The Supra-Lexical Pragmatic Techniques in Selected Novels of Zaynab Alkali and Chimamanda Adichie (Published)
This study examines the supra-lexical pragmatic techniques employed in Zaynab Alkali’s The Virtuous Woman and The Stillborn, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. Using Linguistic Relativity, a variant of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, as the study’s theoretical thrust, and the content analysis technique as its method, relevant pragmatic expressions were extracted and analysed. The result shows that Alkali and Adichie employed different pragmatic features that are non-lexical. The English used for literary communication in the selected texts differs from other world Englishes. The English variety embodies the worldview of Nigerians which is expressed in quite different ways. It was also found that Adichie’s texts contain more Igboisms than Alkali’s texts contain Hausaisms. However, Alkali’s texts have more transliterated local idioms and proverbs than Adichie’s. Regarding the occurrence of nativised figures of speech, there is no significant difference between the ways both authors employed these figures of speech although Adichie’s use of these pragmatic features is higher than Alkali’s.
Keywords: African literature, Nigerian Literature, literary discourse, pragmatic techniques, supra-lexical pragmatics
Discursive Construction of the Ideological Self and Other in Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s The Last of the Strong Ones (1996) (Published)
This paper investigates the linguistic resources deployed by Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo in The Last of the Strong Ones to construct group solidarity and social identity. Conducting critical discourse analysis, the paper explores the discourses of resistance of a typically black agrarian Umuga community to the domination of Kosiri’s or the white settlers. The analysis reveal the use of the discursive strategies of membership categorization, referential nomination and agency in the construction of the in-group and out-group dichotomies of Us and Them. The black population in Umuga, which makes up the majority in the community, displays group solidarity based on their shared social representations and ideologies against the more powerful white settlers, who, by contrast, make up the minority. The narrator also indexes the domination and exclusion of Umuga people using agentless passive constructions. The significance of this study lies in showing that the reader’s understanding of how textual resources index participants’ social identity, their ideological attitudes and the power relations that underlie discursive interactions enhances text processing and interpretation.
Keywords: Ideology, Nigerian Literature, critical discourse analysis, discursive strategy, self-presentation
Niaja No Dey Carry Last: Pius Adesanmi and the Complexity of a Nation in Progress (Published)
Over the years Nigerian writers have consistently sustained the relationship between literature and politics. They perceptively engaged this connection since the colonial era, with the stages of the nation’s political development at the centre of the discourse. The reason is not farfetched; literature is a reflection of the environment in which it evolves. A writer’s ideology is shaped by the society and bears witness to its humanity. As imaginative as art is, it is the expression of a larger background: every work of literature signifies a time, place and people. An indication of the importance of art in the society is exposed in the way literature has remained part of the progress of man and his surroundings. Thus, one of the fundamental arguments of literature in exploring this relationship is to establish the fact that Literature and politics are intrinsically tied. Therefore, this paper investigates the concept of national and sustainable development in Pius Adesanmi’s NAIJA NO DEY CARRY LAST. It explores the use of satire to create political awareness and national memory. Furthermore, this paper scrutinizes the growth of Nigeria’s democracy and the commitment of successive leaders. It arrivals at the conclusion that NAIJA NO DEY CARRY LAST provides evidence that retention of national memory guarantees hope for a recovered Nigeria of the future and attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Keywords: Memory., NAIJA NO DEY CARRY LAST, Nigerian Literature, Politics, Satire, Sustainable Development Goals