Browsing by Author "Osisanwo, A. A."

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    Context of gender issues in sermons of selected female preachers in Nigeria
    (University Press PLC, 2020) Osisanwo, A. A.; Ajibade, T.
    Understanding issues that are associated with gender helps to foster peace and unity in society. Previous linguistic studies on gender have examined context and linguistic strategies in (non-) literary works, without paying adequate attention to the context of gender issues in sermons, especially of female preachers. This study, therefore, investigates context of gender issues in six (two from each) purposively selected sermons of purposively selected female preachers in Nigeria: Rev. Funke Felix Adejumo, Pastor Nike Adeyemi and Dr Becky Enenche. Aspects of Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics and Odebunmi's model of context serve as theoretical guide for the analysis. The analysis reveals four contexts of gender issues: family, career, spiritual and marriage. Family context is characterized by eight family-related issues: home management, troubles from in-laws, childbearing, domestic violence, widowhood, divorce, domestic conflict resolution, and male-child preference. Career context is characterized by two career-related issues which are ambition and women empowerment. Spiritual context is characterized by three spiritual- related issues, namely, relationship with God, destiny fulfilment, opposition against family breakthrough. Marriage context is characterized by two marriage-related issues: wrong choice of marriage partner and pressure from parents. Context helps in the understanding of gender issues in sermons.
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    Rhetoric of Defeat in American Presidential Concession Speeches (APCSs)
    (Digitech Creative Press House, 2019) Osisanwo, A. A.; Alugbin, M.
    Concession speeches often mark the end of the tussle and jostle that characterise the political campaigns which precede elections. Existing studies on rhetoric in politics have looked at the pragmatic functions, stylistic features and politeness strategies in (American) presidential concession speeches. The examination of the generic structure potential of the speeches is a worthy addition towards characterising the rhetorics of (American) concession speeches. This paper, therefore, examines the rhetorical structure, communicative functions and generic structure potential of American presidential concession speeches. Guided by Halliday and Hassan’s (1989) model of Generic Structure Potential, eight American presidential concession speeches which span over a period of thirty-three years were purposively selected for analysis. Ten communicative functions are identified in the speeches. Eight elements identified as obligatory are Phatic Greeting (PG), General Appreciation (GA), Personal Appreciation (PA), Call to President-elect (CP), Congratulating the President-elect (CPE), Regrets over Election Outcome (REO), Call for Unity and Support (CUS) and Prayer for America (PAM). The optional elements are Allusion (A) and Eulogising the winner (EW). This study thus concludes that the generic structure potential of American Presidential Concession Speeches is represented as: [PG]^GA.^CP^CPE^{PA}.REO^{(A)}^{(EW)}^CUS^[PAM]. American concession speeches constitute a form of genre with a definite form. The structured form of the speeches depicts the American presidency as an institution with certain philosophies and expectancies.