Beyond loan words: Bette-Bendi ethnic identity construction in Liwhu Betiang's Beneath the Rubble

Much ink has been spilled over the intertwined bond between literature and identity construction, and how language gives expression to ethnic identity. Yet, works that have examined the use of loan words as a practice of ethnic identity construction in novels written by "minority" Nigerian novelists are very few. In order to bridge this gap, this paper examines the adoption of loan words in Liwhu Betiang's Beneath the Rubble as a practice of ethnic identity construction. It is hoped that this study will reveal how some novelists' writings serve as avenues for the expression of ethnic identity. The paper follows the primordialist approach which accounts for how individuals are treated as unique quasi-beings who express their identities through certain cultural features unique to them, and the analysis shows that Betiang's use of loan words is motivated by the need to project his minority Bette-Bendi ethnic identity rather than to fill lexical gaps.