A Lexico-semantic Analysis of slangy Expressions in Selected Nigeria’s Afro-pop Music

The use of slangy expressions is core to meaning creation in Nigeria's Afro-Pop music.Slang use reflects the sociocultural experiences of its users.The study of slang has been focused on slang creation and communicative roles.Slang use in the selected Nigeria's Afro-Pop songs between 2022 and 2023 is yet to be dissected, hence this study focuses on explication of slang in selected Nigeria's afro-pop music, through lexico-semantic means to identify the formation processes and as the theoretical base, Context of Situation from M.A.K Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics to explore the context.Through a descriptive qualitative research design, the study adopts a purposive selection method to select seven slang from two songs -City Boy by Burna Boy and Remember by Ashake.The slang analysed reveal formation processes such as borrowing(4), coinage(2), and back formation(1), which are also core formation processes of Nigerian English words.The study uncover that the slang expressions were used to describe sex, drugs, alcohol, attitude and display of wealth.The study of slang use provides valuable perspectives to the field of pragmatics as it expedites meaning framing, which explains how meaning is arranged, mediated or compromised in informal settings.