“I don dey crase?” – Code-alternation, Humour and Identity in Barclay Ayakoroma’s Dramatic Texts

Nigeria’s literary context provides ample instances of the multivalent functions to which language is put, indicating an inseparable conjunction between literature and the linguistic identity that produce it. It is against this significant background that we interrogate code alternation as a practical, context-driven linguistic technique deployed by Ayakoroma in the construction of humourous scenes and identities. We purposively selected Barclay Ayakoroma’s Castles in the Air and A Chance to Survive and other Plays for interrogation in this article because they provide sufficient examples of how various linguistic expressions are activated for the enunciation of humour and identities. Although the excerpts we analysed were randomly sampled, we focused specifically on dialogues between characters that illustrate the concurrence between hilarious situations and identity formulation. Anchoring our analysis within the analytical provisions ofsocial constructionism, the study reveals that literary characters consciously select certain codes in socio-discursive encounters to construct various forms of identities for themselves and for others. It is also observed that while trying to beamusing, that is, through strategic stylistic choices, identities are also constructed, reconstructed, negotiated and renegotiated by people and for people.

Keywords: Identity Social Constructionism Code Alternation Nigerian Pidgin in Dramatic Literature Humour

Authors

• James Okpiliya, PhD
  okpiliyaj@gmail.com
• Romanus Aboh, PhD
  romeaboh@gmail.com
  Department of English and Literary Studies
  University of Calabar, Nigeria