Anyway as a Pragmatic Marker in Nigerian and Ghanaian Englishes

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines pragmatic variation in the use of anyway between Nigerian English and Ghanaian English, in terms of its frequency, position, collocational patterns, pragmatic functions and occurrence in different text types. The data for the study, which are retrieved from the Nigerian and Ghanaian components of the International Corpus of English, are examined from a variational pragmatic framework. The results indicate that overall, there is no significant variance in the frequency of anyway between Nigerian English and Ghanaian English; however, there are significant differences in the frequency of anyway across different text types between the two varieties. Moreover, while anyway occurs most frequently at clause-initial position in Ghanaian English, it occurs most often at clause-final position in Nigerian English. Anyway performs different pragmatic functions in Nigerian English and Ghanaian English, including signalling affirmation, which is a function that has not been identified in other varieties of English. The study, thus, contributes to the research on anyway as a pragmatic marker as well as pragmatic variation in Nigerian English and Ghanaian English.