Argot, cant, jargons and slang are phenomenal forerunners of new idioms and idiomatic expressions in Yoruba. They are universal phenomenon and aspects of social language that cannot be underestimated in every sense of functional human society where language and culture are seen as natural, divine and systematic in the 21st century. This paper attempts to discuss the historical evolution, definition, denotative and connotative meanings of this sociolect especially in relation to the existence and emergence of new idioms and idiomatic expressions in Yoruba with a view to highlighting their similarities and differencia specifica.
Theories are organizing principles by which thought processes are clearly set out in such a way that enable various studies to explain issues relating to them explicitly. Over the years, linguists have provided theories that have been used to capture some aspects of language descriptions and analysis. This is owing to the fact that no single theory has been found to capture all of the aspects of language(s) explicitly all of the time. Practitioners of theories have taken them to heights that even the original exponents have never thought of. One of these theories is the theory of Standard Language, the subject matter of this paper. This paper sets out to examine the origin of the theory of standard language, its principles and application on new idioms and idiomatic expressions in Yoru?ba? with a view to establishing its analytical strength and appropriateness.
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