Language

The Linguistic Consequences of Digital Technology on the Learning of English in the Senegalese University Environment: The case of the SMS (Published)

The present work is devoted to the analysis of the linguistic consequences of digital technology in the learning of the English language in a university environment. In other words, this article talks about the linguistic consequences of SMS on the learning of English in a context dominated by the implementation, by the State of Senegal, of the “Digital Senegal” strategy and the concretization of certain programs in building an “inclusive digital society”, in order to promote a learning society. SMS (Short Message Service) is a method of communication that allows short messages to be sent by telephone, computer or other mobile devices. Thus, this work aims to analyze the grammatical, morphological and orthographic consequences of this method of communication on the learning of English at university. However, to collect data in order to develop a corpus, process it and analyze it to end up with results, research, interviews, exchanges by SMS, etc. have been done. And these approaches have allowed us to point out that SMS have a negative impact on learning English and on the writing of educational and administrative documents at the grammatical, morphological, orthographic, etc. levels. Nevertheless, we have also noticed that for some, the great majority of the “errors” or “mistakes” present in the written discourse are not the result of a lack of knowledge of the norm or a lack of interest on the part of the speakers, but rather the mark of an underlying structure.

Keywords: Language, Learning, Linguistics, communication, consequence

The Study of the Plural Form in English and Siin Seereer (Published)

The present work refers to a descriptive study of the plural in English and Siin Seereer. In other words, it is devoted to the formation, the structure, the semantics, etc. of words or forms denoting more than one element in both languages. Thus, the work aims to analyze this class of grammatical forms usually used to denote more than one, or in some languages more than two elements. Thus, the study of the plural in the noun phrase is in the heart of the current study. However, to collect data, in order to have a corpus, we have done some research, organized interviews with English and Siin Seereer native speakers. The collection of data has conducted us to have a clear presentation, analysis and interpretation of our corpus. The work provides new and authentic data drawn from a variety of documents, interviews, etc. that enable us to implement a descriptive approach. This approach of descriptive analysis of the plural has helped us to point out that there are differences and some similarities in these languages. In other words, the formation, the semantics, the structure, etc. of the different types of nouns in both languages are different. Furthermore, we have noticed that there are differences as far as the determiners, used with these types of nouns, are concerned.

 

Keywords: Determiner, Language, NOUN, Study, plural

EFL Learners’ Perception of Using Online Language Learning Websites during COVID-19 Pandemic (Published)

The following paper presents the results of a study aimed at achieving a better understanding of the EFL Learners’ Perception of Using Online Language Learning Websites (OLLWs) among EFL learners during COVID-19 Pandemic. The purpose of this study is to elicit Learners’ perceptions about improving their language through OLLWs. Data was acquired via a questionnaire administered to 143 female Saudi learners at the College of Sciences and Arts, Unizah, Qassim University. The results provide evidence of learners’ positive perceptions towards using OLLWs. Based on the findings, educational implications for this descriptive study and future researches are suggested.

Keywords: EFL, Internet, Language, Learning, Websites, online learning

Language and Governance in Nigeria: A Symbiotic Relationship (Published)

Language is one of those natural endowments bequeathed to man by nature to empower him and adequately position him to be the lord and master of his environment. Thus, it is unimaginable or even absurd to conceive of any human endeavour where language does not play a prominent role. But given the prevailing attitude in developing world, Africa in general and Nigeria in particular, it would appear much attention is not usually paid to language when the theme of discourse is governance. In fact, if the factors that enhance governance were to be highlighted, language may be the last or not even mentioned at all. In view of this erroneous attitude and impression, this paper sets out to establish that a symbiotic relationship exists between language and governance, that is to say that the two phenomena are unarguably intertwined that none can maximize its potentialities in the absence of the other. The paper further reviews the lapses noticed in the Nigerian language policies, which have retarded language development in Nigeria. The paper, therefore calls on the actors in the theatre of governance to come up with feasible language policy as well as language planning in order to create enabling environment for the development of the existing languages in Nigeria.

 

Keywords: Governance, Language, Nigeria, symbiotic relationship

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

Promoting Peace, Security and Development through Language Use in the Nigerian Media (Published)

This paper investigated the utilization of language by the Nigerian media to propagate peace, security and national development. Radio news has the ability to influence public opinion in diverse ways. The study adopted a critical discourse analysis of some selected messages which were relayed at the middle of the radio news texts of Osun State Broadcasting Corporation, Nigeria. Twenty mid-news messages were purposively selected for analysis based on the information conveyed in them in order to reveal the inherent and embedded messages in them. The data were grouped and analysed using four major headings – Government and politics; Education, health and religion; Socioeconomic and cultural issues; and National peace, crime and security. For our analysis, the theoretical frameworks adopted are Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) which emphasizes the form/function relationship in language. The linguistic features embedded in the messages and the contributory ideological effects on the listeners were analysed. The study revealed that the mid-news messages were useful for public enlightenment, social mobilization and they also served as facilitators for development and growth by enhancing the public orientation towards national integration, economic empowerment, educational awareness, political discourse, sociocultural issues and poverty alleviation. The paper, therefore, brings to the fore the significance of radio mid-news messages in sensitizing members of the audience towards actions needed to be taken as the situation demands.

Keywords: Language, Media Discourse, Mid-News Messages, Radio News, critical discourse analysis

Decoding the Underpinning Assumptions of Linguistic Theories: The Lens on Structural Linguistics (Published)

Linguistic theories are frameworks about language and language use. Linguistic theories seek to outline the parameters of operations in any given language. They are developed by linguists who study language over a period to arrive at specific assumptions about the nature of human communication. Among others, the most prominent linguistic theories today include    generative linguistics, systemic functional linguistics and structural linguistics. This paper dwells on   the inherent assumptions of structural linguistics as a theory. Structural linguistics is defined as a study of language based on the theory that language is a structured system of formal units such as sentences and syntax. An example of structural linguistics is phonetics. It is also defined as a language study based on the assumptions that a language is a coherent  system of formal units and that the task of linguistic study is to inquire into the nature of those units and their peculiar systematic arrangement, without reference to historical antecedents or comparison with other languages (Chomsky 1972).

Keywords: Assumptions, Language, Linguistic Theories, Structural Linguistics

Language Use and Language Maintenance in Ọ́lọ̀wà, Dèkínà Local Government Area, Kògí State, Nigeria (Published)

This study investigated language use and language maintenance in Ọ́lòwà, Dèkínà Local Government Area, Kògí State, Nigeria with a view to identifying the factors responsible for the use or non-use of the languages in contact, namely Ígálà, Bàssà-Ngé, and Bàssà-Kómǒ, and how the factors manifest across different socio-cultural groups in the community. Fishman’s theory on the relationship between micro- and macro-sociolinguistics, which centres around who speaks what language to whom and when, was used. One hundred respondents from each of the three language groups totaling three hundred respondents representing the different age groups, sexes, and socio-cultural classes were selected through random sampling. The data were analyzed using simple percentage to determine the extent of language use and language maintenance. The findings show that each respondent is proficient in his or her native language and in the dominant language, Ígálà. Factors responsible for this include ethnic identity consciousness, inter-ethnic relations such as marriage, economic, communal and other socio-cultural activities. Another factor is religion. This work adds to our existing knowledge of how the three languages used in the community have co-existed without any of them being endangered

Keywords: Language, Language use, Multilingualism, Proficiency, language maintenance

English Expressions in Ghana’s Parliament (Published)

This paper takes a look at the English language spoken on the floor of parliament by Ghanaian parliamentarians. It attempts to ascertain the English features of Ghanaian parliamentarians and whether the identified features can be described as Ghanaian English. The study was guided by the syntactic features given as typical of WAVE (Bokamba, 1991) and the grammatical description of African Englishes (Schmied, 1991) and a careful reading of the Hansard which is the daily official report of parliamentary proceeding. It is revealed that the English spoken by Ghanaian parliamentarians has identifiable Ghanaian features that can support the claim that their English is typically Ghanaian.

Keywords: Education, English, Ghana, Language, Parliament

The Performance of Language Heterodoxy in Black Theater: Profanity and Inversion on Amiri Baraka’s Stage (Published)

In  LeRoi  Jones/Amiri  Baraka’s  playtexts,  the  authority  of  the  English  language  seems  to  become  the  object  of  linguistic  mutilation  and  salient  profanity.  The  employment  of  an  obscene  language  and  the  disfigurement  of  language  transpire  to  be  acts  of  a  deliberate  withdrawal  from  linguistic  norms.  The  dramatist  along  with  the  plays’  characters  seem  to  drop  identification  with  domination  from  the  agenda  of  cultural  and  political  options,  and  gesture  toward  altering  and  inverting  linguistic  conventions  and  connotations.  The  playwright,  consequently,  appears  to  invert  and  subvert  the  English  language,  a  language  that  is  perceived  as  odd  and  dominative.  Inversion  is  indexical  of  the  linguistic  proclivity  to  chase  a  language  which  levies  its  significations  and  meanings.  The  dramatist’s  transformations  carved  on  the  tissue  of  verbal  and  written  forms  signal  an  urgency  to  unchain  the  black  vernacular  and  break  off  the  shell  of  the  English  language.  Baraka’s  style  seems  then  to  ground  inversion  with  variation,  revision,  and  repetition  on  the  body  of  language  itself.  In  this  light,  mutilation  tends  to  assume  a  disruptive  syntax,  uncommon  orthography,  and  disparate  typography.  Inversion  implicates  new  terms  and  forms  for  the  production  of  novel  meanings.  This  is  the  new  modality  upon  which  the  playwright’s  writing  style  is  predicated.  The  goal  of  this  article  is  to  spell  out  Baraka’s  resort  to  profanity  and  mutilation  along  with  outlining  the  reversal  of  signification  and  its  attendant  senses.  The  second  objective  of  this  article  is  to  sketch  and  delineate  the  pattern  of  inversion  marshaled  by  the  dramatist.  The  first  part  sheds  light  on  the  playwright’s  recourse  to  profanity  and  obscenity  of  parlance.  The  second  part  traces  the  mutilation  of  language  and  takes  stock  of  the  inversive  pattern.

Keywords: Language, Transformation, inversion, mutilation, profanity, signification