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Item Security challenge in Nigeria is war:metaphorical constructions in selected Nigerian newspaper editorials(Academic Publishing Centre, 2025) Osisanwo, A.This study is designed to investigate how insecurity and connected challenges are metaphorically conceptualised in Nigerian newspapers as war, hunting, natural disasters (water and fire), economy, farming, game and purification. Following the instances of the use of metaphoric expressions in the selected Nigerian newspaper editorials on the insecurity issues in Nigeria, the study reveals that insecurity is represented as a challenge, expressed through seven salient metaphors. Security challenge is constructed as war (53.5%) through war metaphors like weapon, bloodbath to portray Nigeria as a battlefield; hunting (12.1%) through hunting metaphors like captive, target; natural disaster (11.7%) through water and fire metaphors like flow, awash; engulf, extinguish; economy (10.6%) through economy metaphors like gains, cheap; game (4.8%) through game metaphors like tackle, league; farming (4.4%) through farming metaphors like plant, fish; and purification (2.9%) through cleansing metaphors like wipe out, flush out. The seven metaphors unearthed in this paper suggest the endless destruction of people, property and communities in Nigeria by the insecurity actors, while the game and purification metaphors suggest the need for the government to tackle and wipe out the insecurity actors.Item Pentecostal voices and discourse perspectives to LGBTQ+ narratives in Nigeria(Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, 2024) Osisanwo, A.; Alugbin, M.The conformist and dissenting religious voices with various social classificatory paradigms on LGBTQ+ issues have further complicated the association between the West and others in sub- Saharan Africa. Religious leaders from the West and those of African extraction seem to already hold divergent opinions on the issue. This paper investigates Pentecostal voices and discourse perspectives of selected foremost pastors on LGBTQ+ narratives within the Nigerian space. Data were retrieved from the online versions of three widely circulated newspapers: Vanguard, The Nation, and Daily Post, focusing on the represented stances and voices of four Nigerian pastors with the largest membership within and outside the Nigerian space. The study employed a systematic approach to collect and analyse news reports, considering factors such as the pastors’ stances, sentiments conveyed, and engagement with LGBTQ-related topics. Nigerian Pentecostal pastors align their stances with foundational religious principles and embrace belief systems that shape human existence. Pentecostal pastors’ rhetoric condemns LGBTQ identities and relationships, framing them as a threat to traditional values, natural order and God’s will, which are perceived as being undermined by modern, Western influences.Item Self-legitimation in selected speeches of Abubakar Shekau, the Boko Haram terrorists leader(Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, 2024) Osisanwo, A.This paper examines self-legitimation in selected speeches of Abubakar Shekau, the longest-serving leader of Boko Haram terrorists (BHT). The article analyses seven of the speeches Shekau delivered during his reign as the BHT leader between 2009 and 2021, using f4analyse as a coding tool and Theo van Leeuwen’s (2008. Discourse and practice: New tools for critical discourse analysis) Discourse Legitimation approach to discourse analysis. The analysis discloses that Shekau uses three legitimation strategies: authorisation, moralisation and rationalisation to justify the actions and practices of BHT. The three legitimation strategies are linguistically realised through positive self-presentation strategy by engaging in self-glorification, personalising and collectivising victory, and claiming and announcing success to legitimate the mission of the group in carrying out the struggle. The strategies are deployed to positively present Abubakar Shekau as fighting a legitimate struggle.Item Delegitimating the Nigerian state and other anti-Boko Haram in selected messages of Abubakar Shekau(Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group, 2024) Osisanwo, A.This paper examines the delegitimation of the Other in selected messages of Boko Haram (BH), using seven of the messages delivered by the longest-serving BH leader, Abubakar Shekau. The messages delivered during Shekau’s period as the BH leader between 2009 and 2021, were identified using f4analyse as a coding tool and discussed analytically using Theo van Leeuwen’s Discourse Legitimation approach to discourse analysis. The analysis unearths Shekau’s deployment of four delegitimation strategies: authorisation, moralisation, rationalisation and mythopoesis to discredit the actions and practices of the Other – those who do not associate with BH. The four delegitimation strategies are linguistically realised through negative other-presentation strategy. The messages deployed polarisation, other-condemnation, other-blaming, negative tagging (derogatory labelling/nomination) of anti-BH, otherexclusivity in perceived positive contexts, metaphorising, hyperbolising and euphemising to accentuate in-group consensus and ingroup solidarity. The strategies are deployed to negatively represent the Other in order to delegitimise their actions, beliefs and principles.Item Pragmatic strategies in medical encounters with mental health(MGIMO University Press, 2025) Akeredolu-Ake, B. I.; Osisanwo, A.; Chinaguh, E.Effective communication is critical in mental health care, as language shapes therapeutic outcomes and patient experiences. In Nigeria, where mental health care is under-resourced, the role of pragmatic strategies in medical encounters remains underexplored, despite their impact on patient outcomes. This research sought to characterize the key pragmatic acts employed as communication strategies during medical consultations with mental health patients in Nigeria and to elucidate their role in facilitating effective diagnosis and treatment. A qualitative design was employed at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta. Seven medical encounters (average length 10 min 17s; range 2m 18s - 29m 26s) were audio-recorded between March and June 2022 with ethical approval and informed consent. Data were transcribed, translated, and analyzed using Mey’s (2001) Pragmatic Acts Theory. Findings show that mental health practitioners deployed six preponderant pragmatic acts as linguistic strategies to aid the diagnosis and treatment processes of mental health patients in Nigeria. The pragmatic acts are counselling, interjectory, suggesting, inquiring, re-assessing, and assuring. Respectively, these acts were used by doctors/psychiatrists to perform the pragmatic functions of encouraging, prompting responses, tracking mental health history, showing medical concern, confirming, and assuring. These functions were realized through pragmatic cues such as relevance (REL), shared situation knowledge (SSK), reference (REF), inference (INF), prosody, and indirect speech acts. This study highlights the essential role of pragmatic strategies in enriching the diagnosis and treatment of mental health patients in Nigeria, offering valuable insights into communication patterns that can enhance patient engagement and clinical outcomes in mental health care, particularly in under-resourced settings.Item Blame-frame and praise-frame on the Boko-Haram terrorism in Nigeria newspapers: A discourse examination(Global Research & Development Services, 2019) Osisanwo, A.Boko Haram, as reported by the media, has been terrorising Nigeria, especially since 2009. Linguistic studies on terrorism and Boko Haram in Nigeria have considered, among others, the representations of the group by the media and policy makers. However, insufficient discourse attention has been devoted to the framing tactics deployed by social actors in identifying the roles played by two administrations in the escalation or denigration of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria. Yet, the consideration can lend further insights into the Boko Haram operations, and identifying the possible failures and successes in curbing the menace in Nigeria. Therefore, this paper examines the strategies deployed by social actors (political, religious and ethnic) as reported by selected newspapers to identify the roles played by two administrations in the State, Nigeria. For data, different utterances on the blame-praise frames, credited to different social actors are purposively selected from the electronic versions of newspapers from 2013 to 2017 (two years each from two administrations). Guided by aspects of critical discourse analysis, with bias for van Dijk’s ideological structures, the study revealed that there are two broad frames on the administrations: blame-frame and praise-frame. The blame-frame strategies include blame-frame as propaganda tactic, finger-pointing and demonization strategy, justification for political migration, buck passing, and social-control technique. The praiseframe strategies include praise-frame for ventilation and behavioural reinforcement, strengthening bilateral relations, proof of change actualization, and self-praise. The frames are reinforced with sixteen ideological discourse structures, including 'actor description', 'authority', 'categorisation', among others.Item Stance and engagement in E-punch newspaper readers' comments on former president Goodluck Jonathan administration's war against Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria.(English Scholars' Association of Nigeria, 2017) Osisanwo, A.Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria has lingered on for almost a decade. The terrorism has had some effects on Nigeria, and the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the act, and declared a total war against the group. Linguistic studies on terrorism with bias for Boko Haram have largely dwelt on other areas but the examination of the online readers’ comments on the war against terrorism. Yet, it is capable of revealing the public perception of the government’s success or failure in the war against Boko Haram terrorism, the media intents, and the Boko Haram operations. This study, therefore, examines the discourse strategies deployed by readers, taking different stances on former President Goodluck Jonathan administration’s fight against Boko Haram terrorism, through their comments on the e-Punch newspaper reports. For data, 751 comments, constituting a corpus of 22,512 words on six purposively selected news items on the 2014 e-Punch Newspaper website were sampled. Guided by stance and engagement theory on interaction, the readers’ comments by participants were subjected to discourse analysis. The online readers’ comments on the war on Boko Haram terrorism implicated and condemned the administration while some suggested solutions. Some of their stances were fuelled by religiousity, ethnicity and partisanship. Nevertheless, they deployed different engagement techniques, including questioning, shared knowledge, personal asides, directives, among others, to convince other participants or call the administration to order. It is recommended that e-Punch and other media outlets be proactive in moderating what participants post online in order to curb avoidable crisis.Item Expression of ideologies in media accounts of the 2003 and 2007 general elections in Nigeria(Sage Publications, 2013) Oyeleye, L.; Osisanwo, A.Existing studies on media representation of elections in Nigeria do not pay adequate attention to a critical linguistic perspective on language used in reporting electoral matters. Given the fact that ideologies are crucial in elections, this study investigates the ways that cover stories in two Nigerian news magazines, TELL and The News, express the ideological pursuits of social actors in the 2003 and 2007 general elections in Nigeria. The discourse patterns that expressed ideological pursuits in the reports were generally non-neutral. The discourse of the stories indicated an attempt to shape the perspective of readers in elections; the magazines held the view that they are responsible for the social orientation of the electorates. Ideologies are expressed, acquired, confirmed, changed and perpetuated through discourse. They are generally reproduced in the social practices of their members. Both TELL and The News magazines put to use the ideological polarization between the ideological structures of ingroups and outgroups, such that ingroups typically emphasize their own good deeds while they de-emphasise their bad deeds; on the other hand, outgroups de-emphasise or even totally deny their own bad deeds while they emphasise their good ones.Item Polity debacle and the burden of being in Africa(Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, 2017) Osisanwo, A.The kidnap of the Chibok girls in Borno State, northeastern partof Nigeria on April 14,2014 emotionally affected Nigerians, including online readers; and gave birth to the #BringBackOurGirls (#BB0G) movement. The media (print, electronic and social) have played a critical role in framing the discourse; and the reportage has attracted scholarly attention from different fields. Linguistic studies have also examined online tweets and Facebook posts on the kidnap of Chibok girls. The release of twenty-one of the girls on 13 October, 2016 was followed by reactions from different individuals and groups, including the #BBOG group on different social media, There is a dearth of works on the reportage of the release because it was a recent event. This paper, therefore, identifies the strategies deployed by purposively selected individuals Facebook discourse participants in taking different stances on the Nigerian government on the release of the twenty-one girls, through their comments on the Facebook wall of the #BBOG campaigners. The data is constituted by purposively selected readers' posts on the Facebook wall of the major campaigners for the release of the gbls, #BringBackOurGirls movement. Guided by stance and enSagement theory on interaction, the Facebook posts by participants were subjected to discourse analysis. Participant® posts on the girls' release praised the government and hoped for t release of the others. Discourse participants deployed different stance and engagement techniques to convince other readers a call for the release of the remaining girls.Item Socioeconomic context of the production and utilization of alcoholic herbal remedy in Ibadan, Nigeria(Anthropos Institut, 2013) Ajala, A. S.; Omobowale, M. O.Pàrâgà - a Yoruba herbal remedy containing local herbs and gin is claimed to be effective in the treatment of piles, backaches, and male erectile problems. Believed to be more effective than some biomedical drugs for these ailments, pàrâgà raises questions concerning the use of alcohol in the herbal drug, characteristics of its producers and the users, and its health implications in Ibadan. Through ethnography, the influence of certain socioeconomic factors on pàrâgà production and utilization in Ibadan is examined. Nigeria's underdeveloped health care system, poor health education, and high cost of biomedical drugs compel the users of pàrâgà to use it as an alternative health mea sure. Producers are mostly women with low income, while the users are mainly low-income men. Users always use and abuse it as intoxicant. Pàrâgà, a herbal remedy containing alcohol needs to have its production and consumption regulated. It is also necessary to engage Ibadan's public in culturally sensitive health education on the risks associated with alcoholic herbal remedies.