Implications of Diglossia and Code Switching in Nigeria For English Language Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This paper discusses 'diglossia', a sociolinguistic phenomenon, as it relates to code-switching in Nigeria as a multilingual society. It firstly, examines the suitability of the social and linguistic contexts involved in determining the linguistic code used by both bilinguals and multilinguals in different communicative situations. It goes on to give a detailed description of the term diglossia and code-switching and highlights the distinctive features of a diglossia situation as well as motivation for code-switching. It also examines the eccentric features of the varieties of languages involved in diglossic situations. It further discusses the issue of code switching and the way it takes place in diglossic situations. It then explores the various diglossic situations that exist in Nigeria and the patterns of code-switching in each diglossic situation. Finally, this paper points out the implications of the diglossic situations in Nigeria for English language teaching and learning