ABSTRACT
Language is central to all our lives, and is arguably the cultural tool that sets humans apart from any other species.
This research work investigates Language Use among Foodstuff Sellers in Okada Market. In any field of human endeavour, there is peculiarity in the way language is used and it has been observed that foodstuff sellers in Okada market are no exception. Theyhavea way of using language in the context of their trade which is known asdomain. This is shown in how they interact with buyers, strangers and how they draw attention to what they sell, the way they name the tools of their trade and how they bargain to close the sales. Therefore, this study focuses on the use of language to negotiate trade in the aforementioned circumstances.
In order to conduct the study, personal observation was combined with recorded interview to gather the required data for the research.At the end of data analysis and interpretation it was discovered that buyers are approached differently considering the relationship between them and the dominant language is Pidgin which constitutes the language of their trade. This is obvious in the way conversations are handled between buyers and sellers.
It was also discovered that Igbinedion University Okada played a prominent role in determining the kind of language used by the market women because of the need for mutual intelligibility and since majority of the market women are not speakers of English, pidgin emerged as the best alternative for communication.
