Language Variation in Text Messaging Among Nigerian University Students: A Sociolinguistic Study Across Three Zones

This study investigates language variation in text messaging among university students from three geopolitical zones of Nigeria, drawing comparisons across South East, North West, and South South contexts. The rise of mobile communication has generated new sociolinguistic phenomena including the development of text-specific language varieties that blend abbreviation, phonetic spelling, code-switching, and emoji usage, yet comparative Nigerian studies across zones remain scarce. The research adopts a variationist sociolinguistic methodology and corpus-based analysis. A corpus of 3,000 text messages was collected from 60 student participants, 20 from each zone, through consent-based message donation supplemented by follow-up interviews on language choice motivations. The analysis examines variation in abbreviation strategies, code-switching frequency, topic-based language choice, and the relationship between linguistic variables and participant demographics. Findings reveal significant zone-based variation in abbreviation productivity and code-switching frequency, with North West zone students demonstrating the highest rates of Hausa insertion in English-base messages and South South zone students the most frequent use of Nigerian Pidgin. Cross-zonally, a shared set of pan-Nigerian English abbreviations is documented, reflecting the emergence of a common Nigerian digital language repertoire. The research recommends further cross-zone comparative sociolinguistic research to document the growing pan-Nigerian character of digital language. Keywords: text messaging, language variation, university students, sociolinguistics, digital communication.