Register Variation in Legal English Used in Nigerian Courtrooms: Evidence from Abuja High Court Proceedings

This study examines register variation in legal English as used in courtroom proceedings at the Abuja High Court, Federal Capital Territory, North Central Nigeria. Legal language in Nigerian courts reflects a complex overlay of inherited colonial English legal conventions, local juridical adaptations, and code-mixing with Nigerian language elements, yet register variation within this formal institutional context has not been systematically documented in recent research. The study adopts a descriptive discourse analysis methodology informed by Biber's multi-dimensional approach to register. Transcripts of ten civil and criminal hearing sessions were collected over a six-week period through official court documentation and participant observation. The analysis examines lexical density, syntactic complexity, use of archaic legal terms, and interpersonal features across the speech of judges, lawyers, and lay witnesses. Findings reveal clear register differentiation based on speaker role: judges display the highest lexical density and syntactic complexity, lawyers deploy extensive archaic legal formulae, while lay witnesses shift toward informal and code-mixed registers. The study further documents instances of communicative inequality in which lay participants demonstrate limited comprehension of formal legal language, raising access-to-justice concerns. The research contributes to forensic linguistics in Nigeria and recommends the simplification of courtroom communication protocols for lay participants. Keywords: legal English, register variation, Nigerian courtroom, discourse analysis, Abuja.