Analysing the Lexical Development of Hausa in Response to Globalisation: New Vocabulary in Media and Commerce

Languages in contact with global economic and cultural forces undergo lexical expansion to accommodate new objects, practices, and concepts, and Hausa is no exception as globalisation introduces new referents into northern Nigerian commercial and media discourse. This study analyses the lexical development of Hausa in response to globalisation pressures, examining new vocabulary entering the language through media broadcasting, commercial advertising, and digital communication. A corpus linguistic design was employed, building a corpus of contemporary Hausa media language from radio broadcasts, newspaper texts, and commercial advertising materials collected between 2020 and 2024 from Kano, Sokoto, and Maiduguri sources. The corpus, comprising approximately 250,000 words, was analysed using frequency analysis, keyword analysis, and collocational profiling to identify recently emerged vocabulary items. New items were classified by linguistic origin, semantic domain, word formation strategy, and degree of phonological adaptation. Frequency trend analysis tracked emergence patterns over the collection period. Findings document over 600 lexical innovations in the corpus, with the largest concentrations in technology, fashion, finance, and health domains. Three dominant word formation strategies are identified: phonological adaptation of English terms, semantic extension of existing Hausa words, and calque construction. The study documents significant variation in the acceptance and usage frequency of new terms across media types and geographical source. Recommendations address development of an annual Hausa neologism documentation report and engagement of Hausa linguists in media terminology standardisation advisory roles. Keywords: Hausa lexical development, Globalisation, Neologisms, Media language, Corpus linguistics.