Requests and refusals in English reveal shared strategies but cultural divides among Nigerian students

Nigerian undergraduates who speak Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba largely draw on the same strategies when making requests and refusals in English, yet their underlying pragmatic competence diverges in measurable ways, according to a peer-reviewed study published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. The research examined how students from Nigeria's three largest ethnolinguistic groups realize these two speech acts, aiming to identify similarities and differences across the groups in both first-language and second-language contexts. The study recruited 90 undergraduate participants drawn from four Nigerian universities.

To probe the students' linguistic, pragmatic-linguistic, and socio-pragmatic competence, the researchers deployed two instruments: a written discourse completion task (WDCT) developed for the study, in which participants supply the language they would use in defined social scenarios, and a rating scale. This combination allowed the team to compare not only which request and refusal strategies students chose, but also how appropriately they judged and deployed them across social situations. The results showed numerous similarities among Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba participants in their use of speech act strategies for both requests and refusals, suggesting that shared patterns of pragmatic behavior cut across these ethnolinguistic groups when communicating in English.

However, statistical analysis uncovered significant differences in linguistic, pragmatic-linguistic, and socio-pragmatic competence between Igbo and Hausa speakers, as well as between Yoruba and Hausa speakers. In other words, while the surface-level strategy inventories overlapped substantially, the groups differed in how skillfully and appropriately they executed and evaluated those strategies. The authors argue that these findings illustrate how cultural norms shape pragmatic choices in Nigeria's multilingual settings.

The study addresses a documented gap, as prior research had not sufficiently explored speech act production among Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba speakers. The researchers conclude that the results highlight the importance of integrating pragmatic awareness into English as a second language (ESL) curricula and into indigenous language instruction, so that learners can communicate in culturally appropriate ways. Because the study relied on a written discourse completion task and a rating scale with 90 participants at four universities, its scope is bounded by those instruments and samples; the reported differences concern competence measures among undergraduates rather than spoken interaction in natural settings.

Subject of Research: Cross-cultural speech act realization of requests and refusals in English among Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba Nigerian university students

Article Title: Speech act realization patterns of requests and refusals in English among Nigerian university students: a focus on Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba speakers

Article References: Joshua, S. K., & Yavuz, A. (2026). Speech act realization patterns of requests and refusals in English among Nigerian university students: a focus on Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba speakers. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-09379-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-026-09379-y

Keywords: pragmatics, speech acts, requests, refusals, Nigeria, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, multilingualism, ESL, discourse completion task, sociolinguistics