HANDSHAKE ACROSS THE NIGER: A STUDY OF LINGUISTIC OUTCOME IN YORUBA-HAUSA CONTACT

This paper examined the relationship between the Yoruba people of South-western Nigeria and the Hausa people of Northern Nigeria within the scope of linguistics. The objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship that exists between these two tribes using linguistic evidence which include analysis of Yoruba borrowed words from Hausa language and Hausa related Yoruba proverbs and proverbial expressions. This work is descriptive in nature and data were gathered from existing literature and from ideal native speakers of Yoruba language with the aid of selected Hausa language helpers. The research findings revealed that Yoruba borrowed words from Hausa language can be classified into two classes which are Alternative borrowing and Non-alternative borrowing. It also discovered that Hausa related Yoruba proverbs and proverbial expressions can be classified to Derogatory Hausa related proverbs which show some form of hate speech and Non-derogatory Hausa related Yoruba proverbs.