Corruption-Induced Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions in Yorùbá Literary and Routine Communication: A Stylistic Approach (Published)
Corruption is a semantically multi-faceted expression construed as appropriation and dishonest means of the acts of embezzlement, fraud, falsification, perversion, bribery and nepotism designed to gain some benefits for self. Corruption has pervaded social and political circles in Nigeria and, has acquired certain new idiomatic expressions found in literary and routine communication of the Yorùbá. The paper adopted Mukarovsky’s theory of Standard Language mainly to explain the nature of the new idioms, to explicate the communicative and stylistic relevance of these idioms and to situate the social issues expressed through these idioms in Yorùbá discourse in selected literary works in Yorùbá. Linguistic metaphorisation strategy derived from nominalization, composition and phonaesthetic coinages was employed for data selection. Yorùbá idioms and idiomatic expressions were selected from routine communication from four literary texts written by Olúyẹ́misí Adébọ̀wálé, Abégúndé Adédoyin, Lérè Adéyemí and Dayọ̀ Àkànmú with sufficient examples of usages of new idioms. The data revealed new idiomatic usages such as egúnjẹ (bribe), gbájú ẹ̀ (defraud him), ojẹ̀lú (corrupt politician), yàúyàúù (Internet fraud), jẹun sápò (eat into the pocket), gẹ́ranmáwọ (cut meat with the skin), etùtù (appeasement), et cetra. Data Analysis therefore illustrates the issue of corruption expressed and contextualized in bribery, Internet fraud, politiking, looting and contract splitting. The aforementioned reflects the pervasive influence of corruption underpinning fraudulent ideology in the conversations of the characters in the texts examined. The uniqueness of these new idioms is how they are used to highlight new normal in the language use to show fraudulent practices and disorientation of the society.
Dayọ̀ Àkànmú and Francis Yẹdé (2022) Corruption-Induced Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions in Yorùbá Literary and Routine Communication: A Stylistic Approach, International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research, Vol.10, No 4, pp.86-99
Keywords: Corruption, Literary, Stylistics, idioms Yoruba, routine
Pragma-Stylistic Manifestations in Sport Discourse from Selected Radio Stations in Ibadan Metropolis (Published)
Language is a complex human-specific system of communication. It is the only means by which people in a speech community communicate among themselves. Pragma-stylistic is one of the types of context-oriented stylistics that has to do with speech act stylistics. Its contributions to the field of stylistics have made the study of language an interesting one. The need to ascertain whether sport presenters on the radio employ speech acts in their conversation motivates this study. A pragma-stylistic model of literary analysis is presented and applied to analyse the sport discourse from selected radio stations in Ibadan metropolis. The conversations are analysed as a cohesive chunk so as to examine the direct and indirect illocutionary acts, the perlocutionary effects, the various contexts and competencies that are inherent in the sport discourse. The major results of the analyses indicate that the participants engage in conversation so as to do things with words.
Keywords: Language, Pragmatics, Stylistics, Utterance, pragma-stylistics
Stylistic Analysis of President Buhari’s Addresses of Nigerians in the Face of Covid-19 Pandemic (Published)
The role of language in any speech event cannot be overemphasized. Language is the vehicle through which political speeches are carried out. This study investigated two speeches of President Muhammadu Buhari during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic to ascertain how he has employed language, the linguistic elements used and the stylistic and pragmatic imports. Using the theoretical framework of stylistics, the researcher found out that Buhari tactfully used words to address Nigerians on Covid-19 and stressed the measures to be taken to contain the spread of the virus. To achieve the pragmatic effect of his speeches, he used lexical devices such as transitional makers, repetition, alliteration, assonance, pronouns to project the theme/subject matter of the language discourse. It was found out that the speaker used coordination to denote relationship of grammatical units, show contrast and as a re-statement of what he said earlier. The speaker repeatedly used coordination in his speeches and this is commendable since in language, identical items may be conjoined in an indefinite number of times. The analysis revealed that president is committed in combating the coronavirus pandemic that is ravaging his nation.
Keywords: COVID-19, Epidemiology, Language, Stylistics, medical register, pandemic
Stylo-Rhetorical Analysis of Lenrie Peters’ Poem: The Fence (Published)
Many scholars have observed the general reservation/aversion most students nurse against poetry as an arm of literary studies. Some of the reasons cited for this, among others, include employment of difficult, remote and archaic words as well as complex and evasive constructions and terms. This study examines some of the prominent stylo-rhetorical devices employed by Lenrie Peters in his Poetic Piece: the Fence. The rationale is to foreground the poet’s ingenuity in exploring both linguistic and rhetorical resources in driving home his message to the conviction and admiration of his readers. The chaotic state of the social order and the sorry condition of humanity in most African societies coupled with both the subject matter and language use in the poem explain our choice of the text. The paper, as an exploration of both semantic cum philosophical praxes of language use, dwelt richly on the blend of linguistic and persuasive nuances of the stylo-rhetorical characteristics of the text under study. Hence, we had cause to investigate the functional values of the salient linguistic resources employed in enacting the text. The Systemic Functional Grammar as propounded by Halliday (1978) was adopted as the theoretical framework for our analysis. Findings showed that poetry is both a linguistic and a social act, and, should be so viewed as a background to be activated for proper understanding and appreciation of our text. We found that it is not all cases of poetry that come with out-of-reach linguistic choices and usages. However, the philosophical nuances of poetry make its texts to call for special but interesting readings not common with other literary genres. This work has proved that the reservation people may have against the texts of poetry may not be so much of estranged linguistic choices and constructions as it is with the philosophical/imaginative inclinations and condiments with which the linguistic choices and constructions are woven together.
Keywords: Poetry, Stylistics, lenrie peters, rhetoric vs style, the fence
Understanding the Use of Deixis in Paul Biya’s 2019 Message to Cameroonian Youth (Published)
This paper aims to examine qualitatively and quantitatively the use of deixis in a political speech, guided by Halliday’s (1985/1994) Systemic Functional Grammar theory of language. The data examined here is a message delivered, on 10 February 2019, by the President of the Republic of Cameroon to the youth of his country, on the commemoration of the 53rd edition of the country’s National Youth Day. The message, in its English version, is retrieved from the official website of the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon. Specifically, the study sets out to determine the different types of deictic resources used by Paul Biya in his message to the Cameroonian youth, and the frequencies of Paul Biya’s usage of these deictic resources in this political speech. The study reveals that Paul Biya employed different types of deictic resources including 103 personal deixis (52.2 %), 17 spatial deixis (9.4%), 21 temporal deixis (11.7%), 30 social deixis (16.7%), and 8 discourse deixis (10%). In terms of frequency of usage of these deictic resources, the study also revealed that personal deixis were the most used category of deixis in President Paul Biya’s message to the Cameroonian youth and suggested that this reflects the President’s power and dominance over his audience, but also his desire to involve this audience in his decisions, as a sign of his sensitivity towards them.
Keywords: Cameroonian youth, Deixis, Paul Biya., Stylistics, deictic resources, political speech
Investigating Feminist Tendency in Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” In Terms of Sara Mills’ Model. A Feminist Stylistic Study (Published)
This paper purports to explore the relationship between linguistic structures and socially construed meanings in a narrative text. A stylistic analysis is conducted to unravel the design agilities of Margaret Atwood’s novel “The Handmaid’s Tale”. It tries to investigate her stylistic traits whereby much of the time her words seem to cloak or obscure what really happened. By adopting Sara Mill’s Model, the researcher attempts to reveal the ideology and power relations that underpin a literary text from different levels (according to the model) word, phrase, and discourse. The evidence seems to be strong that the model, however, has identifiable functions which contribute to the effective meaning of the novel. On this basis, it may be inferred that these elements trigger and play significant roles in passing the intention of the writer across.
Keywords: Feminism, Focalization, Fragmentation, Ideology, Stylistic Analysis, Stylistics
Language and Style in Political Inaugurals: A Study of Inaugural Speeches of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, Nigeria (Published)
Scholarly works abound on political speeches but very few are on political inaugurals in spite of its distinctive stylistic features and communicative import. This paper adopts a combination of stylistics and Michael Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar as approaches to examine the patterns of language use in the inaugural speeches of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State with the view to uncovering the specific stylistic choices that characterise the speeches and their pragmatic import. The speeches are characterised by lexical items (adjectives, adverbs, pronouns) which the speaker creatively deploys to promote his political programmes, and to present himself as a committed, sincere and responsible leader. There is a preponderance of declarative sentences and declarative mood which Mimiko engages in promising, assuring and stating to persuade and mobilise listeners. Topicalisation and graphology; testimonial argument and promising; and rhetorical forms are creatively organised to convey pragmatic information such as humility, respect, unity, responsibility and commitment.
Keywords: Communicative Intentions, Inaugural Speeches, Mood, Political Discourse, Stylistics
Stylistic Analysis of Deviations in E.E Cumming Poem She Being Brand (Published)
In linguistics we deal with the properties and varieties of language that is called the study of stylistics. The role of stylistics is prominent in understanding modern and postmodern literature which deviates from the regular pattern of syntax, semantics, morphology and phonology. This article is an effort to stylistically analyze the use of deviation in the poetry of an American poet EDWARD ESTLIN CUMMINGS.American poet Cumming is well known for creative ideas and innovative style. His poetry is interesting from stylistic point of view, because the use of intentional misspellings, innovation of phonetics spellings, creation of new style and irregular arrangement of syntax. These are regular features of his poem. E.E CUMMING plays with form and structure and he uses nontraditional punctuation to push the boundaries of what, words can mean. In this article stylisticsanalysis of deviation used for stylistic analysis of E. E CUMMING poem (SHE BEING BRAND).This analysis done under the aspects of deviations at orthographic, graphological, syntactically, morphological and grammatical level.
Keywords: Deviations, Grammatically., Graphological, Morphological, Stylistics, Syntactically
Stylistic Structuring: Syntactic Patterns of Advertising Slogans in Bamenda Urban Council of the North West Region of Cameroon (Published)
A slogan is a short, catchy and memorable phrase designed to capture the importance of a product. It portrays the brand’s identity, creates a sense of likability in the brand name and is used to convey a message about the service of the product it represents. The article was designed to investigate the structural patterns of clauses and groups used in slogans collected from billboards, bar walls and doorposts, put up by different business establishments in Bamenda, in the North West Region of Cameroon. The study is based on the Rank Scale systematic approach of Halliday. The results reveal that there are different kinds of structures such as, the declarative, imperative, nonfinite verbal clause, parallel structure, nominal group, prepositional group and adverb group used in the slogans, and these structures, in the different ways they function, all act in persuading the consumer to buy their products.
Keywords: Bamenda, Clause, Group, Patterns, Slogan, Stylistics
Stylistic Notes on ‘Banat Suad’: The Passive Participle and Verb (Published)
This research paper investigates Kaab Bin Zuhair’s poem ‘Banat Suad’, also known as Al-Burdah, highlighting the stylistic notes, especially the passive participle and verb, which can be regarded as an important model of research examination. The repetition of these two stylistic notes seems to be a characteristic of his poem, wherein the previous stylistic notes were observed on the linguistic forms of the verses used throughout. As far as the semantic structure is concerned, it was found that the passive participle and verb are much more associated with objects than subjects in the utterances used , an indicator of the emotive and psychological state controlling the poet who was threatened to be killed while the composition of the text.
Keywords: Linguistic Forms, Stylistics, passive participle, passive verb
Investigating Feminist Tendency in Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” In Terms of Sara Mills’ Model. A Feminist Stylistic Study (Published)
This paper purports to explore the relationship between linguistic structures and socially construed meanings in a narrative text. A stylistic analysis is conducted to unravel the design agilities of Margaret Atwood’s novel “The Handmaid’s Tale”. It tries to investigate her stylistic traits whereby much of the time her words seem to cloak or obscure what really happened. By adopting Sara Mill’s Model, the researcher attempts to reveal the ideology and power relations that underpin a literary text from different levels (according to the model) word, phrase, and discourse. The evidence seems to be strong that the model, however, has identifiable functions which contribute to the effective meaning of the novel. On this basis, it may be inferred that these elements trigger and play significant roles in passing the intention of the writer across.
Keywords: Feminism, Focalization, Fragmentation, Ideology, Stylistic Analysis, Stylistics
Investigating Feminist Tendency in Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” In Terms of Sara Mills’ Model. A Feminist Stylistic Study (Published)
This paper purports to explore the relationship between linguistic structures and socially construed meanings in a narrative text. A stylistic analysis is conducted to unravel the design agilities of Margaret Atwood’s novel “The Handmaid’s Tale”. It tries to investigate her stylistic traits whereby much of the time her words seem to cloak or obscure what really happened. By adopting Sara Mill’s Model, the researcher attempts to reveal the ideology and power relations that underpin a literary text from different levels (according to the model) word, phrase, and discourse. The evidence seems to be strong that the model, however, has identifiable functions which contribute to the effective meaning of the novel. On this basis, it may be inferred that these elements trigger and play significant roles in passing the intention of the writer across.
Keywords: Feminism, Focalization, Fragmentation, Ideology, Stylistic Analysis, Stylistics
AFRICAN LITERATURE A CELEBRATION OF ARTISTIC FREEDOM: AN EXAMINATION OF CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS (Published)
This inquiry focuses on Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus. This is precisely because scholarly studies on Adichie and her literary pieces have attracted increasing interest in literature in recent times, as a result of her recognition as the new voice of Nigerian and indeed African literature, given that she has gained a measure of success that eludes many old and new generation writers within and outside Africa. Earlier scholarship on Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus was generally concerned with plot advancement, character presentation, subject matter and thematic projection. Regrettably, none has paid adequate attention to the aesthetic values of Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus. This therefore is the preoccupation of this exploration. This examination contends therefore that to extol her artistic liberty, Adichie uses Igbo English (IE) significantly as a deliberate but significant stylistic gizmo. Thus, Adichie writes her Purple Hibiscus in English Language and then she deploys supra-linguistics and para-verbal nuances such as local expressions, African oral tales, oral songs, code variation, transliteration, linguistic apposition, local idioms, incantations, and lampoons. All these language games and stylistic strategies boost the Africanity in her Purple Hibiscus.
Keywords: Creativity, Foregrounding, Nativization, Oral tradition, Style, Stylistics
