Morphological Features in the English Language of Selected Nigerian Paramilitary Formations in Akwa Ibom State

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate the official communicative activities among Nigerian paramilitary formations in Akwa Ibom State, with a view to determining the peculiar forms generated through morphological processes that occur in their interactions. The agencies selected for the study are: the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. The theoretical framework adopted for, and considered relevant to the study is Lieb’s Theory of Process Model of Word Formation. The theory offers a comprehensive approach which accounts for all processes of word formation in a unified way. Data used for the study were collected through participant observation and unstructured interview of personnel while on duty within the office environment using random sampling method. The findings indicate that the operatives used English language for their formal conversations to communicate paramilitary ideology. In addition, they were found to have used unique lexical choices created specifically to serve the communication needs of the interlocutors. It is therefore recommended that operatives of these agencies should ‘simplify’ their morphologically-conditioned terminologies in particular, and the language in general, such that the public which they are meant to serve could understand.