A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED REGISTERS IN THE NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DISCOURSE

Abstract

English for specific purposes (ESP) has become the mainstay of linguistic investigations that have identified and categorised linguistic registers peculiar to fields such as law, medicine, journalism, religion and the like. Such studies have however not adequately accounted for language forms in the stock exchange market of Nigeria. This study, thus, investigates language forms and the functions they serve in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) market using Halliday’s context of situation within Systemic Functional Linguistics. Data was obtained through exchanges on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and downloaded from their website. The study identified specific lexical and linguistic expressions that are peculiar and unique to the NSE such as: stocks, stockbrokers, share-holders, agents; ask or offer, bulls, bears, assets, assignment, bid, cash, Day Order, defensive–stock, delivery, Delta, and demand which assume different meanings in their contextual usage in the NSE than they are known for in their conventional usage. The study identifies that the English language used on the floor of the NSE is a patterned activity with a unique structure that is peculiar and with particular meanings that are context-dependent. This qualifies the NSE to a register that is unique to it, as all other fields and understanding same, is necessary for understanding issues of the Stock Exchange.