudes of its
users, or whether it is an aggregation of trends and idiosyncratic usages that defy classification.
The internets impact on language especially Facebook is an important and crucial aspect as it affects and
involves the education of current and future generation. The issues of spellings and informal grammar
occurring at a higher frequency among individuals who are Facebook surfers, such as ‘U’ for you, ‘2’
for to, ‘luv’ for love and so on.

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CHAPTER THREE
DATA ANALYSIS
3.0 INTRODUCTION
The rich features of language have made it possible to convey the same message using different style.
Facebook users harness the rich resources that language provides through its dynamicity to
communicate and at the same time achieve a stylistic effect.This chapter focused on the analysis of data
for this research, these data were analysed with the use of systemic functional linguistics. And to achieve
a proper exegesis of the data, the concentration of this work was restricted to Facebook comments and
posts.
3.1 MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
Morphology is the study of word formation – how words are built up from smaller pieces. When
we do morphological analysis, then, we’re asking questions like, what pieces does this word have? What
does each of them mean? How are they combined ?In general, when you’re asked to do any sort of
linguistic analysis, you’ll be given a set of data – words or sentences from some language that generally
isn’t, but occasionally is, English – and asked to find patterns in it.In doing this analysis I will consider
collocational clashes, affixations, compounding, conversion, reduplication, clipping etc.
3.1.1 COLLOCATIONAL CLASHES
Collocation is a familiar grouping of words, especially words that habitually appear together and
thereby convey meaning by association. Collocation range refers to the set of items that typically
accompany a word. The size of a collocation range is partially determined by word’s level of specificity

30
and number of meanings (Nordquist 2014). Collocation is thus the relationship between two words or
group of words that often go together and form a partnership. Two or more words become glued
together implying a proper order which make it easy for speakers of L1 to predict what comes next once
they have heard the first one.
There is a collocation clash when words are placed together which should not occur together, according
to the rules or usage of a particular language. A collocational clash occur s when there is some semantic
or pragmatic incompatibility between the words. Consequently, it is important to raise awareness of
finding the right partner and that a right partner in one language doesn’t necessarily mean it can be
applied to another even if they genetically related. Translators too need to be aware of these linguistic
partnership and clashes.
Extract:
1. She is getting a baby (Having) .(12/05/14)
2. Am feeling her love pangs. (23/9/12)
3. LHM! Bomb on broad daylight.(9/05/14)
Extracts 1 and 3 are typical Facebook messages among young Nigerians. It is understandable that
English is the second language or L2, but in their defence it is excusable to misappropriate verbs.
Example 1, ‘getting a baby’ is correct grammatically, but pragmatically, it can be implied that the
subject is buying a baby not giving birth. Also example ‘3’ is one of the highest criminal offence
committed on Facebook by both intellects and laymen. ‘Broad’ has been bastardized to include the
description of daylight also, ideally when two or more words are glued together it is basically for easy

31
prediction. But in the above extract there are some sort of semantic or pragmatic incompatibility
between the words , other instances of clashes in collocation are given below.
4. “As a result from …”(23/9/12)
5. “ it is audible to the blind and visible to the blind(9/05/14)
3.1.2 AFFIXATION
An Affix is a morpheme which only occurs when attached to some other morpheme such as root or
stem or base, obviously by explanation affixes are bound morphemes. Affixes are generally either prefix
or suffixes.
3.1.2.1 PREFIXES
Prefixes do not generally alter the word class of the base they are affixes that are attached before a root.
6. Unfriend this nigga jor. (15/11/12)
7. Unlike (as in page) the comment.
8. Unlove your haters and love God. (15/11/13)
9. What do you like or Dislike in love? (20/11/13)
10. REMAKE the comment, I couldn’t find the former one. (11/10/13)
11. Your post in Untidy, I can’t understand it. (16/10/13)

32
12. I saw my Ex boyfriend’s mum. (17/04/14)
There are several reasons we usually need to form new lexical items when we use a language. In the first
place, we may require a lexical form to name some new ideas, beliefs, products, practice etc, which
none of the lexical items already present in the language can be extended to cover.
The lexical item ‘unfriend’ formed by two morpheme: ‘UN-‘- a negative prefix inflected on a free
morpheme ‘FRIEND’.noun
“UN” + “friend” = (Inflectional affixation) “Reverse the action of friendship” is coined to situate the
opposite of being friends with an individual on Facebook: same as example (2) Unlike. This “unlike” is
different from the typical “unlike” we use during speech. The example (2) stands for the direct opposite
of the word “LIKE” which is also a reversal of…
“UN” negative prefix + “LIKE” = (Inflectional affixation)
Reversal of LIKE
Prefix Word class of input
base
Meaning Word class of output
word
UN- Verb Not Verb (Unlove)
DIS- Verb Not Verb (Dislike)
RE- Verb Again Verb (Remake ,
Repaying)

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UN- Adjective … Adjective (Untidy)
Ex- Noun Former Noun (Ex-boyfriend)
3.1.2.2 SUFFIX
Suffixes frequently alter the word class of the base; they are added after the root or base
13. The PREDICTIVE ability of the world’s intellectual class to study the present and past, as an
impetus for laying eclectic emphasis on FUTURISTIC calculations… (23/05/14)
14. “I remember my childhood days…” (27/06/13)
15. I will tell you again, kindly come to my room! (24/09/13)
16. Jonathan is POWERLESS and we know it (9/05/14)
17. Wao my baby, your love is medicinal (23/05/14)
18. He is humorless… (9/05/14)
19. Our government is insincere (9/05/14)
20. Membership to the group is closed (11/03/14)

34
21. All I want from my wife is SINCERITY (9/07/13)
22. U dey watch how reader dey read ni? (11/03/14)
Suffix Word class of input
base
Meaning Word class of output
word
-IVE (+Predict) Verb Indicating a tendency Adjective (Predictive)
-hood N (child) Status Noun (abstract)
-ly Adjective (kind) Manner Adverb (kindly)
-less Noun (power) ‘Without’ Adjective (Powerless)
-al Noun (Medicine) ‘of the kind’ Adjective (Medicinal)
-less Noun (Humour) ‘lacking’ Adjective
(humourless)
-ment Verb (govern) ‘result or product of
noun doing the action
indicated by the verb’
Noun (government)
-ship Noun (Member) “State or condition” Noun (abstract
“membership”)

35
-ity Adjective (Sincere) “State or condition” Noun (abstract
“sincerity”)
-er Verb (Read) “agent who does
whatever the verb
indicates”
Noun (reader)
3.1.2.3. MULTIPLE AFFIXATION
Words may have multiple affixes either with different suffixes or with the same prefix recurring as seen
in some Facebook comments and posts below:
23. Dat was a contradictory comment made by goke. (23/05/14)
Root- dict (verb): < round one: prefixation> : (contra-preposition) output: contradict (verb)
Base- contradict (adjective): <round two: add suffixation > (-ory adjective) contradictory(adjective)
The above extract is an example of ways in which complex words are formed by creating bases which
contains several derivational morphemes. A word have multiple affixes when suffixes and prefixes
appears in sequence in the word.
3.1.3.COMPOUNDING
This has been explained in the previous chapter. A compound word that is formed from two or more
simple or complex words. It is probably the most common one in today’s English because it is so

36
productively used in technical languages. Compounding is a process whereby two or more individual
words are combined as one. Here are a few examples in Facebook comments:
24. When shall I love football? Foot+ball= noun
25. Happy birthday to u my dear. Long life and prosperity. Birth (verb) + day (noun)= noun
26. “…Do you really need sugar mummy or sugar lesbian…”
27. Sweetheart mi atata. You look powerfully breathtaking. Where was I? Sweet (adjective) + heart
(noun)
28. I doubt if 10 percent of my “Facebook friends” are enlightened.Face (noun) + book (noun)
29. Wot exactly do you want? Teapot or teaspoon [tea] N [pot]N
30. This ur lipstick is tempting…..hmmmm [lip] N [stick] N
31. Let us rendezvous at the fastfood now… [fast] Adverb [food] Noun
32. All dis tales by moonlight [moon] N [light]
33. Is ur blackberry waterproof [water] N [proof]
We would remember that a prototypical compound is a word made up at least of two bases
which can occur elsewhere as independent words. I will like to concentrate on the productive or creative
types of compounding, and indicate the likely syntacticrelations of compounding elements by
paraphrasing.

37
24b. Football, i.e, the ball is kicked with the feet. This example is an example of BAHUVRI compound,
because it names an entire thing by specifying some features (Noun + Noun)
25b. BIRTHDAY, i.e, the date of birth. This example is a typical verb and object compound: the day of
ones birth (verb+noun)
26b. Sugar mummy. This example is only accepted in this part of the world and has a compound word
because it has its origins from this society, it is a sexual relationship between a young man and an
elderly woman, the opposite is the sugar daddy. It is a normal colloquial usage in our part of Africa,
thus, it cannot be easily subdued to grammatical analysis since the meaning is basically a “rich woman
with younger male partners.” So it can be referred to the BAHUVRIHI compound (Adjective + Noun)
27b. Sweetheart, i.e, ‘x’ heart is sweet. This is a verbless compound (Adjective + Noun)
28b. Teacup and Teaspoon, i.e. a cup for tea and a spoon for tea respectively. They are also verbless
compounds (Noun + Noun)
29b. Lipstick, i.e. the stick for the lips. Verbless compound (Noun + Noun)
30b. Fast food, i.e. food served fast. Pragmatically, it implies an already prepared dish or food that is
ready without prior notice like in a restaurant.Adverbial and noun compounds.Adverbial + Noun. (It is
also spaced)
31b. Moonlight, i.e. the light of the moon. This is a noun compound. Noun + Noun or a verbless
compound.
32b. Waterproof, i.e. ‘x’ is waterproof. This is a Bahuvrihi compound as well as Noun + Noun.
33. The score line is a bit flattering to Burkina Faso

38
34. @Morris, shut up urdirty mouth, we deserve…
35. u Nigerians and Ghanians who ersayndat Zambia ws luck last, …its about hardworking and
determination
33b. Scoreline: This is another Bahuvrihi compound it is specifying the feature of the goalpost
(Noun+Noun)
34b. Dirty mouth (Adjective + Noun) i.e. he has a dirty mouth or a mouth that is dirty. Bahuvrihi
35b. Hardworking (Adjective/adverb + -ing participle). It is an example of vrb and adverbial
compounds. This word is a combination of both compounding and affixation, with the ‘-ing’ affix added
to inflect a new meaning on hardwork.
3.1.4. CONVERSION
We have seen that complex words may be formed by compounding or by affixation, or by a combination
of the two. Words may be formed without modifying the form of the input that serves as the base.
According to Aremo (2004: 605), in conversion, a lexical item is simply shifted from one grammatical
class (Noun + Verb, etc) to another. According to Leech (1969:43), functional conversion “is another
means of extending the vocabulary of a speech in English.” It consists in adapting an item to a new
grammatical function without changing its form. It is also called a ZERO derivation.
36. Laugh (verb-noun conversion)= laugh it off
37. Sweet or bitter (adjective-noun)= love is sweet or bitter
38. Love (noun-verb)= never hurt a heart that is in love coz it might never learn toloveagain
39. The meeting was chairmaned by the Minister. ( was presided over) noun – verb

39
40. Dreams only last one night… (Survives) Last = adj – verb
41. Missing you can turn from pain to pleasure. (Adjective – Noun)
As said earlier, conversion is also referred to as zero derivation and subsumed under
affixation according to Katamba 1993, by analogy to zero affixation in inflectional morphology
it is claimed that zero morphs (i.e. one lacking any overt marking) one used as suffixes in
derivational morphology as well.
3.1.5. REDUPLICATION
As seen in the literature, Reduplication is a common morphological process that most
languages use informing words. It occurs when a part of a whole word or phrase is repeated to
form new word. According to O’Gardy and Gozman (1996:143), reduplication is a “common
morphological process in certain languages which duplicates all or part of the base to which it
applies to mark a grammatical or semantic contrast.” Changing or expanding the meaning of an
existing word
42. NgorNgorMatem, Goood but the problem with these African players (11/02/14)
43. hiphiphiphurraaaayyyyy (13/02/14)
44. Deytry but oganaoga up Nigeria (11/02/14)
45. Nigeria ehee Nigeria ahaaa (12/02/14)
46. Real African champions are back for real… we won hehehehehehehe (11/02/14)
47. God forbid hahahahaha (11/02/14)
48. You dnt know anything about football Kankan (13/02/14)
49. H.I.P 4 de hip 4 DE HIPOPO POPO 4 HIP ZAMBIAN… (11/02/14)
50. The game was boring, boring, boring. Didn’t enjoy the match (11/02/14)

40
51. Chipolopolo were like dodo (11/02/14)
52. Mubita hah haaaahhheee (13/02/14)
53. 9ja, 9ja, 9ja, 9ja, 9ja … 4 lyf (12/02/14)
In the various examples given above which one from the data available, reduplication is
realized mostly by phonological materials borrowed from the base. The term reduplication as
seen in the above example is the repetition of certain parts of a word to serve some derivation or
inflectional purpose. Apparent examples
50b. The game was boring, boring, boring …
The lexical item boring was repeated thrice, this is basically inflecting or varying
how ‘dull’ the game is. It can also be said that at first at first sight one may conclude that
reduplication is nothing more than consistent, owing to example like
49b. …HiPOPOP POPO 4 HIP…
Originally it is meant to be written HIP, HIP, HURRAY, but the speaker repeats
or reduplicates to show excitement. Marantz (1982) stated a reduplication rule subsequently can
be formed in the segmental melody as we can see in
C V C V C V C V C V C V C V C V C V C V
H I P O P O P O P O h a h a h a h a h a
Note that these is no automatic spreading, basically, this segmental description is peculiar
to syllable timed languages like Nigeria. Not all languages, this Nigeria Facebook users most
times reduplicate by just inserting the ‘C.V’ Consonant – Vowel structure in lexical items.

41
3.1.6. CLIPPING
The term ‘clipping’ is the substitution of one or more syllable from a whole, a part of a
word which serves for the whole which is also available in its full form. This subtraction may
occur in the beginning of the word or at the end. Clipping as a lexical innovation process in
Facebook conversations aids the writer to economize this expressions faster also, since most of
the comments and posts are now online, clipping fosters speed in typing
54. Black berry Smart phones App (Application) (23/05/14)
55. Congrats man (Congratulation) (12/02/14)
56. To the Fans of MANU & BARCA enjoy the game and maintain peace. (Manchester
United & Barcelona) (28/05/10)
57. Goodnight y’al. (You all) (12/02/14)
58. … 48 + 2 members can sit in a Bus… 3 + 1 can sit on aauto, 1 + 1 can sit in a Bike.
Bus = Omni bus, Trolleybus, Motor bus, Auto = Automobile, Bike = Bicycle or Motorcycle
(6/11/12)
3.1.7. OBSCURE SPELLINGS AND ACRONYMS OR INITIALISM
One of the online linguistic features especially in Facebook is relexicalisation i.e.
shortening, the use of acronyms and emoticons. An acronyms is a word formed from the initial
letters of a group of words…
59. LWKMD - Laugh want kill me die
LOL - Laugh out loud
SM4 - Shake my head
ROTFL - Rolling on the floor laughing
LMAO - Laughing ass out

42
60. G2G - Gat to go
BRB - Be right back
LHM - Lord have mercy
OMG - Oh! My God
BTW - By the way
SMHV - Shake my heads vigorously
IDD - I don die
AFCON - African Cup of Nations
DDDD - DeyDiaDey Dull
IJN - In Jesus Name
All these are example of initialismsand not just an acronym. Initialismare letters representing a
longer phrase. Abbreviation itself forms a pronounceable word.
‘Laugh wan kill me die’ = ‘LWKMD is a combination of both English and Pidgin this
was coined presumably as a result of laziness to write the entire statement also, infact this same
reason is accountable to the formation of most of the acronyms and initialism
“G2G”, “IDD”, “DDDD”
The above initialisms are instances of the use of both English and Pidgin. In the
formation of phrases to create a stylistic effect, one can easily infer that this initials have their
origin in Nigeria and the popular among Nigerian Facebook surfers.

43
3.1.8. OBSCURE SPELLINGS
61. Naija, 9ja, Nija, 9ja –Nigeria
rili/ rily/ rily = reatly
owk = okay
Tnk, Thnx = Thanks
Seruz = Serious
Dos = Those
Becos = Because
Wanna = Want to
Coz = Cause
Pls = Please
Enta = Enter
Dis = This
Nw = Now
Dey = They
Im = Him
Jus = Just
Nway = anyway
9ce = Nice
Congratulasione (French) = Congratulations
Deseve = Deserve
Galor = Galone
Tho = Though

44
Yoh = You
Yaaayy = Yea
Appctn= Appreciation
Afta = After
Yunga = Younger
Leta = Leta
All these spellings and acronyms are typical of Nigerian Facebook surfers, they
are a backlash of different borrowings from European and American slangs. They are all
informal inappropriate in any other setting. Most of this spelling are as a result of phonological
interference i.e. “this” can be transcribed / dIs /, him/Im/ (unstressed), really / /, all these
spellings are closest to the pronunciation of the words. It is also noticed that there seems to be an
underlying rule guiding the conversion of certain combination of letters, although the users may
be oblivious of this trend, but it is peculiar to Facebook surfers. These examples are drawn from
different Facebook users in all cases the ‘-er’ is converted into ‘a’ / / instead of the schwa
sound / / i.e. after – afta, younger – yunga ,letter – leta, enter – enta
Thanks is spelled in variety of ways ‘Tnks’, ‘Tanx’, ‘Thnx’ respectively. The
pronunciation pattern, even ‘please’ is spelt ‘pls’ this spelling makes all the letters syllablic i.e.
‘P : i : l : i : s : i'
3.2.1. SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS
Yule (2006) puts it this way when we concentrate only on the structure and ordering of
component within a sentence, we are studying the syntax of language. Syntactic analysis will
show how different aspects of an utterance comes together to make such utterance what it is. The
purpose of syntactic analysis is to determine the purpose of input text. There are two ways of

45
typifying a sentence, either by Function or by Structure, functionally a sentence can be a
command, question, statement or exclamation. Structurally a sentence can be simple, compound,
complex or multiple sentence. The following subset of this segment carries out an examination
using systemic functional linguistics
. S P O(direct object)
Ø 62. You don’t have a point.
S P O (direct object)
Ø 63. You don’t wanna miss it.
S P C (subject complement)
Ø 64. That guy must be Akpors.
S P C (complement adjective)
Ø 65. Love is sweet or bitter
S P C (subject complement)
Ø 66. Love is everything
S P O (direct) A
Ø 67. You don’t know anything about football kankan
S P C
Ø 68. Chipolopolo were like dodo

46
Aremo(2004) posits that nine basic simple sentence pattern may be formed in English ,each is contained
with components that are arranged in hierarchy.
1. S.P
2. S P O(direct)
3. S P O(indirect) O(direct)
4. S P C (subject complement)
5. S P C (subject complement adjective)
6. S P A
7. S P O(direct) C(object complement)
8. S P O(direct) C(complement adjective)
9. S P O A
The examples above, culled from the data, show the instances of the use of simple sentence by
Facebook surfers, the components are {S} Subject, {P} Predicator, {O} Object, {C} Complement,
{A}Adjunct. The subject is the head of the sentence, it normally comes before the predicator which is
the verbal element. Subjects are realised by different parts of speech i.e noun, pronouns and nominal
verbs it can also be realised by nominal groups. Examples 4,5,7 are instances of sentences whose
subjects are realised by nouns, some pronouns also have a disntinctive form when they function as the
subject of as the subject of a clause or sentence i.e examples 1,2,6 0nly example 3 has a peculiar
structure in the subject position. The subject in example has an {M.H} Structure which stands for
Modifier and Headword.

47
64b. That guy must be Akpors.
The Predicator is the verbal element in sentences and its position relatively determines the function of
the sentence, the verbal element may be a single word or a verbal phrase. Examples 4,5,7are typical
single words predicator, while the rest are verbal phrase. Example 2 ‘don’t wanna miss’ as in ‘ do not
want to miss’ written in full.
The non-simple sentences are formedby combining two or more simple sentences in various ways.
69.
MichaelIbikunlelocked himself up in SUB while the students wait outside.
HeadModifier Predicator Complement
Subject
Complex Sentemce
C
S P A
Main Clause
P OS A
Sub. Conj
Subordinating Clause

48
70.
I will ignore him & leave there coz he cud be crazy.
Coordinated Clause Coord.Clause Subord. Clause
A S P O A A S P O
Ø 71 . When I got home that night as my wife served the dinner, I held her hand…
Subordinate clauseMain clause
Complex sentence
Complex Sent
S P O
Cord.Conj
P A
Surb.Conj
CS P C
Multiple Sent.
Compound Sent

49
Coordinating
S P A conjuction P A
Ø 72. It willstart on Sunday and end on Tuesday.
Coordinated clause Coordinated clause
Compound sentence
Coordinating conj. O
M H P(Verbal phrase)Odirect P MH A(prepositionalphrase)
Ø 73. A real man doesn’t love million girl but love one girl in a millions styles.
Coordinated clause Coordinated clause
Compound sentence
The examples above are instances of non-simple sentences. Example 8 and 10 are complex
sentences with a main clause and a subordinate clause. The subordinate clauses are functioning as

50
part of the main clause or independent clause. In example 8 the subordinating conjunction is ‘while’,
which joins the two clauses, while example 10 proves that subordinate clauses can come before the
main clause in syntactic construction, the sentence is introduced by subordinating conjunction
‘when’ an adverbial of time. The complex sentence is realised by a relationship of dependency
amongst the clauses. Sentence 11 and 12 are examples of compound sentences with two independent
clauses with coordinated conjunctions i.e (and,but) ‘and’ which is signifier of additional information
while ‘but’ signals a contrast in idea. The compound sentence is a relationship of independence; both
clauses can function alone and carry different but complementary meaning.Sentence 9 is a multiple
sentence or a compound complex sentence because it is an influx of both; it contains one subordinate
clause and two coordinated clauses. One must also comment on the use of ellipsis in the examples of
compound sentences. Ellipsis is achieved by intentionally deleting certain part of a sentence which
can be recoverable in other parts of the sentence. In example 12 “ a real man doesn’t love million
girl but * love 1 girl…” what has been ellipted here is the subject what has been ellipted there is the
SUBJECT which is recoverable in the first clause. Also example 11 “ it will start on Sunday and end
on Tuesday” the subject has also been ellipted to achieve cohesion and brevity in statement.

51
3.2.2. FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES
I listed the four major types of sentences that are associated with four major uses in
communication:
1) Declaratives for Statements.
2) Interrogative for Questions
3) Imperatives for Directives
4) Exclamatives for Exclamations
3.2.2.1. INTERROGATIVES: are sentences that asks questions and demand answers.
74) What do you want him to do? Hmmmm…
75) What is this one saying??...
76) …when will the management hold a congress
77) What did the guy do oo
They are called WH~ questions because most of the interrogative words begin with WH~. The
interrogative phrase contains contain interrogative words such as ‘what, when’ ‘what do you…’ when
will the…’ The interrogative word in WH~questions represents a missing piece of information that the
speaker wants the hearer to supply.
78) Can a first class graduate be jobless?
79.) Is it true that love is a sacrifice?

52
These above examples are Yes-No questions they all begin with a verb. They require subject operator
inversion, that is, a reversal of the order of subject and verb (the accepted order in declaratives). The
verb that appears before the subject is called an operator. They are called yes no because they expect the
answer yes or no. They may in fact be answered in other ways, for example, certainly; perhaps; I don’t
know, what do you think?
3.2.2.2DECLARATIVE SENTENCES: Declarative sentences are sentences that convey information
and also tend to be assertive in nature since they are statements.
80.) As long as the Heaven and the Stars exists… I’ll be there for you
81) hmmmmmmmm..a leader that refuses to listen to the voice of the masses is an unworthy one.
82) That guy must be Akpors
The declarative sentence has the form of a statement but the force of question, it is mostly signaled by a
rising intonation.
3.2.2.3 IMPERATIVE SENTENCES: Imperative sentences usually do not have a subject. If there is
no auxiliary, the verb has the base form they are also known as ‘commands’. Sometimes they signal
necessity or compulsion and are accompanied with force.
83) Leave this guy abeg (22/05/14)
84) Laugh it off!
85) If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving be me.

53
One peculiar feature of imperative statements is that they do not have a subject, if there is no auxiliary
verb, the verb has the base form.
3.2.2.4. EXCLAMATIVE SENTENCES: These sentences express strong feeling. More specifically
they indicate the extent to which the speaker is impressed by something.
86) I think of you!
87) it is like I can’t stop breathing!
88) how times flies!
The exclamative sentence is often times introduced by noun phrases, when How or What is used they
are used as intensifiers expressing a high degree.
3.2.3. CODE SWITCHING PATTERNS.
Akindele&Adegbite (1999) posit that code switching can be described as a means of
communication among interlocutors who alternates between more than onlanguage. A post or comment
that involves a native and foreign language is said to be an example of code switching.
89) yes na sheybi n aim u dy watch
90) …ikureeeededeegbo!!! Final gubaniterian funeral
91) bravo pour la coupe bon travail
92) …thank u! thank u! merci beaucoup! Obrigado! Gracias! Dankeso…
93) …you don’t know anything about football kankan
94) …go and drink potopoto useless man like u.

54
Examples 91 and 92 are particularly different because it is the influx of French and English ,basically
congratulating and showing appreciation. There are several reasons why code switching occurs in
comments and posts of Facebook surfers, most times it is because there is a lack of facility by the
speaker or language to express ones intention, also most Nigeria youth on Facebook use code switching
to convey confidentiality, anger, annoyance and possibly to exclude someone or people from a
conversation.
3.2.4.PIDGIN ON FACEBOOK.
“ A pidgin language is generally understood to be a simplified language” (Akindele&Adegbite
1999) . Most educators have a disgusting reaction to pidgin; they regard it has unacceptable and a
bastardized form of language. The present crop of Facebook users regard pidgin as an escape route from
formal English, they regard pidgin as humorous and easily understood. Instances from the data are…
95) leave dis guy I beg
96) udey watch ball for viewing centre
97) 1 guy enta seat next to u
98) broshwvana match demdey play?
99) abeg who dey play?
100) 9ja deyplay what we cal football
101) dey try but oganaoga up Nigeria
102) yesoooooooo we deserve am.

55
Despite the multiethnic nature of Africa and Nigeria as a whole, the youths have found pidgin a
suitable means of communication among friends instead of the English language. The youths have
integrated the English language with various indigenous Nigerian languages to form varieties of pidgin.
In the instances supplied above, one will notice that when using pidgin one can suspend the rules of
concord in sentences, which is a major stumbling block among youths, pidgin does not have a past or a
future tense it is formulaic. Speaking and writing English in the conventional pattern by any youth or
lover of social networks is boring and sometimes considered monotonous because it infers too much
seriousness and formality.

56
CHAPTER FOUR
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION
4.1. Summary
This research work has attempted to supply answers to the question on morphology and syntactic
structure of language use in Facebook. Over one hundred instances, downloaded from the internet were
used as data for this research. This served as cues and aids upon which the analysis of this research was
based. The features involved, affixation processes; word formation; pidgin English; code switching;
functional and structural analysis of sentences, all these were considered.
The analysis of these data revealed the skilful use of language by young Facebook surfers
especially Nigerians in expressing themselves to the world, the strategic and haphazard construction of
sentences and the intentional style portrayed in the usage.
4.2. Conclusion
The analysed data investigates morphological and syntactic innovations has the most widely used
method of interaction in Facebook comments and posts. It is evident that the language use in Facebook
portrays the ingenuity of Facebook surfers over the years, all they want to do is to express their mind in
ways they deem fit, although most times this Facebook users are oblivious of the fact that they are
inventing new trends in the grammar of English. The new trends ranges from initialization,
relexicalisation, usages of ellipsis in multiple sentences etc. these varied form of writing are mostly used
by literate Nigerians and Facebook surfers in general to communicate with their acquaintances since
both parties have a shared knowledge.

57
Since English has become the language of technology in most countries of the world and
ultimately the language of social networks and communication generally, people especially the youths
do not hesitate to embrace means that will enhance easy communication and make them interact easily
amongst peers, thus any form of writing whether it is deliberate or due to neglect is seen as another trend
on Facebook and is immediately copied and transferred among users. It is presumably easier to conclude
that letter writing is a dying genre, even now that there is the advent of “mobile Facebook” , users are
allowed access anywhere and anytime on their mobile phones to comment, post and even chat, this has
covered up the grammatical flaws in the writing of most Facebook surfers. Although Facebook does not
support this incompetence it rather abets it.
4.3. Recommendation
This research has presented the basic perception to one of the salient linguistic features of
Facebook, a further study is demanded to answer and profer solutions to issues that borders on the effect
of bilingualism on Facebook users or the outcome or the consequences of bilingualism on the language
of Facebook.
As educators, we should endeavour to equip our undergraduates with up to date analytical tools
for a more informed assessment and interpretation of educational materials and texts which they are
bound to encounter daily. Tentatively the findings of this study, although limited to the grammatical
features can be used as a springboard to teach the effect of linguistic items on comments and posts made
on Facebook and also the language culture of Facebook users.

58
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