Language Variation in Yoruba Greetings Across Age Groups in Ibadan

Greeting routines are among the most socially regulated and culturally embedded communicative practices in Yoruba life, reflecting social hierarchy, age-graded norms, and relationship types through carefully calibrated linguistic choices. This study investigates language variation in Yoruba greeting practices across age groups in Ibadan, Oyo State, South West Nigeria. Using a sociolinguistic survey and observational design, data were collected from 180 Yoruba speakers stratified across three age cohorts: young adults aged 18 to 30, middle-aged adults aged 31 to 50, and elderly adults aged 51 and above, recruited from residential neighbourhoods in Ibadan North and Ibadan South-West local government areas. The study applies variationist sociolinguistics and politeness theory to analyse differences in greeting lexicon, formality level, kinesic accompaniment, and response patterns across age groups. Existing literature on Yoruba greetings has focused on their semantic content and cross-cultural comparison, with systematic age-graded variation receiving limited empirical attention. This study fills that gap. The research investigates whether older speakers exhibit more elaborate greeting sequences, whether younger speakers show contact-induced simplification, and how generational differences in greeting practice affect intergenerational communication. Findings are expected to reveal significant generational variation, with younger speakers showing a preference for shortened greeting forms influenced by English and urban youth speech norms. Recommendations will address the documentation of Yoruba greeting norms and their application in Yoruba pragmatics education. Keywords: language variation, Yoruba greetings, age groups, sociolinguistics, Ibadan.