Morning Sir!: Identity Negotiation in Nigerian Army Barracks

In: Matatu, Band 49, Heft 1, S. 201-224

Abstract

Nigerian military army barracks are a rich domain in which soldiers and officers display different strands of their identity. A typical army barracks in Nigeria often accommodates many ethnic groups owing to the federal policy governing the recruitment of both soldiers and officers. Thus, it is common in the barracks for military men to be aware of their ethnic, linguistic, religious, and regional affiliations and to relate to one another based on these various affiliations. It is against this backdrop that the present study seeks to investigate how soldiers and officers make use of linguistic resources available to them to convey religious, occupational, ethnic, and linguistic identity in the barracks. Data for the study were collected from 46 military men, soldiers and officers, in four military barracks. The locationss are Akure, Enugu, Saki, and Zaria Barracks. The instruments used in gathering the data were questionnaire, face-to-face interviews, and participant observation. The study revealed that both soldiers and officers represent their occupational identity through the specific use of certain lexical items and slang, while their ethnic identity is signified through the use of ethnic and other local languages. Their personal names were also observed to be symptomatic of their religious identity.