| 1 |
Author(s):
Peace Chinwendu Israel, Peter Nnochirionye Afunanaya.
Page No : 1-20
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An Analysis of Sentence Structures in Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter: A Stylistic Approach
Abstract
This study analysed sentence structures in Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter. It employed a linguistic-stylistic approach with emphasis on examining how the author’s structures created aesthetic patterns and values. The Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG) was applied in the analysis of certain aspects of the literary language. For clarity, the tree diagram was occasionally used to display constituent parts of sentences/clauses arising from the various sentence patterns. TGG features were used to describe sentence patterns like foregrounded, elliptic, parallel, fragmentary structures. This not only underscored the inter-relationship among literature, linguistics and stylistics, it revealed Ba’s (un)conscious ability to manipulate language through the transformational power of the TGG. Though found an appropriate framework for the analysis of literary language, a major implication of the use of TGG in this study is its inadequacy to describe/account for contexts in situation.
| 2 |
Author(s):
Peace Chinwendu Israel, Nnawuihe Fidelis Echendu.
Page No : 21-28
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A Survey of “New Englishes” in African Literature: A Revisit of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
Abstract
The English language has been used by many African writers to achieve their desired goal of telling their stories to the global audience. One of the earliest African writers to experiment with the English Language in this area was Chinua Achebe, who without any shadow of doubt remains one of the most well-known names not only in African literature but in the entire global literary world. This paper examined Achebe’s use of English Language in Things Fall Apart. It aimed at identifying various language manipulations in the novel and their meanings which reflect the taste and flavour of the African indigenous (Igbo) culture. The evidence provided in the novel justifies Achebe’s position in the domestication of English. Contrary to the debate on whether African literature should be written in African languages or in the imperial languages, this paper concentrated itself on exploring the “Africanness” as manifested in the novel which underscored the rich culture of Africa and deeply portrayed the effective domestication of English in African soil.
| 3 |
Author(s):
Ramadan Ahmed Almijrab.
Page No : 29-41
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The Essence of Arabic Rhetoric Contributions from Arabic-English Translation
Abstract
In translation, the target text in general displays fewer linguistic variations than the source text and its lexical and syntactic patterns incline to be copied, creating interference and standardization of the ST. Is a translation meant for audiences who are unable to comprehend the original text? Or is it saying the same thing again? These questions demonstrate the divergence of the audience in the domain of art. Yet any rendition, which tries to convey the function, cannot transmit anything but essential information. Does this mean that conveying the essential information represents the cause of inferior translation? Does the inferiority come as a result of the transfer of an inaccurate content? This is the trademark of translationese. Is it true that traduttore, traditore? Does this really mean a translator is born not made? However, scholars engaged in heated debate about what is generally regarded as the essential material of a literary work, what it contains in addition to information. Does it mean that we admit that literary work is profound and mysterious? Do we admit that literary work is poetic to the extent that it can only be reproduced by a translator only if he is also a poet? This will be true whenever a translation undertakes to serve its readerships. However, do we blame the translator if the original culture does not exist in the reader’s language and culture? In the present paper, we will attempt to lay a finger on the significance of achieving equivalence in literary translation within cultural implications that may block the translator. A primary of place is assigned to البلاغة (Arabic rhetoric) as one of the cornerstones of Arabic.
| 4 |
Author(s):
Violet Nasambu Barasa.
Page No : 42-52
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Culture as an Impediment to Socio-Economic Development in Henry Ole Kulet’s Blossoms of the Savannah
Abstract
This paper examines how Maasai traditional cultural practices and beliefs in Ole Kulet‘s novel Blossoms of the Savannah hinder socio-economic development. The cultural practices that incumber socio-economic progress has implication on both the immediate Maasai community (as illustrated through Nasila village) and the society at large. In most societies in Africa, traditional and cultural practices inform and influence the daily experiences and behavior of its people. Early marriages and female genital mutilation are practiced in a number of communities across the African continent in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Guinea among others. One of this communities is the Maasai community in Kenya which is the physical setting of Blossoms of the savannah. Some traditional practices among the Maasai are detrimental as is evident in the long-term impact on the psychological, physical and the general wellbeing of its members. This paper focuses on the intertwinement of early marriages, female genital mutilation (FGM), and patriarchy and how they impact the socio-economic development in the society. Early marriages and female genital mutilation practices are socio-economically retrogressive in a 21st century society. These traditional practices and customs have roots in the social, cultural, economic, historical and political discourse encapsulated within the patriarchal structures and realized through gender inequality. This paper therefore focuses on how the traditional practices impede the realization of development in the Maasai community as advanced in Blossoms of the Savannah.
| 5 |
Author(s):
Dr. (Mrs.) Elizabeth Ugechi, Francis Iorchia Ayagah.
Page No : 53-63
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The Syllable Structure of Tiv
Abstract
Linguistic studies reveal that every language has a particular way of combining its sounds to form words or parts of words called syllables. The paper looks at the syllable structure of Tiv language, one of the Bantoid languages spoken mostly in the Middle Belt area of Nigeria, especially in Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarrawa and Cross River states of Nigeria. The objective of the study is to investigate the internal structure of syllables in Tiv language in order to establish the regularities and restrictions inherent in the language. The study therefore, aims at ascertaining the syllable patterns that are found in Tiv. This study adopts qualitative and analytical research design using C V tier model of phonological theory of syllable analysis as proposed by McCarthy (1979) and adopted by Clements and Keyser (1983), to explicate the permissible patterns of syllable structures in Tiv. Data for the study were gathered from native speakers of Tiv, whose language has not been corrupted by urbanisation and the researchers' intuitive knowledge of Tiv language. It was found out in the study that, some of the permissible syllable structures in Tiv language include vowels and consonants like v, cv, ccv, cccv,cvc. It was also discovered that , all the five vowels of the English alphabets may begin or end a syllable in Tiv language. As found in English and other languages where the sequential occurrence of two or more consonant is termed consonant cluster, the Tiv syllable structure permits two or more consonants at the initial or final positions of the syllable which could occur as onset or coda, but they are not regarded as consonant clusters. They are regarded as co-articulations. The study concludes that, Tiv language has a wide range of phonotactic constraints which if studied can contribute to the development of Tiv language.
| 6 |
Author(s):
Eyang Anthony Ebebe, Ghevolor Asa John, Matthew Abua Ebim.
Page No : 64-88
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A Discourse Study of Selected Newspaper Headlines on Insurgency in Nigeria
Abstract
Insurgent activities are so prevalent in Nigeria that the security apparatus finds it very difficult if no almost impossible to curb their excesses. On a daily basis, newspapers are flooded with the wanton destruction of the activities of these elements in the Nigerian society. The headlines of those media reports are therefore selected for analysis in this study. In this study, we draw samples of data, present and group them into number texts and then give a detailed analysis through the application of linguistic tools. We focus the analysis on identifying the linguistic and discourse patterns in the data by using conceptualization and representation as Critical Discourse Analytical and Metaphorical concepts to critically examine the issues in relation to insurgency. Ideological projections are also taken into consideration from both the media practitioners’ perspectives and the militants’ points of view. For easy identification, the data were arranged in terms of their thematic realization and grouped into two broad categories: according to the issues raised and according to the surface as well as underlying meaning realizable in the message. The analysis was presented in relation to the Boko Haram and Niger Delta insurgency in Nigeria. In spite of their differences in terms of ideology and modus operandi, the analysis was done add to the body of literature on the issue.
| 7 |
Author(s):
Francis Iorchia Ayagah, Dr. (Mrs.) Elizabeth Ugechi.
Page No : 89-98
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Optimality Theoretical Approach in Resolving Vocalic Hiatus in Tiv Language
Abstract
This paper investigates vocalic hiatus resolution strategies in Tiv language. Hiatus is a phonological phenomenon whereby two vowel sounds occur in adjacent syllables with no intervening consonant. It is a dispreferred configuration in many languages but when it inevitably occurs, it is resolved through some of these strategies: epenthesis, vowel assimilation, vowel elision, secondary articulation, vowel coalescence, glide formation and diphthongization. Though there are other hiatus resolution strategies in Tiv, for want of time and space, this paper examines the most common ones: vowel assimilation and vowel elision, as hiatus resolution/repair strategies in Tiv, through the lenses of the Optimality Theory. It adopts a descriptive and analytical research design. The intuitive phonological ability of the researcher and oral interview through purposive sampling were used for eliciting data. Data were presented and analysed in tables. The study establishes the occurrence of vowel hiatus in Tiv. It demonstrates that vocalic hiatus is dispreferred in Tiv as it is in many other languages of the world. The study has shown that Tiv utilises inter-alia vowel assimilation and vowel elision to resolve vowel hiatus. The resolution is meant to ease articulation of Tiv words. Well-formedness of vowel configurations in Tiv was found to be constraint based in which case optimality of a candidate that undergoes repairs through either vowel assimilation or elision is determined by the ranking of the universal constraints that interact in the selection of candidates.
