Faculty of Arts, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, Nigeria
Abstract
When Basil Bernstein postulated tire Deficit Hypothesis Theory, little did he know that nonverbal means
of expression much more than the "code" would hell' in establis!ung the social class system which Bem;
tein had intended to eradicate by formally uncot>ering it. In Nigeria, today, the concept of social class,
!lluc!rmore than accepted socralnorms and practices, is celebrated and accentuated. The old idea of relat-
11gand integratmg culturally with other members of a communal Afrrcan society seems to have been lost.
By scrutinizing Wale Okediran's Tenants of the House, we unravel the pragmatic features of the varius
social classes rn the present political institutiOn of tire country as demonstrated by the Honorables in
·he House of Represmtatit•es, using the critical discourse analysis model. In doing this, we look beyond
Itt referential end or grammatical meaning of the words to studying how para-linguistic and non-ver~
1 expressions get sitrwtional meanings in context. The group dichotomy talked about makes aspirants
1 relatit>ely lrigha social dass members compared to where they originally belong. Tirey become oblivious
f the close tre that ordinarily exists among Nigt'Tia~Js who are of the same region or state. It is culturally
li;approPing how Lizzy, "a tmant of the House" could be int>olved in a plar1 to impeach her kinsman, the
speaker of the House. a cotenant though of a higher social rank. We understand the importance placed on
social class ratha than khrship affinity or social norms where we cons1der the rdea that the haunted speaker
1s Lizzy's close fnend. What mcessant political impeachments result in-especially when they are intkxed
by polrticrans' zeal to indiscrimmately move up a higher class-are unremitting inconclusive proj-
ts and uncultrmted ideologie
