| Yhteenveto: | This study aims to highlight how Nigerians in Nigeria and in the diaspora construct their language identity through the use of Pidgin. Pidgin is one of the commonly used languages in Nigeria but its status and usefulness have been
highly debated, thereby impacting how speakers perceive their language identity. This study is from the viewpoints of Nigerians who are still living in Nigeria and the ones in the diaspora.
Additionally, this study expands on the limited available study on the link between Pidgin usage and language identity. The study is conducted through focus groups and analyzed through Bamberg’s narrative positioning with a focus on small stories, Woolard’s language ideology and Bucholtz & Hall’s language identity framework.
The research questions focus on how location shapes the perception of Pidgin among users and how Nigerians construct their language identity with Pidgin in Nigeria and the diaspora. The focus group data was collected from nine participants; five from Nigeria and four from Jyväskylä, Finland. The
findings reveal that existing language ideologies largely impact speakers’ positioning and linguistic identity. Participants from both groups held similar stances about Pidgin and their language identities and there was no
hyper-awareness of identity from the participants in Jyväskylä.
In conclusion, there is a need for more studies to be conducted on the link between the use of Nigerian Pidgin and language identity. These studies also need to be extended to the diaspora to get a well-rounded view of how language identities may change or remain the same.
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