ENGLISH LANGUAGE TOPICS

Background to the Study

Language is a set of signs and symbols used to pass messages across to people. Language, verbal and non-verbal, is a means of communication. In fact, the primary purpose of language is communication. Human beings express their thoughts, feelings and ideas through language. Alliances are formed through language. Language fuels social interaction. We depend on language whenever the need to speak arises. When we speak, we want to be heard, to be obeyed, to be re...

1 Background of the Study

Human beings use verbal and nonverbal means to communicate. Nonlinguistic messages are important because what people do often conveys more meaning than what they say. At first glance, it seems as if meanings come from words alone but nonverbal communication accounts for much of the meaning in any interpersonal interaction. Advancing this point, Adler et al. posit that by tuning into their facial expressions, postures, vocal tones, gestures and other behavio...

ABSTRACT

This work is a linguistic stylistic study of Chukwuemeka Ike’s novels. It involves a rigorous analysis and synthesis that examine how a special configuration of language has been used in the realization of a particular subject matter, quantifying all the linguistic means that coalesced to achieve a special aesthetic purpose. These linguistic means as applied here to Ike’s novels include how, through a network of lexical selection (diction), the various tones in...

Abstract

Nigeria is still battling with the problem of insurgency. Pictures of bloody acts of violence by insurgents are shown. Insurgency attacks cause serious destruction of lives and properties in Nigeria and have continued to cause fear, anxiety, anger, sorrow and pain to the people of Nigeria. On daily basis, one continues to hear some sad news of mass killings of human beings and destruction of valuable properties. Thousands of innocent people have been displaced, kidnapped an...

Abstract

This research intentionally investigated the literary works of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‟s Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah and Akachi Adimora- Ezeigbo‟s Roses and Bullets and Trafficked to reveal their accomodationist styles. Over the years, researchers who engaged in the study of style and stylistics concentrated their analysis on the old methods where, every literary and linguistic works, were analysed from phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic levels. Th...

Abstract

It is commonly believed that learning to spell English words demands an understanding of the relationship between sounds and letters and a memory for those words or parts of words that lack consistency in their spellings. The English orthography is richly morphophonemic yet the role morphology plays in learning to spell is not well understood. Besides, there have been very few investigations in this area. In order that learners may be able to spell, with ease, polymorphemic...

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The word ―Tradition‖ itself derives from the Latin‖ tradere‖ or‖ traderer‖ literally meaning to transmit, to hand over, to give for safekeeping. A tradition is a belief, principle or way of behaviour of a particular people, passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or important significance that originated in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes ( Like Lawyer wigs or Military officer spurs...

Abstract

This work is focused on analysis of internet utilization and its influence on undergraduate students‟ reading habits and reading comprehension. The target population for this study was fourth year undergraduate students of two universities in Anambra State namely: Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and Anambra State University Uli. These were representatives of urban and rural locations respectively. Two hundred male and female respondents were randomly selected from the popul...

Background to the Study

Early twenty-first century witnessed the emergence of new voices in Nigerian literature, especially, the novel genre.These voices whom Pius Adesanmi and Chris Dunton have labelled “Third Generation,” may have consciously adopted the German Bildungsroman tradition. The style of exploring the moral and psychological growth of the main character has become ubiquitous in most contemporary Nigerian novels. In his A Glossary of Literary Terms, M.H. Abra...

Background of the Study

The global community of science and technology has continued to advance and hence the requirements for communication in this area has become increasingly demanding. This is in line with the saying of Chinua Achebe that when the bird learns to fly without perching, the hunter learns to shoot without missing (Chinua Achebe, ii). In the field of science and technology in today's world, the English Language has made an indelible mark on technological advancem...

Background to the Study

Language is a fundamental element used by humans for the purpose of communication. There are highly technical usages of the word “language” reflecting the way the term has been figuratively applied to all forms of human endeavours, such as the language of politics, the media and the like. Language is essentially a tool for expressing social reality. It plays a communicative role in all forms of discourse. In political discourse, politicians engage...

ABSTRACT

This project is on Corruption and Victimization in Isidore Okpewho’s Tides and Anthony Ndubuisi Abagha’s Children of Oloibiri. It is a study of the endemic corruption and Victimization that hold the Niger Delta captive and by extension the entire nation in spite of available monumental wealth and qualified manpower.

Background to the study

Literature has continued to fulfill its unique functions in national development. This clearly shows that no society exists significantly without its literature neither can literature function and blossom in isolation of the society. Globalization is very common these days as people tend to read beyond their horizon, that is to think beyond one‟s nation and think of people on the other side – diasporas or immigrants. According to Colin Palmer, migration...

Abstract

This thesis examines the human impact on the environment, especially on the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, and its treatment in the selected poetry of Niyi Osundare, Tanure Ojaide and Nnimmo Bassey, using the ecocentric and the anthropocentric theories from the domain of ecocriticism. The texts studied are The Eye of the Earth (1986) by Niyi Osundare, Waiting for the Hatching of a Cockerel (2008) and Delta Blues and Home Songs (1998) by Tanure Ojaide, and We thought it was...

Background to the Study

The English language has become an international medium of communication among people on earth. The mastery of good English is deemed necessary for bringing a lot of advantages in many ways. This international language is not only used for communication purposes but also in the fields of technology, commerce, education and many other aspects of life. The English language has its own grammar structures which have to be followed in order to understand how it is...

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The issue of gender inequality between sexes has remained a topic of serious debate in African literature. A significant percentage of research findings and writings in African literature identify male-induced oppression as central to the perpetuation of female subjugation, thereby down playing the fact that women are also oppressed by their fellow women. There are other forms of discrimination and violence by women against women that are hardly discussed. Tr...

ABSTRACT

It is observable that in many of the works done on Yoruba proverbs, a common thread runs through them. The emphasis in these works has often been on listing and translating or mere listing in the original. In some others, the forms the uses and annotation of some proverbs were examined. However, no systematic research has been carried out on the themes, functions and poetic devices of Yoruba proverbs. Ondo is one of the largest ethnic groups in Yoruba land and shares a good...

Background to the Study

The issues of the violation of child rights in Africa have attracted much attention in recent literature. The violation can be found in movies, novels, newspapers and magazines. Julius Obayome and Okoruwa Williams observe that the “Violation of child‟s rights is a persistent problem found throughout most of the developing world, and to a lesser extent, in developed countries”(281).Though restrictions on violation of child‟s rights exist in many co...

Background to the Study

Literature is a carrier and reflector of society which captures the life and essence of a people’s existence in totality. Terry Eagleton in Literary Theory: An Introduction posits that “literature is concrete rather than abstract, displays life in all its rich variousness and rejects barren conceptual enquiry for the feel and taste of what it is to be alive” (196).The Literature of a given society illustrates lucidly the composition of that...

Background to the Study

Violence has remained a very complex subject which takes different dimensions in societies of the world today. It is not only a global issue which violates human rights, but a challenge to everyone. Currently, violence seems to be very rampant in many societies because some fundamental human rights are abused without any strict monitoring or form of severe punishment to the offenders. As a result, individuals are physically, emotionally and psychologically ha...

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

African literature consists of a body of literary works in different languages and genres, ranging from oral literature to literature written in African and colonial languages. As a result of European colonization of the continent from the 16th century to the mid-twentieth century, much of African written literature is in European languages. During the era of colonization, European culture and languages supplanted those of Africa. The most recognized and wide...

ABSTRACT

The research work reviews the historical encounter between the whites and Africans and argues that the challenges or problems evident in the black society at present are as a result of the white man‟s racism, exploitation and imperialism. It also looks into the social values and system of meaning that promotes male dominance and demeans the woman.

Background of the Study

The sound system of language is made up of the segmental and suprasegmental features. The segmental features consist of the vowels and consonants. They are so described because they are features of speech which can be broken down into individual units like the vowels and consonants. On the other hand, the suprasegmental features extend beyond the vowels and consonants. They function within larger units like words, phrases and sentences. They are those element...

ABSTRACT

This study is a stylistic analysis of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‟s novel Half Of A Yellow Sun, which comprises four parts with a total number of 37 chapters and 433 pages. The aim of this study is to identify the predominant stylistic devices used by the author in the novel and the effects achieved by using them. To achieve this aim, the researcher uses quantitative stylistic analysis which entails the counting and writing down the number of times each device occurs in the se...

Background to the Study

The African continent is a society that has experienced patriarchy, colonialism and racial segregation and these reflect in African literature. The intrusion of Europe into the African continent in the 19th century brought about the upturning of lives and activities of Africans. The colonizers trampled upon Africa and her people. The people‟s way of life was distorted, almost abolished because of the claims of the colonial masters that it was barbaric. Accord...

ABSTRACT

Life is a battle for struggle and survival. Struggle and survival are as old as man. Every second, man is on the move, thinking of what to do and how to do it in order to survive. This project, therefore, examines the ways the two novelists presented their characters in their attempts to depict the various methods people adopt in their struggles for survival in this hard and harsh environment. This work also explores the artistic features as were conveniently deployed in th...

Background to the Study

Rhetoric is the ancient art of argumentation and discourse from primordial Greece to the twentyfirst century. Rhetoric has been central to Western and African education, filling the need to train public speakers, orators and writers to move audiences to action with arguments. In Western perspective, the word ‗rhetoric‘ originated from the Greek word ‗rhetor‘ which means speaker and it is often seen as the art of public speaking. In Africa, from ti...

Background to the Study

Language is the main tool for constructing every literary work. The importance of language to human beings cannot be overemphasized. It is an important means of human communication that serves a wide variety of purposes. It is one of the factors that distinguish human beings from animals; the former communicate with language (verbal and non-verbal) and express thoughts, feelings and ideas in it. The primary purpose of language is communication and no human la...

ABSTRACT

This project work is on political corruption and symbolism. This project work brings out the corrupt practices by politicians and military rulers. To also brings out the symbols used in the novels. Chapter one is an introduction on political corruption in Nigeria and the way the military took over and ruled Nigeria. Chapter two is on the related literature review, chapter three is on political corruption and symbolism in Adichie Chumamanda Ngozi Half of a yellow Sun. Chapte...

Abstract

This study investigates the news reporting of 2015 General Elections in some Nigerian newspapers using the lexico-grammatical analysis paradigm of SFG. The print media is one of the major channels of information dissemination with a peculiar language use. The problem lies on the need of investigating the language of the print media to unveil the lexico-grammatical features that have made it effective for the audience to understand the information contents meaningfully.. Som...

Background to the Study 

8The interest of linguists in analysing conversational texts has gradually shifted from the traditional focus on the linguistic structure to investigating language use as a social phenomenon. The functional approach to language studies goes beyond the study of sentences in abstraction to describing the use of language in concrete situations. In other words, a study about a language is not just about the linguistic or formal studies of language but what...

Abstract

The thesis is a feminist stylistic study which used the works of Ifeoma Okoye as a case study for a reassessment of the feminist discourse. It aimed at examining and unravelling how Ifeoma Okoye deployed language and style in her works to establish a non- radical and non-rebellious feminist message which preached complementarity of the sexes. It could be said that radical feminism had yielded little dividends in Africa and this was not unconnected with the fact that female...

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The issue of gender inequality between sexes has remained a topic of serious debate in African literature. A significant percentage of research findings and writings in African literature identify male-induced oppression as central to the perpetuation of female subjugation, thereby down playing the fact that women are also oppressed by their fellow women. There are other forms of discrimination and violence by women against women that are hardly discussed. Tr...

ABSTRACT

This work examines language use during the crises that erupted in Jos from 1994 to 2010. Generally speaking, language is at the centre of virtually every aspect of human life, and operates on different levels and in different forms, according to the context in which it is used. The aim of the study was to examine the several factors that have determined the linguistic choices of the parties to the Jos conflicts which are different from ordinary day-to-day conversations, and...

Background to the Study

Attacks by terrorists have been reported the world over. In Nigeria, the Boko Haram terrorist organization first launched an uprising in 2009, leading to nearly a week of fighting that resulted in the death of about eight hundred (800) people. The group went dormant for more than a year before reemerging in 2010 with a series of assassinations. On August 25, 2011, the United Nations building in Abuja was bombed leaving over twenty seven (27) people dead and m...

ABSTRACT

Most previous studies on Chinua Achebe‟s novels have largely concentrated on thematic preoccupations, especially inter-cultural conflicts in Africa. Some of the works focus on ideology and meaning with emphasis on cultural nationalism. Nevertheless, they have not yet objectified the relationship between the ideological contents of Achebe‟s novels and the discourse patterns reflected in the novels. This study, therefore, critically investigates more of the ideologies and und...

ABSTRACT

It has been observed that studies on insurgency in Nigeria have in the most parts been anchored on politics, law, economy, the environment or religion; highlighting the economic implications of pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta and religious crises in the north. Quite a few others have taken into consideration the use of language and representations of the phenomenon focusing on labeling and ideological dimensions inherent in the News. Though insurgency and its media re...

ABSTRACT

Since 1999, advertisements of telecommunications’ products in Nigeria seem to have had great impacts on society by inspiring the public to patronize their goods and services. On that ground scholars have attempted to analyse advertising texts and images. The focus of this research was the explication of a range of language choices as persuasive strategies that MTN® and etisalat® utilised to elicit consumers in order to purchase their products. The author selec...

Background to the Study

Language, Stubbs (1989) opines, is a set of acceptable symbols and sounds written, signed or uttered to perform specific functions in society. In whatever form it takes, language has greatly helped human beings to meet different needs at all times. Very often, language is used to educate, inform, entertain, correct, influence, persuade, rebuke or pass down social values from one generation to another. In essence, utterances can be manipulated or deployed eith...

ABSTRACT

Ogodin‘omulunwa dance is performed among some Ogbaru Igbo of South Eastern Nigeria, especially among the tripartite brotherhood of Osomala, Odekpe and Okoh towns. Ogodi celebrates the lifetime of a deceased elderly woman of with surviving adult children. As a reward to the toils of maternity, it is a positive commentary on the level of social respect accorded the woman of Ogbaru extraction. Unfortunately, this dance faces a threat of extinction as a result of the ongo...

ABSTRACT

The discourse of alienation, provoked by environmental despoliation due to the activities of multinational oil companies in the Niger Delta region, is aptly captured in literary works. Previous studies on literary texts about the Niger Delta crisis have identified the negative socio-economic and political impacts of oil exploitation as responsible for the ecoactivism in the Niger Delta, neglecting the role of alienation or erosion of self in the fueling of the crisis. This...

ABSTRACT

Poetic discourse has always been considered an important aspect of discursive practices that presents a scholarly approach to creative uses of language. Poetic discourse is considered to be comprehensively language-dependent; it relies mainly on the rhetorical and pragmatic configuration of linguistic elements for effective communication. In the rhetorical communication of a poet’s message, metaphor is an important device that is deployed deliberately to enhance the p...

Statement of the Problem

In this research, the idea of using three major translation styles to translate the proverbs and idioms in the novels without strict adherence to syntax and meaning was seen as a major concern by the researcher. In a given novel, for instance, some of the materials were translated using the metaphrase technique while some were done in either paraphrase or the imitation method. As a result, some of the translations are without clarity of meaning especially to...