Linguistics & African Languages
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Item An Ethno-Statistical Analysis of Direct and Indirect Acts in Catchy HIV/AIDS Campaign Messages in Benin Metropolis(International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies, 2015) Solomon-Etefia, P. O.; Nweya, G. O.Catchy HIV/AIDS campaign messages in Benin metropolis exhibit the characteristics of direct and indirect acts. These acts play pragmatic roles in peoples’ understanding of catchy HIV/AIDS campaign messages in Benin metropolis. This paper investigates direct and indirect acts in HIV/AIDS catchy campaign messages in Benin metropolis from an ethno-statistical perspective; it assess respondents’ understanding of the campaign messages with the features of directness and indirectness. The data for the study were collected using the questionnaires from five LGAs in Benin metropolis. These are Oredo, Ikpoba-Okha, Ovia-North-East and Ovia-South-West and the data was analysed using the simple percentages. The paper reveals that some respondents could not understand some of the messages because of the pragmatic indirectness. It was also observed that background characteristics (age, education, gender, and ethnic group), understandable language for reading and writing of respondents and how HIV/AIDS messages were known play a major role in understanding the direct and indirect acts in the messages. The paper concludes by advising the message provider to write in simpler form for the effectiveness of these campaign messages, creating of messages in native languages is also encouraged.Item On the vowels of Imilike Dialect of the Igbo Language(Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2015-01) Nweya, G. O.This is a study of the vowels of Imilike dialect, a variety of Northern Igbo dialect. Its specific objectives include identifying the vowels of the dialect, determine their phonemic status, distributional pattern and phonotactic constraints and as well compare them with those displayed by the standard Igbo. Data for the study were collected using unstructured interview and observation. Data were analysed in the framework of generative phonology. Minimal pair test was conducted to identify the vowels of the dialect. The study reveals that the dialect displays eleven vowels including the open mid front unrounded vowel /£/ and the central vowels, [a] and [a]. AH except the central vowels are phonemic in the dialect. The central vowels are in free variation with other vowels in the dialect. AH the vowels occur in word initial, word medial and word final positions except the central vowels which do not occur in word initial position. The study also attests to the strict operation of vowel harmony in the dialect as in other Northern Igbo dialects. The study concludes that Imilike dialect displays more vowels than the standard Igbo.Item Mmetuta Usorookwu Na Echiche N'asusu Igbo(2013-06) Nweya, G. O.This paper examines inflection in the Imilike dialect of the Igbo language with emphasis on the verb inflection. The study adopts a descriptive approach based on surface structure analysis. Verbs were inflected for tense/aspect, mood and polarity in Imilike. The paper reveals that some inflectional affixes and strategies of achieving inflection in the dialect when compared with the standard Igbo and consequently influences the choice of affixes used to achieve inflection of verbs. The dialect employs strategies such as the optional use of the Open vowel prefix a/e, affix sequencing and more of the role suffixation to achieve inflection in the dialect. Tone plays a significant role in achieving inflection in the dialect as in the standard Igbo. The study points to the profound insight available from the study of various Igbo dialects.Item Inflection in the Imilike dialect of Igbo(Igbo Scholars, 2013) Nweya, G. O.This paper examines inflection in the Imilike dialect of the Igbo language with emphasis on the verb inflection. The study adopts a descriptive approach based on surface structure analysis. Verbs were inflected for tense/aspect, mood and polarity in Imilike. The paper reveals that some inflectional affixes and strategies of achieving inflection in the dialect when compared with the standard Igbo and consequently influences the choice of affixes used to achieve inflection of verbs. The dialect employs strategies such as the optional use of the Open vowel prefix a/e, affix sequencing and more of the role suffixation to achieve inflection in the dialect. Tone plays a significant role in achieving inflection in the dialect as in the standard Igbo. The study points to the profound insight available from the study of various Igbo dialects.Item A Phonemic Analysis of Imilike-Igbo Consonants(2018) Nweya, G. O.This paper studies the consonants of Imilike dialect, a variety of Northern Igbo dialect. The main goal of the study is to identify the consonants that make up the dialect and establish their phonemic status. The theoretical framework adopted for the analysis is generative phonology. Data for the study were collected through oral interview and observation. The study identifies forty phonetic consonant sounds in the dialect. Twelve out of the forty consonants result from secondary articulations such as palatalisation and labialisation. Twenty nine out of the forty phonetic consonant \1 , nts identified in the dialect were assigned phonemic status while others were regarded 11\ allophones of someother segments. The study reveals the presence of the voiced post alveolar fricative [3] which is absent in the standard Igbo and the absence of the voiced velar fricative / y/ which is present in the standard Igbo. It points to the unique phonological features of the dialect that distinguish it from the standard variety.Item Non verbal predication in Igbo(Crown Goldmine Communications, Ibadan, 2014) Nweya, G. O.This paper discusses non-verbal predication in Igbo. Predication captures the process of complementation that exists in SVO languages. The theoretical framework adopted for the analysis is the Minimalist Program (MP) of linguistic theory. The study identifies non-verbal predicates as nominal, adverbial and prepositional predicates in Igbo. In Igbo different morphosyntactic and predication categories make use of different copulas. These copulas obligatorily occur in nonverbal predication structures. On the structural relations, the paper' assumes, following Bowers (2001), that the relation of predication is better expressed if there is a functional category Pr whose function is to relate the subject to the predicate. In Igbo, the Pro is null; it attracts the NP/AdvPIPP object to adjoin to it due to its strong affixal features forming a complex head (p\ pImerges with the subject to form the PrP. The computation continues to generate a proposition thus, providing a descriptively and explanatorily adequate structural analysis of nonverbal predication structures in Igbo.Item SOME FEATURES OF LANGUAGE USE IN YORUBA TRADITIONAL MEDICINE(1991) ADEGBITE, A. B.This study attempts to characterize some of the significant features of language form and content in texts which usually accompany the practice of Yoruba Traditional Medicine (YTM). After collection of samples of texts from different Herbalist- Client (HC) encounters in the field, some of these texts are analysed along the dimension of register studies. Those significant features which occur prominently in most of the texts analyzed are then posited as characteristic features of YTM texts. The content features of YTM texts are identified in the work by relating the texts to extralinguistic experience via the level of situation and the categories of use, function, message and structure. And the formal features are described by observing their projection of the content via grammatical and lexical options in the linguistic system. The features of situation show that these texts are products of speech events which involve human and non-human objects, Participant beliefs, actions, relations and behaviour. The texts, whose primary mode is conversational reveal especially that participants in YTM interaction believe In magical medicine, rituals and in the power of the spoken word. There are three major uses performed by YTM texts, viz. diagnosis, optional divination and medication. These uses derive from participants’ intuitive reaction to the functions and messages of the texts. The message summarizes the thematic content of each text pertaining to the identification of a problem and finding the remedy for it. And the functions provide mainly the informative and directive bases for the message content. The structure of YTM texts reveals dialogical interactions in which herbalists and clients take turns in diagnostic and prescriptive transactions to make various initiation-response moves constituted mainly by elicit-reply and direct-accept acts. In some of the texts, however, the herbalist's turns may further extend into monological transactions of divination, incantations and supplication, depending on the performance situations. Lastly, the forms of the texts show that the preponderance of some cohesive features as well as the prominence of unmarked theme and simple sentences enhance simplicity and easier comprehensibility of the messages of YTM texts. They also show that the material process and positive polarity are prominent because the texts represent a lot of physical activities carried out towards achieving a positive goal. Lastly, they show that the declarative mood marks the primary function of giving information in YTM interaction. In all, the study contributes to both Yoruba studies and text analysis in the manner in which it utilizes an eclectic textual model to explicitly analyze some texts from a Yoruba register.Item STYLE IN YORUBA CRIME-FICTION(1993-01) ADEBOWALE, O.Crime, the bane of contemporary society has attracted the attention of many scholars in the Social Sciences. Literary writers have also made crime a subject-matter in their works. In their own case, Yoruba prose-fiction writers present various facets of crime and crime-detection in their works. Using the content of the modern Yoruba novels, Ogunsina (1976) and lsola (1978) have identified crime-fiction as a major class of Yoruba prose-fiction. Critical works such as Ogunsina (1976, 1987) and Olufajo (1988) on this class of Yoruba prose-fiction are mainly historical and sociological. While Ogunsina (1976:202-205) explains that language use in the modern Yoruba novel is in conformity with modern usage, Isola (1978: 190-260) classifies the use of language in the modern Yoruba novel into three: casual, mixed styles and elegant. Hitherto, critical works on Yoruba prose-fiction have only limited their activities to the use of subjective evaluative terms like good or bad and casual or polished to describe a novelist's style. The focus of this thesis therefore, is to identify and analyse the style of Yoruba crime fiction writers in order to arrive at a more acceptable stylistic description of this class of Yoruba prose-fiction. The work is in two parts. The first part which consists of two chapters forms the background study. Here, attempt is made to situate the problem of crime within the sociological background with the aim of placing Yoruba crime-fiction in proper perspective. The issue of style is also examined in this part. In the second part which comprises four chapters, an indepth analysis of the works of two prominent Yoruba crime-fiction writers: Okediji and Akinlade is attempted. The writers' narrative presentationa, styles, characterizational style and their use of language are discussed in this section. We conclude that, despite the differences in the writers' works, Okediji's and Akinlade's language serve ultimately the same purpose: to impose order upon chaos, to give structure and• meaning to the secret travail which ordinary life conceals.Item Language use and language attitude(Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan, 2008) Fadoro, J. O.Item Pedagogical constraints in negotiating oral English through Yoruba: a linguist's exploration(Lincom Europa Academic Publications, Munich, 2009) Fadoro, J. O.