DIGLOSSIA AND BILINGUALISM IN NIGERIA: SIAMESE TWINS LANGUAGE IN USE

Abstract

The study sets to explore the linguistic situations in Nigeria with regards to diglossia and bilingualism. As a multilingual nation, this work seeks to ascertain whether there are definite roles assigned to languages in the linguistically diverse Nigerian society. It goes on to give a detailed description of the term diglossia and bilingualism and highlights the distinctive features of a diglossia situation as well as motivation for code switching. It further discusses the issue of code switching and the way it takes place in diglossic situations that exist in Nigeria. Finally, this paper points out the implications of the diglossic situations in Nigeria for English language. The methodology adopted is descriptive approach.