The Interaction Between Hausa and Fulfulde in the Linguistic Ecology of Maiduguri

Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, hosts a complex multilingual ecology shaped by historical Kanuri dominance, significant Hausa commercial presence, substantial Fulani pastoral communities speaking Fulfulde, and the cosmopolitan influence of decades of conflict-driven population movement. This study analyses the interaction between Hausa and Fulfulde in Maiduguri's linguistic ecology, examining domains of language use, patterns of bilingualism, code-switching phenomena, and the direction of language influence between the two contact languages. A sociolinguistic ecological design was employed, collecting data from 240 participants identifying as primarily Hausa or Fulfulde speaking across three Maiduguri neighbourhoods with different ethnic compositions. Language use was mapped across ten social domains including family, market, mosque, healthcare, and administration. Code-switching data were collected through recorded natural interactions and participant recall protocols. Lexical borrowing from each language into the other was documented through systematic vocabulary comparison. Findings document extensive contact-induced influence, with Hausa functioning as the dominant market and inter-community lingua franca even in Fulfulde-dominant residential areas. Lexical borrowing from Hausa into local Maiduguri Fulfulde is significantly greater than in the reverse direction, particularly in commercial, administrative, and technology vocabulary domains. Fulfulde-Hausa code-switching is most frequent in informal social interactions between young bilingual males. The study contributes to the ecological understanding of language dynamics in conflict-affected multilingual northern Nigerian cities. Keywords: Hausa, Fulfulde, Linguistic ecology, Maiduguri, Language contact.