Sharon Unuhiemi OJEMU

This study investigates the phenomena of code-switching and code-mixing between Hausa traders and Edo market women in Uselu Market, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. It examines how language operates as a tool for communication, negotiation, and social interaction within a multilingual market setting. Guided by Dell Hymes’ Ethnography of Communication framework, the study explores how participants strategically alternate between Edo, Hausa, and Nigerian Pidgin to achieve mutual understanding and maintain interpersonal relationships during trade exchanges. The research adopts a qualitative ethnographic design, utilizing participant observation and semi-structured interviews as primary methods of data collection. Data were drawn from naturally occurring market interactions and analyzed using Hymes’ SPEAKING model to identify linguistic patterns and communicative functions. Findings reveal that Nigerian Pidgin serves as the dominant lingua franca and bridge for communication between Hausa and Edo traders. Code-switching and code-mixing are employed to ensure clarity, express politeness, mark identity, and strengthen social bonds. The study further establishes that linguistic flexibility and tolerance are vital to sustaining daily market communication in a multilingual environment. Traders switch languages not only to facilitate business transactions but also to foster mutual respect, understanding, and peaceful coexistence. Nigerian Pidgin emerges as a unifying medium that enhances social cohesion among speakers from diverse linguistic backgrounds. Based on these findings, the study recommends greater recognition of Nigerian Pidgin as a practical and unifying language in multilingual communities. It should be integrated into sociolinguistic and educational discussions to reflect its real-life communicative significance in Nigeria’s linguistic landscape.