Pragmatic Functions of Crisis - Motivated Proverbs in Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not to Blame

The paper examines the pragmatic functions that crisis-motivated proverbs play in Ola Rotimi's The Gods is not to Blame. It picks its inspiration from the little attention hitherto paid, in the linguistic literature, to both the specific proverbs that are spurred by crisis in the play and the pragmatic roles of such proverbs. For data, only the proverbs that are necessitated by the crisis-situations in the text are sampled, and these are analysed, using the recent theory of pragmatic acts (Mey 2001). The study reveals that crisis-motivated proverbs in The Gods are not to Blame, which are of two types: social and political, are characterized by practs such as those of counselling, cautioning, challenging, veiling, persuading, prioritizing, encouraging, threatening and admitting. These are psychological acts which exploit contextual features such as reference, metaphor, inference, shared situation knowledge, shared cultural knowledge and relevance. The paper concludes that studying literary proverbs used in crisis situations, from a pragmatic perspective, both throws additional insights into the paremiological pool and promises to provide a veritably helpful tool for language teaching

Pragmatic Strategies of Diagnostic News Delivery in Nigerian Hospitals

This paper sets out to study pragmatic strategies of diagnostic news delivery in Nigerian hospitals, an area that has received extremely little attention in the linguistic literature. It ultimately aims to see how these strategies are similar to or are different from those used in Western hospitals, especially as studied by Maynard (1991a, 1991b, 1991c, 1992, 2003, 2004). The hospitals sampled were stratified into teaching, state-government owned and private hospitals, and a random selection of five hospitals from each group was made. Data were collected through tape recordings, and personal observation of hospital interactions. The analysis of data was based on insights from Levinson's (1979) notion of activity type and Maynard's (1991a, 1991b, 1991c, 1992, 2003, 2004) devices of diagnostic news delivery. The findings reveal that three strategies are used to declare diagnostic news. Two of these are the main strategies identified by Maynard, namely asserting the condition and citing the evidence, but the third, mitigating the blunt news through veils and hedges, is largely peculiar to Nigerian hospitals. The paper concludes that a study of pragmatic strategies of diagnostic news delivery contributes to a better understanding of hospital interactions, and provides insights into doctors' verbal outputs in diagnostic meetings

Discursive Repetitions and Voices in Nigerian Clinical Meetings

Previous studies on discursive repetitions have acknowledged other- repetitions/reformulations in consultative meetings but have neither focused on the occurrences of a combination of self and other repetitions nor connected them to the polyphonic dimensions of the interactions. Arguing that discursive repetitions sometimes work to demonstrate multiple voices on diagnoses and health state assessments in Nigerian hospital meetings, and that they consequently exert an influence on the negotiation of clinical outcomes, the paper analyses 100 repetitions in 30 doctor-patient interactions in Out- Patient Department clinics in South-western Nigerian hospitals. The analysis shows that doctors repeat (non)-contiguous constituents of their turns in a way that superposes the conjectural voice of the doctor, the medical institutional voice, the voice of medical science and the voice of culture (parenting). Repetitive turns and voices are negotiated with consultative parties’ common ground of medical procedures, previous joint/separate clinical encounters and patients’ preferences, eventuating in three clinical outcomes: verdicts on patients’ health state, commitment to adherence and admittance of non- compliance with regimens

Language and Gender Perspectives in Nigerian Theo-religious Contexts

While some research has been carried out on gender and religion in some parts of Africa, studies are yet to attend to how gender perspectives are expressed in the Christian theo-religious context (in Nigeria). This paper addresses this gap by investigating the gender linguistic and discoursal resources deployed by Nigerian theological seminary students to orient to gender beliefs. Two orthodox religious institutions, the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso and the Dominican Institute, Ibadan were purposively sampled. Seventy eight essays, written by all the students (72 males, 6 females) in the two institutions, on 'God and Humans' were collected. The essays were subjected to linguistic and pragma-discoursal analyses, with insights from dominance and postmodernist gender theories, discourse tracking and critical discourse analysis. Written communication in theo-religious contexts in Nigeria projects two terms: patriarchal and gender-neutral/balanced. Both male and female genders opt for patriarchal terms to refer to God and humans. Men employ the items subjectively to assert independence and, sometimes, gender superiority; women use them objectively to associate with the male group. Nominal and pronominal gender-neutral/balanced items are used by the two groups. Men either draw on the tokens exclusively to subsume women or inclusively to cover both men and women. Women engage the items inclusively by involving both groups and submissively by presuming presenting neutral tokens with patriarchal items. Gendered language used by seminary students largely reflects the traditional social and religious roles of men and women in the larger Southwestern Nigerian society. Future research can compare gendered language in the theo-religious institution with that in medical, academic or commercial institutions. It can also compare gender perspectives among male and female students in selected African and Western seminaries

On terrorist attacks in Nigeria: Stance and engagement in conversations on Nairaland

Terrorist attacks in Nigeria have generated a huge body of conversations and debates on the Internet. This study investigates the contents of these online conversations on Nairaland and how such conversations exhibit stance and civic engagement in response to the attacks. Nairaland is an online community and public space that serves as a meeting place for Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, who constantly follow-up on the events in Nigeria and participate in political debates about the country. This study argues that the frequent negative evaluations of Boko Haram and the attribution of the activities to Islam and the consistent constructions of northern Nigeria as ‘violent people’ and Islam as an ‘evil’ religion in Nairaland are potential to further worsen religious and ethnic relations in Nigeri

THE LANGUAGE OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE RHETORIC OF LIBERIAN PRESIDENTS

This dissertation contests the framing of “development” in Liberian presidential discourse — Inaugural and State of the Nation addresses of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (EJS) and George Weah through Reisigl & Wodak\u27s (2016) Discourse Historical Analysis (DHA) and conceptions of political ideologies (Chilton & Schaffner, 2002; van Dijk, 2006; Fairclough & Wodak, 1997). Aristotelian rhetoric complements my analysis. I turn to Mohanty (1988), Mama (2001), and other theorists of globalization for theorizing the subjectivity of third world subjects, setting up the complex connections between the periphery and global south. Through a linguistic, historical, and rhetorical analysis, I contest the framing and conception of development by Liberian presidents Sirleaf and Weah, questioning whether it matches the expectation and needs of the everyday Liberian. I interrogate development in Liberia and the implications of such developments on the selected leaders and nation. My central question is whether development is construed to the advantage of the speaker (Sirleaf and Weah) or their audience (the people of Liberia). My interest in the concept of development stems from the observation of its ambiguous usage, such that I identified it as a god term or uncontested term (Weaver, 1953) based on assumptions of its meaning. Since my data is suffused with neoliberal discourses, the works of Chilcote (2002) and Springer (2012) are helpful for my analysis of the contradictions of globalization, especially with Liberia\u27s positionality as a dependent economy — bound to ex-imperial powers—despite its richness in natural and human resources. My quest for understanding the relationship between language, power, and ideology drives the thematic analysis of education, democracy, empowerment, gender, security, etc. These are all related to how development is conceptualized in the Liberian context. I focus on the semiotic choices of the presidents and their positionality to understand issues, events, actions, and the people they legitimize or delegitimize, as well as the values and beliefs they portray in their discourses. My analysis reveals that the discursive practices of Sirleaf and Weah are essentially performing politics (Wodak 2012) so that, unfortunately, the masses soon find themselves in the hands of new politicians with old ways of thinking, with non-inclusive and non-progressive state institutions and structures. Furthermore, by exploring Liberia\u27s history, I problematize the current political structure, especially the neglect of tensions between the different groups due to beliefs and ideologies. Liberia\u27s political actors’ unique adoption of neoliberal discourses cannot be explored without investigating their backgrounds and connections, e.g., Sirleaf to America and Weah to Europe, such that their framing of development is linked and dependent on their foreign allies’ interests and control. Thus, to achieve significant progress, Liberia must look at alternative means of addressing her historical problems rather than adopting neoliberal rhetoric that is not useful for her political and cultural structure. More importantly, there must be a collaborative effort between the government and the people towards accountability and correcting the ideology of public office equals personal enrichment. Instead, it is necessary to cultivate new ways of ensuring that public offices are used toward the good of all, especially to maintain peace and avoid a repetition of political tensions as Liberia has experienced before

Perspectivization in fiction: a deictic study of Wole Soyinka´s "Ake"

O estudo lingüístico do discurso literário é um desenvolvimento recente na expansão global. Até 1982, esforços nessa direção foram realizados, nos anos setenta, por críticos literários como Chatman (1978), Ehrlich (1990), Fludernik (1993) e Mey (2000). Nenhum trabalho conhecido estudou especificamente como personagens em ficção vêm sendo focalizados a partir da dêixis. A tendência mais comum é que características dêiticas sejam estudadas juntamente com outros elementos lingüísticos. Devido ao lugar de destaque ocupado pela dêixis na comunicação humana, é essencial isolá-la a fim de explorar o seu grau de influência na projeção de personagens ficcionais. Esse trabalho irá, portanto, não só contribuir para a área em questão, mas facilitará a apreciação de personagens em obras de ficção. O texto, Ake, já foi extensivamente estudado e somente aspectos dêiticos que ocorrem em conversas entre personagens são tomados como amostras. Exemplos do uso de elementos dêiticos são coletados aleatoriamente para exemplificar dêixis de tempo e espaço presentes no texto.The study of linguistics of literary discourse is a recent development in the global spread. Until 1982, efforts made in the seventies in this direction were by literary critics such as Chatman (1978), Ehrlich (1990), Fludernik (1993) and Mey (2000). No work that we are aware of has specifically studied how characters in fiction have been focalized through deictics alone. The common trend is that deictic features are taken along with other linguistic elements. Given the high place deictics occupy in human communication, it is essential to isolate them for study to explore the degree at which they influence character projection in fiction. This work will therefore not only add to the material on this area, it will also facilitate character appreciation in fictive works. The text, Ake, is extensively studied, and only the deictics that occur in conversations between characters are sampled. Examples of deictic usage are picked randomly to exemplify deictics of time, place and time as they occur in the text

Kinetics, Isotherms and Thermodynamics Studies of Sorption of Cu2+ onto Novel Zerovalent Iron Nanoparticles

A novel nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI) is an effective adsorbent forscavenging inorganic and organic toxicants. nZVI was synthesized in a single potsystem using bottom-up approach and were characterized by BET, SEM, EDX andFTIR. In this study, sorption of Cu2+ onto nZVI was carried out vis-à-vis theinvestigation of physicochemical parameters (initial metal ion concentration, pH,temperature, adsorbent dose) at 298 K. The sorption data obtained at optimumconditions were subjected to six different isotherm models (Langmuir, Freundlich,Temkin, Dubinin-Raduskevich (D-R), Halsey and Harkin-Jura). However, theequilibrium sorption data were best described by both Langmuir and Temkin isothermmodels with Langmuir maximum monolayer coverage (Qmax) of 40.816 mg/g andregression correlation value (R2 > 0.96) supporting a chemisorption mechanism. Pseudofirst-and second-order, Elovich, fractional power and intra-particle diffusion modelswere applied to the adsorption data in order to investigate the kinetic process; pseudosecond-order fitted the data most. The intra-particle diffusion model suggested that theintra-particle diffusion was one of the rate-limiting steps. The values of the Gibbs freeenergy showed the feasibility and spontaneity of the sorption process. The removalefficiency of Cu2+ (> 98%) onto zerovalent iron nanoparticles revealed that nZVI is apromising and efficient adsorbent that can be utilized by industries on a large scale forwaste treatment.Keywords: Zerovalent Iron nanoparticle; Sorption; Isotherms; Kinetics andThermodynami

Kinetic Studies of Catalytic Oxidation of Cyclohexene Using Chromium VI Oxide in Acetic Acid Medium

Cyclohexene was oxidized using chromium (VI) oxide (CrO3) in pure acetic acid medium. The products of oxidation were analysed using simple qualitative analysis, IR spectroscopy and Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Kinetics studies were carried out to determine the order of reaction, rate constant and the activation energy with respect to the oxidant using pseudo-order approximation method. The influence of Cu2+, Co2+ and Fe2+ as catalysts were also investigated. Qualitative analyses of the products revealed the presence alcohols and ketones while the GC/MS shows the presence of cyclohexanol (2.46%), cyclohexanone (5.05%), 2-cyclohexen-1-one (59.37%), 1,2-cyclohexanediol monoacetate (9.88%), 2-hydroxy-cyclohexanone (1.75%) and bi-2-cyclohexen-1-yl (5.16%). The reaction order was shown to be 2nd order with respect to the CrO3 with activation energy of 45.32 kJ mol-1 while Co2+ and Fe2+ indicated some catalytic activity on the reaction

Mechanism for partial oxidation of Cyclohexene by Chromium (VI) oxide in acetic acid

The oxidation of cyclohexene by chromium (VI) oxide in aqueous and acetic media has been studied. The reaction products were analysed using classical method, IR and GC/MS analyses. The major products of the oxidation reaction in acetic acid medium are cyclohexanol, cyclohexanone, cyclohex-2-en-1-one, cyclohexan-1,2-diol monoacetate and  Bi-2-cyclohexen-1-yl. However, no reaction was observed between cyclohexene and chromium (VI) oxide in aqueous medium. Based on the result a mechanism for the oxidation reactions has been proposed involving dissociation of acetic acid to form an acetate anion which attacks the chromium (VI) oxide to form an acetochromate ion. The latter then attacks cyclohexene to form an acetochromate cyclohexenyl ion intermediate which undergoes electron shift and rearrangement to produce cyclohexanone and chromium (IV) oxide, thereby regenerating the acid. The proposed mechanism suggests that the acetic acid serves both as homogeneous catalyst as well as medium for the reaction