On metonymy and other forms of motivation for some Nigerian English expressions

Abstract

Nigerian English (NE) gradually developed on the basis of British English (BE) in the wake of the British colonization of West Africa. Numerous expressions in both varieties have the same or closely similar forms but different meanings. Such differences are often motivated by the cognitive mechanism of metonymy. They involve two distinct paths of conceptualization and categories of usage: (i) expressions that do not function as metonymic sources in BE give rise to metonymies in NE; (i) the same metonymic sources in BE and in NE provide access to different extensions of the same targets in NE. Apart from conceptual metonymy, many instances of NE usage reflect two other motivating factors: the impact of the local socio-cultural experience and of the West African linguistic substratum. All three forms of motivation are often present within a single expression.