Browsing by Author "NWOSU, FLORENCE CHIKA"
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Item Function and Significance of Greeting in the Igbo Tradition: A Sociolinguistic Study of Nnewi Community in Anambra State(Chridamel Publishing House, 2014) NWOSU, FLORENCE CHIKAHuman beings are social beings; and in everyday of their social activities, several factors are considered in order for them to interact with one another in an acceptable manner for the purpose of fulfilling social obligations and establishing interpersonal relationship. One of these factors that spice up social relationship of man to man is greeting. Greeting only performs its linguistic and social functions in the life of Nnewi people when it is conducted in an acceptable manner. The objective of this paper is to examine the function and sociolinguistic significance of greetings in Igbo tradition of Nnewi Community in Anambra State, Nigeria. The connection between people and the way they use language in their social interaction cannot be separated and this together, influence the way greetings are organized in discourse. The study is descriptive and the data in use included the greetings used in daily interpersonal social interaction by the members of Nnewi North community of which the writer is one. The methodology used includes observation and interview. This paper employs Lawal’s “Aspects of a Pragmatic Theory” (1997) for the analysis of the linguistic, situational, psychological, social, cultural, cosmological implications, and the pragmatic functions of greetings of Nnewi Igbo to explain the communicative and sociolinguistic functions of greetings in the life of Nnewi Igbo people. The findings of this paper showcase the grammatical competence employed by both the young and old Nnewi native Igbo language speakers in the use of Igbo greetings and the traditional moral values already laid down by the ancestors of Nnewi community that guide members of the community towards the right channel of behavior in achieving positive interpersonal relationship towards one another in Nnewi community and Igbo land as a whole. It concludes that acceptable greeting attitudes should be inculcated into Nnewi youths and the future generations to maintain and enhance their cultural heritage.Item Informal Methods of Education in Igbo and Hausa Languages(Besing Books Multipurpose Publications, 2017-09) NWOSU, FLORENCE CHIKAThe Igbo and Hausa societies are characterized by cultural and experiences of the pre-colonial and post-colonial factors. In the precolonial Igbo and Hausa, the traditional method of transmitting cultural heritage was through oral tradition by means of folklore, myth, legend, proverbs and stories. The history of the Igbo and Hausa people, their communities and that of their heroes and heroic deeds, as well as the teaching of moral values and socialization processes were all made possible in the authentic traditional African conteut through the orally-based tradition of folklore, myth, legend, proverbs, superstitious statements, stories and other forms of the oral tradition, as the community members were non-literate. In such traditionally-based contexts, parents, elders, traditional institutions and other members of the community served as teachers, as from them socialization and acquisition of knowledge were made possible. The study critically explored from linguistic and sociological perspectives the nature, forms, processes and associated methods in the context of pre-colonial African period in the education and socialization of the individual members of the Igbo and Hausa communities. The need to revitalize the traditionally induced system and integrate it as part of the present day system of education is suggested for the preservation and continuous transmission of indigenous cultural heritage in the modern African setting that is dominated by element of foreign culture. The method used as the design of the study is Ethnographic Design. Stories and other forms of oral traditions were collected through contextual interviews, watching of video and TV programmes (like Tales by Moonlight) clips.Item Language and Business(Besing Books Multipurpose Publications, 2017-09) NWOSU, FLORENCE CHIKAEvery human interrelationship is surrounded with language. There is no activity of man that is devoid of language. Language and man are inseparable the same way life and fresh air are. Just like in every other aspect of human endeavours, the role of language in business cannot be overestimated. Business transaction is believed to thrive when appropriate language use is applied in its day to day activity. This paper investigated the role language plays in business. This study explored how the appropriate use of language can make a business to blossom. The geographical location for the study was Ilorin Metropolis. The data for the study encompassed the conversation secretly recorded during a business transaction between some Igbo traders and their customers. Adding to the data for the study included the questionnaire distributed to selected Igbo business dealers and some customers at Agaka and Qja Tuntun markets, Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State. The analysis of the data for the study engaged the Monogenetic or reflexification theory formulated by Hugo Schuchardt in the late century and was popularized in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Taylor (1961). The outcome of the study included that though language as a phenomenon plays vital role in all human existence, yet application of the appropriate language within the right context, time and place benefits absolutelyItem Linguistic Taboos in the Igbo Society: A sociolinguistic Investigation(2014) NWOSU, FLORENCE CHIKAThis article investigates linguistic taboos in the Igbo society in terms of their classification and socio-cultural factors affecting their usage. The article classifies linguistic taboos in the Igbo society into five categories: morality-related linguistic taboos, veneration-related linguistic taboos, decorum-related linguistic taboos, religion-related linguistic taboos and fear-related linguistic taboos. The article argues that while religion and decorum-related linguistic taboos are unmentioned and have no permissible alternatives because they are closely tied to different Igbo deities, morality, veneration and fear-related ones have euphemisms. It notes also that taboo expressions are hardly taught in schools and advocates the teaching of linguistic taboos to learners of Igbo as a second language. It advocates further the inclusion of this aspect of the Igbo language in the school curriculum and Igbo textbooks. Two principal methods were used to collect data for this study: questionnaire and oral interview. The data collected were presented in tabular form, using descriptive statistics.Item The Social Significance of Kolanut in the Igbo tradition of Nigeria(Department of Sociology, University of Ilorin, Nigeria, 2013-12) NWOSU, FLORENCE CHIKAThis paper discusses the significance of kolanut as a symbol of life and hospitality in Igbo tradition. The importance of Igbo kolanut (ọ́jị́ Igbo) in Igbo people’s ceremonies cannot be overemphasized. Igbo people from the southeastern Nigeria are globally known for their rich culture. Traditionally, apart from burial ceremony, every other ceremony like reconciliation, oath taking, traditional marriage ceremonies and a host of other ceremonies are graced and opened with the presentation and breaking of the kolanut. Igbo kolanut is paramount in any occasion that ancestors are meant to partake in. Upon the intrusive of Western cultures which foreign religion signposts, kolanut still represents the traditional Igbo values and practices striving against the upsurge of Christianity and foreign cultures in every social occasion in Igbo land. Since tradition is a way of life of a people, in spite of all that may have been presented to visitors in Igbo homes or in Igbo social gatherings, it is the inclusion of or the initial presentation of ọ́jị́ that signifies acceptance, happiness and good heart toward the visitors. It is therefore recommended that the celebration of kolanut as a symbol of life and hospitality should be encouraged and should also be passed on to the future generations of the Igbo people for the growth and preservation of Igbo tradition.Item Sociolinguistic Analysis of Greetings in Igbo, Yoruba and Nigerian English(Rossen Publications Ltd, 2015-06) NWOSU, FLORENCE CHIKAGreetings are essential in introducing and maintaining contacts and interactions in Igbo, Yoruba and the Nigerian English. Yet, greetings in the three languages have not attracted much research attention from a comparative point of view. This study then explains the sociolinguistic variables accounting for greetings in the three languages by deploying the interactional sociolinguistic theory. The paper comparatively explores interpersonal/casual, occupational, departure/arrival, seasonal, festival, felicitating and condoling greetings in the three languages. It is observed that age (respect), time, number of persons being greeted, occasions and contexts determine the choice, nature and functions of greetings in varying degrees in the languages. Though greetings in Igbo and Yoruba are largely similar, greetings in Nigerian English differ by short, informal and devoid of intimacy or warm affections. It also came to the limelight that some greeting terms and customs in Igbo and Yoruba are transferred to the greetings of Nigerian English and vice versa. The paper concludes that greeting is a sociolinguistic feature employed by the Igbo, Yoruba and Nigerian English speakers to enrich interpersonal and group relationships by expressing best wishes and enquiring the welfare of one another.Item A Speech Act Study of Salutation in Igbo and English Languages(Besing Books Multipurpose Publications, 2017-09) NWOSU, FLORENCE CHIKAThis paper is a report on a speech act investigation of salutations in Igbo and English languages. Establishment of social obligations among members of a community and the society at large for the purpose of actualizing cordial relationship is achieved by the use of salutation. Salutation among individuals accomplishes its pragmatic functions when it is conducted in appropriate demeanour and in accordance with the culture and acceptable code of conduct of the native language users. This study sought to find out if there is any direct connection between the forms or structures of salutation and its pragmatic functions or illocutionary forces they generate in Igbo and English. It also aimed to highlight the areas of differences in the salutations of the two languages. In using and interpreting salutation in discourse, interlocutors are influenced by a number of factors, which confirms Lambrecht's (1998) assumption that there is a complex relation existing between a given salutation form and the function the speaker wants the salutation to perform in a discourse. The geographical location for the study included the five prominent Igbo speaking states of, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo and the salutations elicited from the speakers of English within the research area. The standard variety of Igbo and English languages, which are regarded as prestigious from the sociological point of view guided the analysis of the data. The data for this study included the salutations used in all possible contexts of interaction among the elders who have lived most of their lives in Igbo land (including the researchers) and the English salutations as used by the English speaking people as well as those collected from newspapers, radio and television within Ll and L2 contexts. The paper employs Lawal's (1997) model of the "Aspects of a Pragmatic Theory" as the framework. Findings indicate that majority of Igbo salutations are direct declaratives, imperatives and interrogatives which, however, perform the indirect illocutionary acts of expressive and directives. Although similarities exist in the form of some salutations in the two languages, there are dissimilarities in their illocutionary functions.Item Word Formation in Nnewi Dialect: A Generative: Phonology Approach(Besing Books Multipurpose Publications, 2017-09) NWOSU, FLORENCE CHIKAThis paper deliberated on the process of word formation with reference to the function of rule of vowel harmony and syllabic nasal in one of the dialects of Igbo which is spoken in Nnewi, Nigeria. The study examined the collaboration of types of vowels and the syllabic nasals of Igbo to form words in Nnewi dialect of Igbo language using Generative Phonology (GP). The GP analysis establishes that the rule of vowel harmony and that of syllabic nasal usage are important indices in word formation process in Nnewi dialect. Explicitly, words like nma, mdụ, ọ̣kwute, ọ́sị́sị́, are not acceptable forms in Nnewi dialect. The data used for the study were collected through reading of books, articles, journals and through internet. Introspective method was also employed in the study in the sense that the researcher served as part of the tools used for the supply of the data being a proficient native speaker of Nnewi dialect. The study is descriptive and the theoretical framework adopted for the study is Generative phonology. The data analysed for the study discovered that until the rules of grammar of Igbo language are applied in the day to day word formation and usage in Nnewi dialect of Igbo, those words formed or used arbitrarily or subjectively (without following the acceptable convention) remain alienable to Nnewi dialect and in fact to Igbo language generally. The study noticed that some words exist that did not agree with the rules of Igbo language. Such words may have been formed or used by those (either as Igbo L2 learners or native speakers) who do not recognize nor understood the rules of Igbo grammar and as a result, made modifications that are not in accord with the rule of word formation in the language. Furthermore, it was equally found out that even though some Igbo scholars may have believed that Igbo language attest only total vowel harmony, this paper wants to argue that Nnewi dialect of Igbo and indeed Igbo language allows partial vowel harmony in the formation of its words even though examples of such words may be minute .