Language of the military as a means of encryption

Abstract

Language, in various spheres of interaction has a reciprocal relationship. This implies that language shapes our ideas and interactions  much in the same way that interactions shape language. People think in the language they learn, solve their problems in that medium.  They learn experiences in that medium and convey by way of opinions, advice, requests, instructions or commands which they have  learned to others. The military, as a unit of society has its language which is necessary because of the delicate nature of its operation. The  aim of this study is to examine the use of an alternative vocabulary which in this sense, refers to the registers or jargons which are peculiar to the military for its peculiar needs. The data which was sourced from observation and others mainly from Nairaland, includes  English and French terminologies that are associated with the military. The data was analyzed using relevance theory. Finding shows that  the military has been able to maintain a high level of confidence in its operations because it encodes and upgrades its lexicon. The study  concludes that the initiative of the military to have its terminology is commendable.