Abstract:
In the digital communities that encompass Nigerian music, verbal aggression has become more prevalent in online music discourse. This study investigates how impoliteness is used for identity performance and social positioning in virtual environments using Culpeper's Impoliteness Theory (1996, 2011). Its aim is to understand how impoliteness, particularly when used deliberately and strategically, impacts conversation in the context of online reactions to Nigerian Pidgin music. Using a qualitative research method, data were gathered from YouTube user-generated comments on Nigerian Pidgin music videos. A purposive sample of 20 comment threads focusing on artists known for impolite lyrics and public controversies (Portable, Zlatan, Naira Marley, and Burna Boy) were selected based on the presence of overt impoliteness markers, Pidgin expressions, and aggressive linguistic forms. Detailed ethnographic observation was conducted over three months (October-December 2024), during which the researcher adopted a non-participant observer position. The first 100 top-level comments from each selected video were extracted, screened for criteria indicating face-threatening acts, Nigerian Pidgin usage, and fan rivalry, yielding a final corpus of 200 comments. Each comment was coded inductively for impoliteness markers and then mapped onto Culpeper's (1996) five super-strategies: bald on-record impoliteness, positive impoliteness, negative impoliteness, sarcasm/mock impoliteness, and withholding politeness. The findings revealed that sarcasm/mock impoliteness (27.8%) predominates, followed by bald on-record impoliteness (22.2%) and positive politeness (16.7%). Impoliteness is socially oriented and culturally significant. Users frequently employ particular impoliteness techniques to demonstrate fan allegiance, create a sense of in-group identity, and discredit competing fan groups or opposing viewpoints. The study concluded that impoliteness in online music discourse in Nigeria is a complex behaviour that combines identity, culture, and language. As such, verbal aggressiveness should be viewed as a language and cultural resource that controls digital relationships. The importance of local languages, like Nigerian Pidgin, in influencing online discourse should be further explored via media literacy programs and sociolinguistic studies.
Keywords: Digital Communication, Impoliteness, Nigerian Pidgin Music, Verbal Aggression
DOI: www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2026.v05i02.015
author/Lawal Khadijat Temitope
journal/Tasambo JLLC 5(2) | February 2026 |
