Conceptual Blending Patterns in Selected Nigerian Television Talk Shows

Several studies on Nigerian television talk shows have examined the interactions of participants by investigating turn-taking patterns, paralinguistic cues, interactional patterns and communicative strategies, and mental and context models of the discourses. Scant attention has been paid to the conceptual blending patterns that can be found in television talk shows with a view to highlighting how mental spaces are created in the minds of the participants and are reflected by their use of metaphors. This paper seeks to fill this gap by examining the conceptual blending patterns observable in selected television talk shows in Nigeria so as to show how thought processes, as revealed by utterances, lead to the formation of strong opinions and positions by change agents. The conceptual blending framework is utilised to identify how several inputs blend to form an emergent structure that is most times revealing of ideology. Processes such as ‘Theme-Event-Process-Action’, ‘Theme-Action’, and ‘Theme-Process/Action-Process’, were realised by participants’ contributions to the discourse and helped to show how they really viewed the matter on hand.  Their striking uses of metaphors showed that positions adopted in the interactions held in television talk shows are indeed conceptualised. Several argumentative moves and framings were deployed to create mental spaces using metaphors such as the following: The BringBackOurGirls campaigners are charlatans; Nigeria is a disputed project; the Nigerian Constitution is an apartheid constitution and a slave master; and Senator Sani Yerima is same as Shekau, the Boko-Haram terrorist leader. These go a long way in showing how participants on the selected Nigerian talk shows conceptualised the happenings discussed

Manuscript Title: Digital Colonialism on Digital Natives in Nigeria: A WhatsApp Usage Perspective

In the new media debate, digital colonialism has become a topic of serious contention. This work looks into the allegation that the internet is exploitative of digital natives’ daily routine and regulates their lives by exploring this argument about the degree of consciousness of digital natives to seek out their perception of politics of Western domination in the WhatsApp usage. Therefore, the primary motivation of this paper is to find out whether digital slavery is real. Media Dependency Theory and Uses and Gratification theory form the theoretical background of the study, which utilised questionnaires to determine areas of controversy.  Using a survey, we found that digital natives do not count the use of the WhatsApp as an element of colonialism. Consequently, 53.26% of the natives do not consider themselves enslaved to WhatsApp usage and thus its colonial powers; however, 28.26% view themselves as willing slaves consequent on the benefits from using the App, while an 18.48% are unsure of their position. Based on the results, the argument is that the concept of digital slavery in terms of absolute dependence on WhatsApp is not quite appealing to digital natives, except that the amount of time they spend on it could make them enslaved, whether or not they agree. Further studies could determine the influence of internet-based apps on digital natives and the amount of time they spend, using a more extensive sample population. Keywords: Digital colonialism, Digital natives, WhatsApp usage, Western domination, Media dependency DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/86-04 Publication date: December 31st 201

Digital Colonialism on Digital Natives: A WhatsApp Usage Perspective

In the new media debate, digital colonialism has become a topic of serious contention. This work looks into the allegation that the internet is exploitative of digital natives’ daily routine and regulates their lives. This study explores this argument in relation to the degree of consciousness of digital natives to seek out their perception of politics of Western domination in the WhatsApp usage. Therefore, the primary purpose of this paper is to find out whether digital slavery is real. Centre Periphery theory and Electronic Colonisation theory form the theoretical background of the study, which utilised questionnaires to determine areas of controversy. Using survey, we found that digital natives do not count the use of the WhatsApp as an element of colonialism. Consequently, 53.26% of the natives do not consider themselves enslaved to WhatsApp usage and thus its colonial powers; however, 28.26% view themselves as willing slaves consequent on the benefits from using the App, while an 18.48% are unsure of their position. Based on the results, it is argued that the concept of digital slavery in terms of absolute dependence on WhatsApp does not quite appeal to digital natives, except that the amount of time they spend on it could make them enslaved, whether or not they agree. To be surer of the level of influence of internet based apps on digital natives, it is recommended that further studies be conducted that will investigate the amount of time they spend on other apps, using a wider sample population. Keywords: Digital Colonialism, Digital Natives, WhatsApp Usage, Western Domination, Electronic Colonisatio