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Item Bridging the gap between the sciences and the humanities in Nigeria; the Wale Okediran example(Faculty of Arts, Lagos State University, Lagos, 2008-09) Aguoru, D.Contemporary studies in humanistic traditions have revealed that there are certain negative attitudes to humanistic studies in third world countries. The relevance of the humanities, especially literature, to the socio - political and economic challenges of the 21st century remain controversial. The assumption is that literature and indeed other disciplines in the humanities should be classified as ‘recreational studies’. This article examines the place of the humanities, especially literature, within the humanistic tradition. The works of Wale Okediran, a physician, politician and novelist are selected for this study. Okediran’s writings are exemplary in that they are marked with a distinct quality of having been produced by a completely humanized mind.Item Reviving an english language that is comatose(Faculty of Arts, Olabisi Onabanjo University, 2007-06) Aguoru, D.Item Features of contemporary African gynotexts: an archetypal reading of Ifeoma Okoye, Fafa Nutsukpo and Florence Attamah’s writings(Department of English, Olabisi Onabanjo University,Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, 2006) Aguoru, D.Item Autobiography through the exile paradigm: the Olaudah Equiano story(African Cultural Institute, Lagos, 2004) Aguoru, D.This paper examines the relevance of biographical works in literary studies. Using Oluadah Equiano’s story, the essay treats thematic issues with regard to the slave trade and its consequences on Africans. It posits that what led to the success of the story as a historical document is its effectiveness as a tool in the anti-slavery campaign.Item Autobiography and national experience: a study of Wole Soyinka’s selected writings(Department of English, Olabisi Onabanjo University,Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, 2004) Aguoru, D.Item A STUDY OF VARIETIES OF WRITTEN ENGLISH IN NIGERIA(1973-10) ADESANOYE, F. A.The study postulates three varieties of English performance in the writings of Nigerians, and examines these in detail for their "common core" features and their "indexical markers". In the Introduction is discussed the English in present-day Nigeria with a theoretical cline of the varieties erected, the pivot around which the investigations of the later chapters are hung. The second chapter examines specifically varieties three and two in the performance of Nigerian judges, while the third deals with the use of English in the Nigerian newspaper press. Chapter IV examines first-variety usage in Literary Nigerian English and the fifth chapter undertakes an examination of the language ability of the low grade workers of the University of Ibadan, exponents of the first variety. Chapter VI, the final chapter, summarizes the findings of the investigations, makes some concluding statements, and suggests four possibilities for further research into Nigerian English. In essence, the study identifies the linguistic features common to all the varieties examined, and their indexical markers. The study also suggests that, from the evidence of the thesis, third-variety performances in written English in Nigeria be regarded as Standard (Educated) written Nigerian English.Item A STUDY OF VARIETIES OF WRITTEN ENGLISH IN NIGERIA(1973-10) ADESANOYE, F. A.The study postulates three varieties of English performance in the writings of Nigerians, and examines these in detail for their "common core" features and their "indexical markers". In the Introduction is discussed the English in present-day Nigeria with a theoretical cline of the varieties erected, the pivot around which the investigations of the later chapters are hung. The second chapter examines specifically varieties three and two in the performance of Nigerian judges, while the third deals with the use of English in the Nigerian newspaper press. Chapter IV examines first-variety usage in Literary Nigerian English and the fifth chapter undertakes an examination of the language ability of the low grade workers of the University of Ibadan, exponents of the first variety. Chapter VI, the final chapter, summarizes the findings of the investigations, makes some concluding statements, and suggests four possibilities for further research into Nigerian English. In essence, the study identifies the linguistic features common to all the varieties examined, and their indexical markers. The study also suggests that, from the evidence of the thesis, third-variety performances in written English in Nigeria be regarded as Standard (Educated) written Nigerian English.Item A SOCIOLINGUISTIC FACTOR ANALYSIS OF YORUBA-ENGLISH BILINGUALISM AMONG FORM V PUPILS IN SECONDARY GRAMMAR SCHOOLS IN THE IBADAN AREA(1977-06) ADENIRAN, A.This study regards certain variable sociological and educational factors as determinants of a person's or a group's degree of bilingualism, and attempts to ascertain their role in the proficiency abilities of Yoruba-English bilinguals in the fifth form of the secondary grammar school. In Chapter I is an outline of the development of scholastic interest in the curious phenomenon of bilingualism. Some of the theories and research approaches to the study of bilingualism are explicated. The chapter concludes by indicating the descriptive sociolinguistic approach adopted for the study. Chapter II examines the relative role and Status of Yoruba and English among the Yoruba people in the colonial era and in Contemporary Nigeria. The Information and analysis in the chapter constitute a background against which proficiency attainments in the two languages may be understood. Chapter III is methodological. Certain assumptions as well as the objectives of the study are stated. A number of hypotheses of Yoruba-English bilingual proficiency are postulated and the procedure for verifying them described. This involves the use of a language background questionnaire, and tests of language proficiency. In Chapters IV to VI the hypotheses are tested by matching the achievements of the subjects in the tests of proficiency with specific items in the language background information which have been hypothesized as determinants of proficiency. The hypotheses tested in chapter IV deal with bilingual comprehension, in Chapter V with bilingual fluency, and in Chapter VI with bilingual choice and usage habits. In each case the results are stated and discussed. In the last chapter (Chapter VII) we overview the whole investigation, summarising the major findings as regards the nature of bilingual proficiency, and assessing the effectiveness of the instruments used in the investigation. We also consider some of the social implications of the differences in English achievements among subgroups in the category of bilinguals studied, and make some suggestions for avoiding their undesirable possible consequences. Finally, four of the sociolinguistic problems which bilingualism poses are suggested for future investigation.Item A STYLISTIC STUDY OF THE SPEECHES OF SOME KEY ACTORS OF THE ‘JUNE 12’ CRISIS IN NIGERIA (1993-1998)(2005-04) ADEGOJU, A.This study examines the roles played by language in the conflict generated by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election in Nigeria (commonly referred to as ‘June 12, 1993). ‘June 12’ crisis is so significant in Nigeria’s democratization process that the way it is played out in linguistic and non-linguistic terms deserves scholarly attention. However, extant literature on the conflict pays little attention to the manipulations of language. This study explores that various ways that language is used in defending and promoting personal and group interests, and in subverting the opponent’s goals. The study is limited ti the written mode of the speeches made by the key actors in the conflict, namely Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and M.K.O. Abiola. Twenty speeches made by these key actors which focus primarily on the ‘June 12’ crisis are used in the study. Out of this number, seven are from Ibrahim Babangida, seven from Sani Abacha and six from M.K.O. Abiola. The study employs descriptive and comparative analytical methods, which account for how linguistic and non-linguistic features merge, differ or subvert others. To provide an adequate theoretical orientation, it applies a revised version of the Hallidayan systematic functional linguistic theory, whose major strength lies in its recognition of the fact that texts are produced and received in contexts of situation. The study reveals that the discourse dwells largely on the tacit trading on ideology as each of the speaking strives to justify his own cause in the conflict while to criminalize his opponents. Also, M.K.O. Abiola at some point almost begins to adopt military speech style, especially in the uses of coercion in responding to the military. Strategies such as appeal to credibility, vilification of opponents, and creations of impressions about the pursuit of unity and common purpose, which are common to political speeches, also feature in the speeches. On the whole, the speaker’s manipulations of meaning have implications for political communication in Nigeria. First, meaning becomes a contested site in which the audience may easily be defrauded. The staging of power, ideology, and double-speak at the meaning sacrifices ‘truth’ and undermines mutual responsibility, the spirit of nation-building, and national reconciliation. The study thus opens up a crucial area that the national reconciliation project in Nigeria should address: the reconciliation of ethnic and national interests and the differentiation of personal from group pursuits. Further research also needs to be carried out on how the ‘June 12’ discourse has influenced inter-ethnic communicative exchanges in Nigeria, as well as the roles of the media in the conflict. The study indicates the need for stylisticians to be interested in discourses that present urgent societal problems.Item SOMALI ARABIC POETS - SELECTED CASE STUDIES(1981-02) ADAM, A. A.This study contains representative selection of Somali Arabic poetry, which gives a clear idea of the quantity and quality of Somali Arabic poetry as well as its literary standard, its themes, its contents and its forms. Entitled "Somali Arabic Poets - Selected Case Studies", it comprises two parts: "Background Survey" and "Selected Somali Arabic Poets". "Part One" contains three Sections, the first of which is devoted to a brief study of Somalia - geographically, historically and politically. The second is devoted to a study of the place and importance of Somali poetry (in Somali language) in the Somali Culture, and the last is devoted to a study of the emergence and development of Arabic and its literature in the Somali Peninsula. "Part Two" also contains three section s, The first of these is devoted to a study of the life and works of the eminent poet, “zaylaci”, the second is devoted to a study of the life and literary production of the prolific poet, "Hajj Sufi", and the last is devoted to a study of the life, scholarship and Arabic works of the remarkable leader and the famous bilingual poet "the Sayyid". This study ends with concluding remarks, which sum up the findings of this research.