Linguistics & African Languages
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://repository.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/287
Browse
57 results
Search Results
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.Item Revisiting the mother-tongue medium controversy(Montem Paperbacks, Akure, 2010) Fadoro, J. O.A number of studies carried out on 'Primary School Dropouts' in Nigeria and elsewhere attributed the dropout phenomenon (which ranges from 40% to 60%) in certain countries to premature introduction of English as a language of instruction at the primary school. In the National Policy on Education (Revised in 1981), the mother-tongue medium policy was clearly and unambiguously stated for the first time. Since then, several experiments have been carried out to prove the efficacy of mother tongue as medium of instruction in the primary school. Notable among these is the Ife Six-Year Yoruba Primary-Project (SYYPP) 1970- 1975. This study provides answers to the following questions: (i) Are the proprietors of Private Nursery and Primary Schools aware of the mother-tongue medium policy? (ii) What is their attitude towards it? (iii) To what extent is the policy statement adhered to? (iv) If the policy is not-adhered to, what are the reasons given for not adhering to it? (v) What is the status of the so-called major languages and languages of the immediate community in these schools, that is, are they being taught as subjects? (vi) How many periods are allotted to them per week on the timetable, compared with exoglossic languages like English and French? (viii) What are the implications of all these on the so-called major languages of Nigeria and the languages of the immediate community? Answers to these questions form the basic thrust of this paperItem The Nigerian language policy: theory or practice?(The Linguistic Association of Nigeria, 2013) Fadoro, J. O.The language provision in the National Policy of Education (l977) prescribes among others that 'in the interest of national unity, each child should be encouraged to learn one of the three major languages' (i.e. Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba), Scholars have frowned at the language used in couching the recommendations. For instance, Bamgbose (2000b) opines that some 'escape-clauses' were woven into the recommendations, such that stakeholders in education can violate them with impunity. This study was carried out to find out whether the three major languages are being taught in secondary schools as subtly prescribed by the language policy. In the course of the study, thirty-five schools spread across three states - Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos - were sampled. Information gathered show that Yoruba is taught in all the schools, whereas Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba are taught only in four of them, while Igbo is taught in seven of them. From this, we deduced that only four schools teach the three major languages. Three of them are located in Lagos State while one is located in Oyo State. None of the schools visited in Ogun State teaches the three major languagesItem Collaboration and advocacy in the management of stroke induced speech disorders: aphasia as a case study(Manifold Grace Publications, Ibadan, 2016) Oluwadoro, J. O.; Awoniyi, E.Item New trends in personal names among pentecostals in south western Nigeria(West African Linguistic Society, 2016) Fadoro, J. O.Research attention has been devoted to personal names in different cultures all over the world. However, there is an emerging trend among the Pentecostals, which to the best of our knowledge has not been explored. This is the tendency to place more emphasis on how names sound, rather than the meanings of such names. This paper is devoted to this issue. Data were elicited from 20 parents (15 mothers and 5 fathers); overall 60 children with different names are reflected in the data. Halliday’s Systemic Functional Theory (SFT) formed the theoretical background of the paper. Here, the emphasis is on the function and use which the user of language makes it to perform. In this case, the aesthetic function has an over-riding precedence over other functions, such as religion, harmony with fathers' names, and family backgrounds. Even though, all these are reflected in the names examined, but the sound component is more pervasive than any other. The morphological analysis of the names also reflects that four morphological processes are involved. These are Prefixation, Alphabetism, Clipping and Composition. There is a subtle revolution in naming practices being precipitated/initiated by Pentecostal parentsItem Towards Akokoid orthographies(2012) Fadoro, J. O.Language contact between Akokoid and Yoruba has resulted in gradual shift from Akokoid. Thus, the speech forms subsumed under Akokoid now face a precarious problem of extinction in the near future. As a step towards the possibility of preserving these speech forms, previous scholars have prescribed the need to analyse and describe them as well as propose good orthographies for them. In response to this prescription, the present study proposes two orthographies for the Akokoid speech forms. Jules Gillieron and Edmond Edmont's pioneering theory of traditional dialectology, served as the theoretical framework. The University of Ibadan 400 wordlist was used to obtain data from 34 informants. Selection of informant was guided by the Acronym NORM(s) (Non-Mobile, Old, Rural, Males). In analyzing the data, Pike's discovery procedure in phonological analysis and Williamson's Orthographic Conventions were employed. Lexicostatistics conducted earlier revealed that Arigidi and Erushu are 88.5% cognate and are also mutually intelligible, so we classified them together as dialects of Arigidi. By contrast, the Owon varieties, comprising of Afa, Aje, Udo, Oge, Igashi and Uro are 81.0% cognate and they are mutually intelligible, therefore they are classified together as Owon. Two distinct but related languages within the nine speech forms were identified. These are Arigidi and OW9n, jointly referred to as Akokoid. As a result of their endangered status, there is need for harmonization and standardisation within each group. This paper responds to this need by providing two orthographies, one for Arigidi and the other for owon as a preliminary measure towards their preservation and use in educationItem The Possible sources of /z/ in AO(Yoruba Studies Association of Nigeria, 2012) Fadoro, J. O.The place of Ao among Yoruba dialects has been clearly identified in previous research. Its location within the South Eastern Yoruba (SEY) of Awobuluyi (1998) has been incontrovertibly established. However, the dialect has two phonemic consonants which distinguish it from the other dialects of Yoruba. These are /z/: The voiced alveolar fricative, and /λ/: The voiced post-alveolar fricative. This paper focuses on the possible source of /z/ in the sound system of Ao. Three possibilities are explored. These are: spirantisation, affrication and the effect of neighbouring Edoid languages. On the basis of phonological plausibility, the researcher cleaves to the first possibility spirantisation, otherwise known as frication