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This book examines the use and construction of the verb in the speech of Nigerian university graduates (NUGs), in both Standard English (StdE) and Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE). Sociolinguistic interviews were conducted with NUGs. Subjects were from the three major ethnolinguistic groups in Nigeria (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba). Interviewees moved between StdE and NPE. In the description of StdE and NPE, the same functional and formal terminology is used for both codes. The structure as well as the use of the verb phrases (VP) used by NUGs is almost identical to the structure as well as the use of the VPs in StdE as a whole. The structure and use of the NPE VPs by NUGs is consistent with the structure and use of the NPE VPs as described in previous research on NPE. This book has revealed that educated speakers do codeswitch between English and NPE even in formal settings like offices. The use or non-use of NPE is not determined solely by settings but also by the rapport among participants in a discourse.

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Born in Iwoye, Osun State, Nigeria, Akinmade Akande obtained his B.A English in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile- Ife, his M.A. in Linguistics at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and his Ph.D at the University of Leeds in United Kingdom. He is presently a lecturer in the Department of English, OAU.

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