Investigating the Hausa Language Features of Kannywood Film Scripts: Genre, Register, and Authenticity

Kannywood, the Hausa-language film industry centred in Kano, produces scripts that represent and simultaneously shape contemporary Hausa language use, operating at the intersection of artistic creation, commercial entertainment, and cultural reproduction. This study investigates the linguistic features of Kannywood film scripts across multiple genres, analysing register variation, cultural authenticity of language use, and the language's contribution to audience engagement and identity expression. A corpus stylistics and film language analysis design was employed, building a corpus from the transcription of 20 Kannywood film scripts representing four genres: romance, domestic drama, action, and religious narrative. The corpus was analysed for register markers including formality level, vocabulary domain, code-mixing density, and use of culturally specific formulaic expressions. Authenticity judgements were collected from structured audience surveys administered to 100 regular Kannywood viewers in Kano. The study examines how scriptwriters negotiate between vernacular authenticity and the demands of narrative entertainment. Findings reveal significant register differentiation across genres, with religious narrative scripts deploying the most formal and Arabised Hausa register, while domestic drama scripts closely approximate contemporary Kano urban vernacular Hausa. Code-mixing with English is genre-specific and character-social-profile-indexed, with educated and professional characters consistently code-mixing more than rural or working-class characters. Audience authenticity ratings are highest for scripts using contemporary vernacular Hausa. The study recommends collaboration between Kannywood scriptwriters and Hausa linguists to develop genre-specific scriptwriting guides. Keywords: Kannywood, Hausa film scripts, Register variation, Corpus stylistics, Film language.