Sexualisation of Women in Nigerian Advertorial English Medium Bill Board

This paper surveys sexism in English, citing selected communicative instances in English medium  billboards in Ile Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The photographs and written inscriptions on the selected billboards depict the stereotypical representation of women as weaker species and exertion of men power over women. This was achieved through a critical discourse analysis of visual and verbal language discourses in ten randomly selected English medium billboards selected as sources of gathering data for this research. In Nigeria, billboards are meant for public announcements and advertisements. They also convey information about products and company services. Findings of this research among others reveal that there is asymmetrical power relation in terms of dominance and subordination between men and women as demonstrated by the portrayal of men in terms of physical attribute, such as strength, vigor, and a daring ability, as against the portrayal of women in terms of sex appealing, physical attractiveness as well as concerned with trivial, unserious and playful things. The study advocates for equal treatment of men and women without unnecessary sex differentiation

A Sociolinguistic Consideration of Intermediation in Greeting Discourse among the Yo?ru?ba of South West Nigeria

Existing studies on Yoru?ba? greeting forms dwell on the appropriateness of their use, with respect to time of the year, event, condition, occupation, vocation, context, politeness and content. The studies portray greetings as discourse between two people or parties who are capable of exchanging pleasantries. None of the existing works has discussed intermediation in greeting discourse among the Yoru?ba? people such that greetings that are directed to the second person(s) such as toddlers, extremely sick persons, kings and the bereaved are answered on their behalf by a third party. This paper examines intermediation and the rationale in greeting discourse among the Yoru?ba? people. The data for this study were drawn from participant observation, Yoru?ba? literature texts, and Yoru?ba? home movies. The Mutual Contextual Beliefs Theory of Pragmatics as proposed by Bach and Harnish (1979) was adopted for the data analysis. The study established, among other things, that greetings are sacrosanct in Yoru?ba? culture and the answer/reply is obligatory, irrespective of the state, status, circumstance and condition of the person(s) being greeted. It is also shown that intermediation in greeting discourse could be for politeness, incapacitation, authority and educating the young ones

The Perlocutionary Effects of Cautionary Notices on Motoristusing Nigeria Highways

The dangers associated with traffic violations on the highways cannot be overemphasized. This work, therefore, examines the communicative effectiveness of cautionary notices on Nigeria highways, where these cautionary notices are mostly found, by looking at the attitude of the motorists towards the cautionary notices and the attention people generally paid to them. This study, which is descriptive, drew its data from the major highways in Nigeria where these notices were erected by notable construction companies as well as other corporate bodies. The analyses of these notices were based on the performed acts of the speech act theory, as these notices, in the view of many, are not considered as ordinary graphics, writings and symbols because of their significance on both the writers and the readers. The study carefully examines how the intention of these cautionary notices is achieved in the communication between the dispatcher and recipient in order to determine the effectiveness of these notices on the behavior of the motorists. The work thus brings out the critical discourse elements of the subject matter. Findings reveal that some of the cautionary notices are regarded as warnings while some are viewed as a combination of warning and advice. The study further shows that the use of cautionary notices has helped in the maintenance of law and order on the highway especially among vehicle owners, making them to be security conscious and thus helping to eradicate preventable deaths through over speeding and sundry vices. Finally, the study reveals that the use of cautionary notices is a new dimension in the area of linguistic landscape and if the use is further encouraged, it would help to maintain peace, orderliness, and guide against fatal accidents on the highways

A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Gender Differentiation in Yoruba Burial Rites

This paper focuses on socio-hermeneutic study of gender differentiation in Yoruba burial rites. There are many types of oral genres in Yoruba society. These genres have different functions for different occasion. In essence, Ìrèmọ̀jé eré ìṣípà ọdẹ (hunters funeral dirge) and ìsàà ró (women funeral dirge) are used during men and women funeral rites respectively in Yoruba land. Ogun deity is the founder of Ìrèmọ̀jé chant. Ogun was the first hunter with many adherents who were hunters too. Before the death of Ogun, he ordered his adherents to chant Ìrèmọ̀jé during his funeral rites. He also instructed them to do the same during the funeral rites of fellow great hunters, that is, the hunters that were succeeded by viable children. Ìrèmọ̀jé ìsipaọdẹ is specifically for men and not for women. Ìsàà ró is the final burial rite for the aged women in Yoruba land. This burial rite marks the exit of the aged women from this world to the world beyond. In essence, ìsàà ró is a traditional send-forth for the dead. This type of burial rite was popular in Yoruba land in those days but it was more popular among the Oyo-Yoruba than other Yoruba ethnic groups. Ìsàà ró burial rite is often performed by the Alágbaà (chief head of masquerade) from Ọ̀jẹ̀ family (family of masquerades). It is mandatory for the children of the dead to perform this final burial rite for their dead mother because if they fail to do it, things may not be moving well for either the dead in the world beyond or for the children she left behind in this world. The emergence of western civilization has made great changes both negatively and positively on the popularity of Ìrèmọ̀jé and Ìsàà ró burial rites respectively. This paper discovered that there is that of valuable documentation of Iremoje/Isipa (Hunting chants and funeral rites for Men) and Isaaro (The final funeral rites for Women) in spite of the existence of enormous works on Yoruba Verbal arts and oral literature. The implication of this finding reveal that if a study of this type is not promoted, Yoruba traditions and valuable oral renditions would be endangered. This could further prompt Yoruba journeys to extinction as many studies have shown that English dominance of Yoruba is changing the language attitude of Yoruba native speakers oral and written discusses. The Yoruba natives have flair for us of English than the use of Yoruba because of the inherent values of English in Nigeria and the world at large. This paper concludes that, despite the negative effect of western education and foreign religions in the foregoing, the technological advancement on Ìrèmọ̀jé and Ìsàà ró has shown that the future of both genres are bright as long as the Yoruba race exists

Deploying Orature to Meet the Challenges of Unemployment in Nigeria

Nigeria in the last three decades has had to grapple with the perennial problem of unemployment. This is not uncommon among developing nations considering the legacy bequeathed by the colonial masters. The widespread exploitation and misadventure in the African continent, defective political structure and the political elites that continued the exploitative tendencies of their masters remain a sad commentary. It is on this premise that this study intends to interrogate the problem of unemployment from within. The literary theory is pluriversalism while the teaching learning theory adopted was the behaviouralist approach. A noteworthy realisation is that Orature is the verbal artistic product that encapsulates the sensibility and knowledge production of the African world view that shows that native intelligence can positively contribute to national development. The study concludes that Orature, if properly deployed could be a plausible solution to unemployment particularly among the Yoruba youths in Nigeria