IDEHEN NETETE GLORY

Polygamous households create unique communicative environments where language functions as a medium for expressing power, negotiating relationships, and reinforcing or challenging social order. This study examines patterns of language use among the four wives in the harem of Mr. Osaro Obaze in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. The central problem addressed is the lack of sociolinguistic studies on domestic communication in Nigerian polygamous families, despite their prevalence. The main aim is to explore how language reflects hierarchy, rivalry, and cooperation in a multilingual family context. The research is guided by Dell Hymes’ Ethnography of Communication(THE SPEAKINGMODEL), which provides a framework for analyzing how speech events and communicative practices function within cultural settings. Data were collected through participant observation, interviews, and audio recordings of daily interactions and also spending time with the family. Findings reveal forty categories of language use, ranging from directive and competitive speech to collaborative and affectionate communication. The senior wife receives linguistic deference through honorifics, while strategic code-switching between Edo, Nigerian Pidgin English, and Standard English serves as a tool for inclusion, exclusion, and conflict negotiation. The study concludes that language in the harem is both a marker of hierarchy and a resource for managing relationships. It recommends further comparative research on language and gender in African polygamous households.