A SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF SWEARWORDS IN IBUSA

ABSTRACT
This work seeks to investigate the socio-linguistic analysis of swearwords in Enauni dialect among the Ibusa people. Swearwords are common phenomena in the Ibusa community and this work aims at examining the communicative and social implications of these swearwords.
This work therefore adopts the theory of ethnography of communication by Hymes, dell (1962, 1964). Hymes argues that the study of language concerns itself with describing and analyzing the ability of the native speakers to use language to communicate in real situations rather than limiting itself to describing the potential ability of the ideal speaker to produce grammatically correct sentences. The data which was collected from the dist ribution of questionnaires and brought for analysis, the questionnaire which was filled by the respondents to enable the continuity of the research. The findings reveal that swearwords are words used as a result of anger, and is rarely used by the people of Ibusa, and the findings also reveal that there is no gender difference with the use of swearwords, and both genders agree that swearwords are not forbidden. It is seen therefore that swearwords is most likely used in a mixed gender group.