Corruption and Decadence in Ayi Kwei Armah’s the Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (Published)
The erosion of traditional moral standards is a predominant concern in representations of post-independence Africa. Characters frequently act in abhorrent ways as a way of expressing this worry. In The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Anyi Kwei Armah condemns the public’s role in economic destruction and moral decay because almost everyone directly or indirectly aids corruption. Therefore, this study investigates moral decay, degradation, corruption, and filth in all spheres of postcolonial African society. The aim is to condemn the actions of postcolonial leaders who abuse the powers given to them in order to pursue their pecuniary interests. This study adopts postcolonial theory in its examination of our chosen text. It focuses on the literature of cultures that developed in response to British colonial dominance. The study concludes that there is a high prevalence of bribery, corruption, decay, and filth in African society, which has hampered development.
Keywords: Corruption, decadence, decay., postcolonial
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
Literature as Instrument for Development: A Survey of Sembene Ousmane’s Guelwaar (Published)
That there is a relationship between literature and a society, which produces it, is no longer news. However, the extent of the perceived interconnectivity between literature and its milieu remains a serious argument among literary theorists, historians and other practitioners of creative arts generally. In an attempt to contribute to the debate on the meeting point between literature and the environment which paves the way for its creation and production, we examine Sembène Ousmane’s Guelwaar with the view that Art is not only for its own sake and purpose but also for the development of the society, which it claims it is a product of. This paper therefore is premised on the pragmatic approach which stresses that literature performs certain functions. The paper concludes that literature is a potential tool for sustainable developments in various human societies.
Keywords: Corruption, Culture, Development, Empowerment, Literature, Society, Woman Emancipation