Samuel O . Agbeleoba - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Samuel O . Agbeleoba

European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies , 2024

Blueprint manifest their intended functions. The goals of speakers' remarks and the actions they ... more Blueprint manifest their intended functions. The goals of speakers' remarks and the actions they use them to accomplish are ascertained through speech act analysis. Thus, the study looks at the predominant speech actions that editors utilize while writing editorials and how they interpret the statements. The information was obtained from editorials in the Punch and Blueprint newspapers. The statements collected are the topic sentences of the first five paragraphs in each of the editorials. The data are analyzed using Speech Act Theory of Searle (1969) to reveal the preponderant acts performed by the editors in writing the editorials for meaning-making, with particular reference to illocutionary act classifications which are representatives, directives, commissives, expressive and declaratives. The findings reveal that there are 6 representative acts constituting 60%. The dominance of representative act shows that the major functions of the news editors is to inform the readers. Equally evident, the editors skillfully employed two directive acts-20% of the total-to construct meaning in the editorials by requesting that Nigerian leaders fulfill specific obligations. Additionally, the editors employed two expressive acts-20% of the total-to convey their opinions regarding the issues raised by the data. However, it is equally revealed that both commissive and declarative acts are not used in the data elicited. There is no declarative act in the data collected because declarative act is only used to present verdicts made on certain issues. The insignificant use of commissive acts shows that editors do not rely on commissive acts in writing editorials. The study, therefore, contributes to the increasing works in the field of pragmatics by revealing the peculiarity and usage of speech act theory in analyzing the editorials in the selected Nigerian newspapers.

International Journal Corner, 2024

Shift in Language and Threat to Survival in a Southwest Nigerian Border Town, Nigeria 1. Introduc... more Shift in Language and Threat to Survival in a Southwest Nigerian Border Town, Nigeria 1. Introduction Language endangerment, and by extension, language death or extinction, has been in existence as a socio-linguistic phenomenon since antiquity (Lewis, Simons, and Fennig, 2015, p. 1). It results from language shift. When many languages co-exist in a single entity, one of the languages may expand and dominate other languages, thereby putting other languages in threatened positions. This eventually places a weaker language in a threatened position (Mufwene, 2002). According to UNESCO (2003), a language is endangered when it is on the path towards extinction. It is in danger when its speakers cease to use it, use it in an increasingly reduced number of communicative domains, and cease to pass it on from one generation to the next (Wamalwa & Oluoch, 2013). Ibrahim and Samalia rightly opine that "a language is endangered when it is on the path to extinction or when it is under threats of different kinds such that its chances of survival are put at stake." Latin, sancrift and some other classical languages have gone into extinction. In the words of Hornsby (2014), a language is deemed endangered when the children in a community are being spoken to in a language other than that of their parents. No doubt, there were languages that once lived but are no longer in use today. Sociolinguists are generally concerned about language endangerment. This is because language loss is tantamount to the loss of culture, values, heritage and dignity of a group of people. The death of a language is synonymous with the termination of the ethnic group involved. Sarvi (2016, p. 61) points out, "The issue of language endangerment is a global concern that attracts and continues to attract the attention of linguists and researchers in other fields of study." Lewis (2006) indicates that the situation is sobering as 6,909 living languages are now listed in Ethnologue, and 457 are identified as nearly extinct, a category which represents a severe level of endangerment. Crystal (2000) explains five level indicators of languages at risk; these indicators were explained by Sanjay K.J (2018), "The first level is safe; the second is viable, which indicates that its population base is sufficiently large and it is likely to survive for a long time." As for viable but small, such a language has more than 1000 speakers and is spoken in communities that are isolated but aware of their linguistic identity. As for endangered language, it is spoken by a fairly good number of people in favourable circumstances and with growth in the community so that survival of the language is possible. The last layer is nearly extinct, which is thought to be beyond the possibility of survival because such a language is spoken by a few elderly people. The explanation above shows that some of the dialects and languages in our study area are nearly extinct, as these languages are mostly spoken by elders of the community. To many linguists, the picture of language endangerment across the world is quite grim. This is because when language loss occurs, it is synonymous with the loss of socio-linguistic identity, culture, and social values. Considering the global outlook of language endangerment, UNESCO ranks the degree of endangerment (and vitality

Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Text and context, mind, and domination are key concepts whenever we consider language and politic... more Text and context, mind, and domination are key concepts whenever we consider language and politics. This study examines the ways in which political and ideological undertones were conveyed in political speeches, as well as how texts reproduce and maintain power and unequal power relations. In order to understand how language shapes and maintains power relationships and ideological structures the study employs the principles of critical discourse analysis by Norman Fairclough. Critical Discourse Analysis helps us to see how specific language techniques produce, enact, and legitimise power relations. The study found out that the aspirant used the expression to reflect both good self-ideology and negative self-ideology in order to neutralise the asymmetrical power relationships that exist between his group and the other groups within the APC at the point of liberalising power. It was a declarative. Typically, this resulted in the other aspirants’ power being politically diminished. The...

Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 2023

This study focuses on selected news commentaries on Radio Nigeria with the aim of exploring their... more This study focuses on selected news commentaries on Radio Nigeria with the aim of exploring their linguistic elements for optimal understanding and comprehensibility. Five (5) news commentaries have been purposively selected covering the areas of politics, health, economy, society and security; one for each of these sub-sectors of Nigeria's national life. The analysis is done within the principles of grouping, prominence and cohesion stipulated in an Integrated Theory of Text Linguistics (ITTL) championed by Awoyale (1991). This model allows us to deal with the text at a much higher level of abstraction thereby allowing us to take account of many features in any given act. The extraction of the textual elements in the news commentaries is made possible with the use of Voyant Tools and Web Matrix (Linguistic Corpora Tools). These tools also help us to deal with large volume of data. This paper is able to show that a writer's choice of words depends largely on the type and motive of the commentary. It also shows that participants and events, as well as their prominence in terms of roles they perform in a given text are interconnected. This interconnectivity allows the listener of a news commentary to stay focused and relate with the meaning of the text. The paper concludes that the structure and functions of language intermingle in a multifaceted context of communication featuring the relationship between the participants and events as well as how they interact to shape the unity and structure of the texts. This research validates the expressive nature of news commentary as a unique genre of media text for sensitising, educating and shaping the views of the audience.

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature

This paper is an exploration of the Generic Structure Pattern of news commentaries. Previous stud... more This paper is an exploration of the Generic Structure Pattern of news commentaries. Previous studies have applied the GSP approach to a number of discourses in the mass media as well as some religious texts in order to establish their generic structures. They include business letters, newspaper editorials magazine editorials and newspaper articles. These previous researches have also focused their attentions only on the print media and religious manuals. However, none has focused on news commentaries. This paper fills this gap in knowledge by exploring news commentaries on Radio Nigeria in order to find out its generic structure as a broadcast text.Twenty news commentaries were purposively selected, five from each of the following sectors: economy, politics, education, health and sports. The Generic Structure Potential model which is an aspect of the Systemic Functional Theory associated with Halliday and Hasan (1985) was adopted as the framework for the analysis of these news comm...

This paper is an exploration of the Generic Structure Pattern of news commentaries. Previous stud... more This paper is an exploration of the Generic Structure Pattern of news commentaries. Previous studies have applied the GSP approach to a number of discourses in the mass media as well as some religious texts in order to establish their generic structures. They include business letters, newspaper editorials magazine editorials and newspaper articles. These previous researches have also focused their attentions only on the print media and religious manuals. However, none has focused on news commentaries. This paper fills this gap in knowledge by exploring news commentaries on Radio Nigeria in order to find out its generic structure as a broadcast text. Twenty news commentaries were purposively selected, five from each of the following sectors: economy, politics, education, health and sports. The Generic Structure Potential model which is an aspect of the Systemic Functional Theory associated with Halliday and Hasan (1985) was adopted as the framework for the analysis of these news commentaries. The GSP model is premised upon the fact that Contextual Configuration (CC) "permits statements about the text structures" to be made.

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2022

This paper is an exploration of the Generic Structure Pattern of news commentaries. Previous stud... more This paper is an exploration of the Generic Structure Pattern of news commentaries. Previous studies have applied the GSP approach to a number of discourses in the mass media as well as some religious texts in order to establish their generic structures. They include business letters, newspaper editorials magazine editorials and newspaper articles. These previous researches have also focused their attentions only on the print media and religious manuals. However, none has focused on news commentaries. This paper fills this gap in knowledge by exploring news commentaries on Radio Nigeria in order to find out its generic structure as a broadcast text. Twenty news commentaries were purposively selected, five from each of the following sectors: economy, politics, education, health and sports. The Generic Structure Potential model which is an aspect of the Systemic Functional Theory associated with Halliday and Hasan (1985) was adopted as the framework for the analysis of these news commentaries. The GSP model is premised upon the fact that Contextual Configuration (CC) "permits statements about the text structures" to be made.

International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation

Generally, language experts believe that there are inherent ideologies in language use. The aspec... more Generally, language experts believe that there are inherent ideologies in language use. The aspect of discourse study that discloses such ideologies is known as Critical Discourse Study (CDA). This paper seeks to exhume the various inherent ideologies that presuppose selected news reports on the Nigeria’s 2019 General Elections in Nigerian newspapers. This study is, however, corpus-based. Scholars have established that discourse is a kind of constructively conditioned public exercise. They believe that power relations exist at different levels of daily social interaction; revealing superiority or inferiority of interlocutors involved. News reports relating to the General Elections were electronically collated from the various newspaper platforms for a sizable language corpus. The name Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was selected and analysed purposively with the aid of Digital Humanities (DH) tool to observe the frequency of the acronym INEC and the textual context ...

International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation

Journal of Language and Literature, Apr 1, 2019

Interjections are universal means of communication among human beings which pass across different... more Interjections are universal means of communication among human beings which pass across different emotions and information in different cultures and languages. However, while some are found in nearly all languages but with varied meanings and functions according to context, some are peculiar to specific languages and cultures. This work, therefore, investigates the functions and meanings of both universal interjections (specifically 'Oh' and 'Ah') and the Yoruba language specific interjections found in Wole Soyinka's Alápatà Àpáta. The work also discusses two other significant Yoruba language specific interjections although they are not found in the analyzed text. The authors chose the text because it is replete with interjections 'Oh' and 'Ah' which carry various meanings and perform various functions (few of which have not been discussed in the literature) and also because it contains the Yoruba language specific interjections which probably have not been investigated in the literature, thereby contributing to knowledge.

Journal of Language and Literature, Apr 1, 2019

Journal of Language and Literature, 2019

Interjections are universal means of communication among human beings which pass across different... more Interjections are universal means of communication among human beings which pass across different emotions and information in different cultures and languages. However, while some are found in nearly all languages but with varied meanings and functions according to context, some are peculiar to specific languages and cultures. This work, therefore, investigates the functions and meanings of both universal interjections (specifically 'Oh' and 'Ah') and the Yoruba language specific interjections found in Wole Soyinka's Alápatà Àpáta. The work also discusses two other significant Yoruba language specific interjections although they are not found in the analyzed text. The authors chose the text because it is replete with interjections 'Oh' and 'Ah' which carry various meanings and perform various functions (few of which have not been discussed in the literature) and also because it contains the Yoruba language specific interjections which probably have not been investigated in the literature, thereby contributing to knowledge.

British Journal of English Linguistics, 2020

This paper explores the stylo-pragmatic properties of English gospel songs in Nigeria. This is a... more This paper explores the stylo-pragmatic properties of English gospel songs in Nigeria.
This is an area where researchers have not really beamed their searchlights on despite wide-spread
and general acceptability of Christian gospel songs in Nigeria. The aim of this study is, however, to
utilise parodic strategies, as promoted by Morson (1989) and Bakhtin (1981), to explore some
Christian lyrics in Nigeria. Three songs are purposively selected to reflect the linguistic multiplicity
of Nigeria. They are: Pernam Percy Paul’s Bring Down Your Glory, Osinachi Joseph’s You Are Able
and Dunsin Oyekan’s Open Up. The paper is able to show that Christian songs in Nigeria portray
deeper meanings than what the lyrics present at the points of rendition. There are underlining parodies
in which the alternate interpretation of a lyrics opens up deeper meaning that may probably suggest
the intention of the song writer.
KEYWORDS: Stylo-pragmatics, gospel songs, parodic strategies, linguistic multiplicity, Nigeria

Textuality of a text is measured by or dependent on the appropriate use of cohesive devices. Henc... more Textuality of a text is measured by or dependent on the appropriate use of cohesive devices. Hence, this paper examines the use of cohesive devices in various texts such as: Minutes, Letters and Disengagement Letters written by career administrators in selected universities in Nigeria. To this end, efforts are also made to classify the various cohesive devices with insights from Halliday, M. A. K. and R. Hassan's theory of cohesion. Few of our findings show that inter-sentential relations have something in common and that the relational meanings make up a coherent semantic space. It also shows that for a relation to work out there must be congruence between two ideas which is the strength of the related arguments. This paper recommends that career administrators should guard against inefficient use of connective devices and ensure that propositions in texts are well articulated so that relations between them are better understood.

Many works have been carried out by researchers in the area of English usage in the various segme... more Many works have been carried out by researchers in the area of English usage in the various segments of the print media but we have not seen so much work in the editorial segment. Researchers, such as Straumann (1935), Leech (1966), and Bamisaye (1997), have delved into analyses of newspaper headlines, advertisements, and language use in the print media. The author's approach in this book is descriptive and consequently pedagogical for students, teachers and Journalists.

European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies , 2024

International Journal Corner, 2024

Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 2023

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature

This paper is an exploration of the Generic Structure Pattern of news commentaries. Previous stud... more This paper is an exploration of the Generic Structure Pattern of news commentaries. Previous studies have applied the GSP approach to a number of discourses in the mass media as well as some religious texts in order to establish their generic structures. They include business letters, newspaper editorials magazine editorials and newspaper articles. These previous researches have also focused their attentions only on the print media and religious manuals. However, none has focused on news commentaries. This paper fills this gap in knowledge by exploring news commentaries on Radio Nigeria in order to find out its generic structure as a broadcast text. Twenty news commentaries were purposively selected, five from each of the following sectors: economy, politics, education, health and sports. The Generic Structure Potential model which is an aspect of the Systemic Functional Theory associated with Halliday and Hasan (1985) was adopted as the framework for the analysis of these news commentaries. The GSP model is premised upon the fact that Contextual Configuration (CC) "permits statements about the text structures" to be made.

International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2022

This paper is an exploration of the Generic Structure Pattern of news commentaries. Previous stud... more This paper is an exploration of the Generic Structure Pattern of news commentaries. Previous studies have applied the GSP approach to a number of discourses in the mass media as well as some religious texts in order to establish their generic structures. They include business letters, newspaper editorials magazine editorials and newspaper articles. These previous researches have also focused their attentions only on the print media and religious manuals. However, none has focused on news commentaries. This paper fills this gap in knowledge by exploring news commentaries on Radio Nigeria in order to find out its generic structure as a broadcast text. Twenty news commentaries were purposively selected, five from each of the following sectors: economy, politics, education, health and sports. The Generic Structure Potential model which is an aspect of the Systemic Functional Theory associated with Halliday and Hasan (1985) was adopted as the framework for the analysis of these news commentaries. The GSP model is premised upon the fact that Contextual Configuration (CC) "permits statements about the text structures" to be made.

International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation

Journal of Language and Literature, Apr 1, 2019

Journal of Language and Literature, 2019

Interjections are universal means of communication among human beings which pass across different... more Interjections are universal means of communication among human beings which pass across different emotions and information in different cultures and languages. However, while some are found in nearly all languages but with varied meanings and functions according to context, some are peculiar to specific languages and cultures. This work, therefore, investigates the functions and meanings of both universal interjections (specifically 'Oh' and 'Ah') and the Yoruba language specific interjections found in Wole Soyinka's Alápatà Àpáta. The work also discusses two other significant Yoruba language specific interjections although they are not found in the analyzed text. The authors chose the text because it is replete with interjections 'Oh' and 'Ah' which carry various meanings and perform various functions (few of which have not been discussed in the literature) and also because it contains the Yoruba language specific interjections which probably have not been investigated in the literature, thereby contributing to knowledge.

British Journal of English Linguistics, 2020