Hausa Dialects Mixture: A Case Study of Kano and Hadejia Dialects

It is a common phenomenon in any society to have different groups of people who speak the same language based on their regional or social identity, but one may find out that there exist some similarities and differences among these groups in some linguistic areas. This dynamism of language as a means of communication is what makes it an area worthy of research into these similarities and differences. Moreover, due to the sociolinguistic and other reasons, the dynamism of these groups affecting other groups as a result of neighbourhood, marriage, migration, education, language standardization, mass media, films etc., culminating into various interactions between the Hausas necessitate language users to code-mix or code-switch with other dialects. Thus, the aim and objectives of this research is to investigate the linguistic areas that Hadejia and Kano dialects code-mix or code-switch on syntactic and lexical perspectives. The research is undertaken in line with the linguistic theory of language variation formulated by William Labov in 1972; which employed Interview, Questionnaire, observation, listening to speeches and visitation of documentation centres like libraries and research institutions, as a means of data collection techniques. Indeed, it has been discovered that Hadejia and Kano dialects of Hausa code-mix in some areas of syntax as well as lexical aspects of linguistic studies. Several examples have been given in the appropriate sections of the paper reflecting the relationships of these dialects.