Articles

Permanent URI for this collection

https://keffi.nsuk.edu.ng/handle/20.500.14448/3149

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 119

Open Access
ACCULTURATION IN THE PERIOD OF GLOBALIZATION: TIV LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE
(Department of English, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2012-07-05) Akase, Tiav Thomas; Amende, Charles A.
Acculturation is the adoption of the element of one culture by a different cultural group. Culture entails the knowledge, belief art, morals, laws, customs, habits, and language acquired by the people of the society. Language is known to be the sole transmitter of culture. Globalization encourages integration among countries and cultures across the world. The forces of globalization have therefore, endangered the world's linguistic and cultural diversity. This paper therefore, examines the effects of globalization on Tiv language and culture in recent times. The paper will also suggest useful solutions to avoid total annihilation of the Tiv man's valued cultural heritage.
Open Access
AMBIGUITY IN CONVERSATION: THE SITUATION OF SPEAKER-HEARER MEANING MISCONCEPTION IN ASASUL ISLAM SECONDARY SCHOOL OF J.I.B.W.I.S, TUDUN WADA, KEFFI
(Department of English Language, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2017-01-11) Muhammad, Mustapha
Often time people interact with one another, and the chief vehicle of their interaction is language being the medium of communication. Central to their interaction is meaning embedded in the coded form. Semantics, which is the branch of linguistics that studies meaning and formal relations that exist in meaning interpretation of the linguistic forms, has therefore been in daily use among persons, groups, communities and nations. However, people’s attitude towards language use and meaning deduction as conceived in daily interaction is multifaceted. The teacher-student conversation as well as student-student conversation, which this study set out to investigate, has been faced with enormous problems. The situation is rather intensified in the cases of foreign learners of English like the Nigeria. Here the concern is on those features of language, which either consciously or subconsciously mar the formal standards of the language in use, as the glaring effect is that which creates ambiguity situations (an aspect of rule violation). The study hence set out to investigate the ambiguous statements inherent in both teacher-student and student-student conversations of the Asasul Islam Secondary School, Keffi. Through observation, personal discussion and eavesdropping, the study gathered its data which were analysed using the contextual model otherwise known as the operational explication of meaning. The results of the analysis showed that ambiguity is a semantic problem which impedes understanding, and hence recommendations were offered on how to avoid unnecessary use of ambiguous expressions
Open Access
AMBIGUITY IN SPOUSAL INTERACTIONS
(Department of English Language, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2021-12-02) Salisu, Muhammad Raj.
Language is a vehicle by means of which we effect communication. Communication can only be established when both the speaker and the listener have the same understanding of the words and sentences used in conversation. Consequently, this paper investigates ambiguity in the conversation of selected Nigerian couples in order to determine the effect of ambiguity in the interpretation of meaning in the conversations of such couples. It also examines how ambiguity impedes meaning negotiation in spousal interactions. This was achieved by purposively selecting data collected from the conversations of couples who are educated. These data were analyzed based on the constructivist model of communication. The analysis reveals that the ambiguity present in these situations results from the inability of the decoding spouse to effectively determine the encoding spouse's intended meaning, barring contextual communicative features. This study, therefore, concludes that ambiguity indeed .affects the interpretation of meaning in spousal interactions and greatly influences meaning negotiation which has capacity for spiking domestic tensions in marital relationship.
Open Access
AMBIGUITY IN TIV DISCOURSE
(Department of Englsih, Nasarawa State University keffi, 2019-04-04) Akase, Tiav Thomas
This study examines ambiguity in Tiv discourse and how it can be interpreted. Ambiguity connotes a situation where a word or sentence has more than one meaning or interpretation. Ambiguity affects communication in language where meaning is distorted between a speaker and a listener, leading to misinterpretation and misunderstanding. This study therefore examines ambiguity in general with emphasis on lexical and structural ambiguities. Other causes or factors that are responsible for ambiguity in Tiv such as homonymy and polysemy are also examined. The study reveals instances of such ambiguities in Tiv discourse. The choice of appropriate words and the role of context are used to disambiguate such ambiguities. This is done, in order to ensure effective communication in Tiv as well as to contribute to the development of the Tiv language.
Open Access
AMBIGUITY RESULTING FROM MISPRONOUNCED ENGLISH MINIMAL PAIRS AMONG GWANDARA SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
(Department of English language Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2019-01-01) Muhammad, Mustapha
This research work explored the features of Gwandara pronunciation of the English minimal pairs, thereby analyzing the influence that a first language may have on the learning or use of a second language at the phonological level, particularly in the area of minimal pair. The work, having compared the minimal pairs in English and in Gwandara in order to identify areas of similarity and dissimilarity, displayed the mispronounced English minimal pairs by the Gwandara speakers of English as a second language and the resultant effect of ambiguity inherent in the mispronunciation by the speakers (especially of words, in isolation of sentimental stretches). For instance, a Gwandara speaker of English who said “I have pen” to mean “I have pain” posed the semantic implication of ambiguity which only the context can disambiguate. Using the recorded field data (as transcribed), the study followed a theoretical model of the weak version of contrastive analysis hypothesis (CAH) to present, analyse the sourced data and explain in the research findings as to why the following and many more of the English minimal pairs receive similar pronunciations by the Gwandara speakers of English, which is obviously not appropriate with the original or native pronunciations of the pairs: get and gate; met and mate; sell and sale; let and late; cope, cop and cup, fame and firm; boat, bought and but; advice and advise; fell and fail; heard and had; pot and port; mother and murder; fun and phone; hell and hail; foam and form etc. The major part of the research findings revealed that apart from the consonants /s/ and /z/; /d/ and /ð/ (often misused for one another), most, if not all the problems the Gwandara speakers of English seem to have with English minimal pairs pronunciation are vowel related, and that too is as a result of differences in the two phonemic systems. Furthermore, it revealed that mispronounced English minimal pairs by the Gwandara speakers of English as a second language pose the problem of ambiguity which affects effective communication. It is therefore recommended that the Gwandara natives should endeavor to be aware of their English minimal pair problems as explored here, so as to improve on them and also to avoid making ambiguity explicit in the course of their communicative efforts
Open Access
An Analysis of Code-Switching and Code- Mixing in Wole Soyinka’s The Beatification of Area Boy
(Department Of English, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2016-06-06) Moses, Joseph; Daniel, Philip Moles
Sociolinguistics is the study of language from the social perspective. It enables us to know about the various ways of using language in society, as well as the various ways through which our society conditions such uses. It reveals to us the extent to which language use is related to social identity. Both code-switching and code-mixing are sociolinguistic phenomena that have become unavoidable in any bilingual/multilingual society. They constitute varieties of language code used in general communication. They are used as stylistic devices to enhance interpretation of messages and the subject matter. This paper examined both language phenomena as a stylistic device applied by Soyinka in his text, The Beatification of Area Boy. The paper used the Theory of Meaning to analyze instances of code-switching and code-mixing identified in the text with a view to ascertaining how meaning is created amongst the characters in the text. It was discovered that the use of codeswitching and code-mixing enhanced the flow of conversations amongst the characters despite the differences in ethnicity and social background of the characters.
Open Access
An Analysis of Differences, Major Themes, Styles and Use of Language in Emecheta, Kincaid, Walker and Ba
(Department of English, Nasarawa State University keffi., 2020-12-07) Azan, Baba James; Muhammad, Idris Ladan
When there are similarities, there must be differences, the selected texts share elements of differences to some extent. The selected novels under study were written between 1976 - 1982. For instance, The Joys of Motherhood was written in 1979, The Autobiography of my Mother was written in 1976, The Color purple was written in 1982, and So long a letter was written in 1979. Thus, two of the texts The Joys of Motherhood and So Long a Letter Are African novels written in the same year, while two of the texts The Color Purple and The Autobiography of my Mother are American novels written in different yea
Open Access
Analysis of Hate Speeches as Metaphorical Cultural Stereotypes
(DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FACULTY OF ARTS NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, 2020-06-06) Salisu, Muhammad Raj; Adamu, Usman
This study examines hate speeches as metaphorical expressions used in the language of cultura stereotypes. It explores the language use in a Facebook status update of a subscriber and the conversation that ensued among the interlocutors of different ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. In the data analysis, the research finds out that the conversation which is supposed to be a political discourse turns out to be an emotionally-charged one, with all the interlocutors making derogatory statements against one another. The result shows that the kind of slur language that ensues is a reflection of the assumptions each interlocutor holds against the other on account of their different ethnic nationalities. It is discovered that sixteen (16) out of the twenty (21) statements in the status update are structural metaphors. The recurrence of structural metaphorical expressions indicates that there are feelings of disaffection in the society. This is because, as implied by Janda (16), the use of structural metaphor indicates strong feelings and conceptualization of the speaker about what is talked about.
Open Access
Analysis of Hate Speeches as Metaphorical Cultural Stereotypes
(Department of English language, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2020-06-01) Salisu, Muhammad Raj; Adamu, Usman
This study examines hate speeches as metaphorical expressions used in the language of cultural stereotypes. It explores the language use in a Facebook status update of a subscriber and the conversation that ensued among the interlocutors of different ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. In the data analysis, the research finds out that the conversation which is supposed to be a political discourse turns out to be an emotionally-charged one, with all the interlocutors making derogatory statements against one another. The result shows that the kind of slur language that ensues is a reflection of the assumptions each interlocutor holds against the other on account of their different ethnic nationalities. It is discovered that sixteen (16) out of the twenty (21) statements in the status update are structural metaphors. The recurrence of structural metaphorical expressions indicates that there are feelings of disaffection in the society. This is because, as implied by Janda (16), the use of structural metaphor indicates strong feelings and conceptualization of the speaker about what is talked about.
Open Access
AN ANALYSIS OF LINGUISTIC ARCHITECTURE OF TIV ANTHROPONOMASTICS
(Department of English, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2013-01-07) Akase, Tiav Thomas
Anthroponomastics is a subdivision of Onomastics. It is concerned with the study of personal names. It is different from Toponomastics which is place names. The division is however an arbitrary one, as places are often named after people and vice versa. Personal name refers to the names of people assigned to them by their parents, relatives, guardians or elderly members of the family and the community. Tiv personal names have a structure that reflects the grammatical structure of the language. This structure of personal names is however, something that most of us take completely for granted. This is because, we are so used to the mentioning and understanding our native names with unselfconscious ease that we do not notice the complex linguistic architecture that underlies almost every Tiv personal name. It is in view of this that, the work is carried out to examine the various grammatical structures that are found in Tiv personal names, beginning from the smallest constituent of personal names to larger ones.
Open Access
AN ANALYSIS OF MISPRONOUNCED ENGLISH MINIMAL PAIRS BY THE GWANDARA SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH IN SHABU, LAFIA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF NASARAWA STATE
(Department of English language Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2018-01-27) Muhammed, Mustapha
This research work explored the features of Gwandara pronunciation of the English minimal pairs, thereby analysing the influence that a first language may have on the learning or use of a second language at the phonological level, particularly in the area of minimal pair. The work, having compared the minimal pairs in English and in Gwandara in order to identify areas of similarity and dissimilarity, displayed the mispronounced English minimal pairs by the Gwandara speakers of English as a second language. Using the recorded field data (as transcribed), the study followed a theoretical model of the weak version of contrastive analysis hypothesis (CAH) to present, analyse the sourced data and explain in the research findings as to why the following and many more of the English minimal pairs receive similar pronunciations by the Gwandara speakers of English, which is obviously not appropriate with the original or native pronunciations of the pairs: get and gate; met and mate; sell and sale; let and late; cope, cop and cup, fame and firm; pen and pain; boat, bought and but; advice and advise; fell and fail; heard and had; pot and port; mother and murder; fun and phone; hell and hail; foam and form etc. The major part of the research findings revealed that apart from the consonants /s/ and /z/; /d/ and /ð/ (often misused for one another), most, if not all the problems the Gwandara speakers of English seem to have with English minimal pairs pronunciation are vowel related, and that too is as a result of differences in the two phonemic systems. It is therefore recommended that the Gwandara natives should endeavour to be aware of their English minimal pair problems as explored here, so as to improve on them
Open Access
Analyzing Discourse Particles in the Text of the 7-Point Agenda
(Department of English language, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2011-01-01) Salisu, Muhammad Raj
This paper examines how discourse particles have been used as communicative strategy to ensure the effective use of language in the text of the 7-Point Agenda of Nigeria's current administration. By using appropriate discourse mapping of cohesion, the paper investigates the strategy of how language is effectively used to communicate information to Nigerians on the message and import of the 7-Point Agenda. The varied cohesive strategies employed in the construction of the 7-Point Agenda as exemplified in this study include the strategies of reiteration/repetition, exophora, and the twin types of endophoric referencing, namely, anaphora and cataphora. The study investigated these techniques of communication through a discourse perspective in order to explore one of the numerous linguistic resources at the disposal of interlocutors. The picture that emerges shows that discourse strategies like reiteration/repetition and endophora are the various ways used to achieve textual cohesion thereby encoding meaning in the text of the 7-Point Agenda. As effective communication strategies, they are seen to help in determining meaning that are not directly obvious in the vocabulary contents of the texts but rather on the meaning that impinge on social context of the text.
Open Access
APPROACHES, GOALS AND THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE ANALYSIS OF THE SENTENCIAL MEANING IN SEMANTIC DISCOURSE
(Department of English language, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2008-06-01) Salisu, Muhammad Raj
This paper discusses the problem of determining the 'sentence-meaning' in semantic discourse using some approaches used for such, by examining their thematic frameworks to arrive at a conclusion. Language is considered as a symbolic value of a linguistic unit used either alone or with other linguistic units, i.e in context. Meaning is also considered as that which an expression conveys. It is within the framework of these definitions that this paper attempts at university the best approach considered adequate in the determination of and analysis of the concept of sentence meaning, various approaches are canvassed and discussed. It is the contention here that, of the various approaches presented and discussed, the "predicate calculus" has proved to be the most viable one in determining and understanding the concept of sentence meaning' in semantic discourse.
Open Access
Aspects of traditional Tiv naming practices: A sociocultural account
(Department of English, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2019-01-05) Mensah, Eyo; Rowan, Kirsty; Akase, Tiav Thomas; Ishima, Jighjigh
Abstract Naming in the African cultural context serves both referential and connotative functions as a unique means of identity construction which contains important cultural meaning and metaphysical presuppositions. Among the Tiv people of Benue State, North-central Nigeria, personal names reflect social relations and reveal major insights into their history, philosophy, language, spirituality’ and worldview. Naming practices in Tiv are indicative of the community’s social existence and redefine the essence of its being. This article explores the interaction of the Tiv people naming system with their sociocultural experi ence and physical environment. We investigate how naming intersects with social class distinction (wealth vs. poverty), emotions, occupations and topography, and examine their sources, social categorization and socio-onomastic significance. This study is theoretically rooted in Goddard’s (2006) ethnopragmatic paradigm which examines the locally relevant construction of cultural and contextual meanings in the interpretation of language. Data for the study were sourced from two Tiv communities of Gboko and Makurdi in Benue State, Nigeria through participant observations, personal interviews and conversations with name-bearers, -givers and -users. We conclude that Tiv personal names reflect the socio cultural environment and provide prominent sites for the creative expression of the Tiv social universe and lived cultural experiences.
Open Access
AUDIENCE-CONSCIOUSNESS IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN POETRY
(Department of English, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2022-01-05) Azan, Baba James; Daniel, Philip Moles; Shehu, Ibrahim Ahmad
Since African poetry emanates from the socio-political schisms bedevilling the African cosmos, contemporary African poetry has seen a shift from exclusive euromodemist tradition of obscurantism, ‘syntactic jugglery’ which obfuscates the assimilating capacity of the common man. The aesthetics of the shift is obviously evident in the simplistic language of its medium of instruction; the infiltration of oral traditions; the special place created for the peasants in the reading and relish of poetry. Ultimately, this essay reveals, through critical comments on the poetry of the euro-modemist poets and that of Niyi Osundare’s generation, who are audienceconscious, evident in the simplified language of their poetry for the apt understanding of the layman, that the masses enjoy the poetry written in workaday English, while a selected few relish the one produced with convoluted syntax and complex imagery. After creating these dialectics, the researcher concludes that, though minimalism appeals to a vast majority of audience, poetry should not be made to yield recklessly to crafllessness, or be reduced to poetry of ‘unaesthetic’ prose statement.
Open Access
A Cognitivist Perspective on Language Development: The Nigerian Child
(Department of English, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2009-02-02) David, Stephen O.
Many theories have been put forward to explain or account for how children acquire their first language. Each of the theories had been received enthusiastically in its own time. However, as new ideas are introduced, the old approaches and theories are set aside while the new ones become fashionable, making the debate concerning a child's first language acquisition to be produced. Prominent among the theories are behaviorism or nativism, cognitivism. interactionism, connectivism, emergentism etc. This paper is principally concerned with the cognitivism theory. The paper, therefore, uses this theory of cognitivism to account for how a Nigerian child acquires his first language in an e home using one of the research paradigms in psycholinguistics. This paper also highlights some of the problems encountered in Nasarawa and the prospects. to account for how a Nigerian child acquires his first home, using one of the research paradigms i
Open Access
Cohesive Devices in Zaynab Alkali’s The Descendants
(Department of English, Faculty Of Arts, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, 2007-07-03) David, Stephen O.
Many scholars have criticized the language of Alkali’s literary texts as simple and straight'forward. But the question is what makes the language to be so? It is partly because of certain cohesive devices. In Discourse Analysis, there are various segments that are brought together to make a text unified and whole. These devices are encapsulated in literary texts particularly Alkali's The Descendants being analysed. When a text is properly held together as a unit, it is said to be cohesive. 'Cohesion' therefore, is one of the devices used by authors to hold a text together. It is therefore our intention in this presentation to study the cohesive devices that have made Alkali's texts to be widely acclaimed as cohesive using her latest novel, The Descendants as a case study.
Open Access
COMMUNICATIVE PRINCIPLES IN HATE SPEECH OF INTER ETHNIC CONVERSATIONS IN NIGERIA
(Department of English language, Nasarawa State University Keffi, 2020-06-01) Salisu, Muhammad Raj; Adamu, Usman
This study is on Communicative Principles in inter-ethnic conversations laced with emotional undertones in Nigeria. It explores the language of interlocutors to determine how this linguistic theory can account for the language of such sensational interactions. The research looks at a naturally-occurring language situation of two speakers belonging to two ethnic groups in Nigeria who have stereotyped themselves. From the findings, the result shows that the communicative principles as propounded by Grice could not virtually account for such language situation in which speakers have developed predetermined assumptions against each other. This is because the conversational maxims are just moral codes that guide how language use can be mutually intelligible when speakers cooperate but could hardly account for language in sensational situations as exemplified in this study.
Open Access
A Comparative Analysis of Discourse Tacts in Selected Military Coup Speeches and Inaugural Addresses of Nigerian Presidents
(Department Of English, Faculty Of Arts, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, 2019-06-12) David, Stephen O.; Aworo, Okoroh Joy
This paper compares the discourse tacts in selected military coup speeches with the inaugural addresses of some of the democratically elected presidents in Nigeria using Adegbija’s (1995) eight discourse tacts as the theoretical framework. Findings reveal that while the political /military language as used by these two groups of the Nigerian leaders are similar in the area of using language to manipulate their audience, they differ in the area of brevity when it was observed and noticed that in military coup speeches, the announcers were more economical with words in their announcements than the Presidents in their inaugural addresses and that the tacts used as the base for analysing the texts used for this study were fully obeyed and complied with in the military coup speeches than were complied with by the inaugural addresses.
Open Access
Comparative Appraisal of Lexicogrammatical Resources in Selected Online News Reports On Farmers-Herders’ Conflicts in Nigeria
(DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FACULTY OF ARTS NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, 2021-05-17) Salisu, Muhammad Raj; Terver, Lorde Ahembe
(Online) media organisations perceive and report conflict news variously, to align with their house styles, ideological inclinations and certain already prescribed media frames for reporting such events, by means of the communicative strategies deployed. On this note, this study set out to comparatively appraise the deployment of lexicogrammatical resources in 30 online news articles (10 each), on farmers herders’ conflicts, purposively selected from 3 online news sources (Tribune Online, The Guardian Nigeria, and Sahara Reporters) published between January, 2017 and December, 2019. Martin and White's (2005) Appraisal framework provided insight for analysis. The study revealed that Tribune Online deployed resources which positions it as an emotive news outlet on farmers herders’ conflict reportage whereas the Guardian Nigeria and Sahara Reporters were seen to divest their reports of emotive communicative strategies.Consequently, the study posits that online news writers maximise the use of neutrally coloured lexicogrammatical structures when accounting for conflict situations between farmers andherders/pastoralists in Nigeria. It is anticipated that with neutrally stanced lexicogrammatical professional reportage is achieved as well as mutua coexistence, anchored on the quest for national growth and development.