http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/43 2026-04-20T05:56:45Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2434 DISABILITY AS TROPE OF POSTINDEPENDENCE DISILLUSIONMENT IN SELECTED AFRICAN NOVELS OLADEJI, Femi Funmilayo Disability, a motif in African fiction, is used as a trope of postcolonial disillusionment and empowerment. Existing studies on disability in African fiction have concentrated mostly on its literal interpretations, with scant emphasis on disability as a trope of the disabled African continent. This study was, therefore, designed to analyse the representations of disability in selected postcolonial African novels, with a view to determining how disabled characters are utilised as metaphors for neocolonial experiences in African nations. Hippolyte Taine’ Sociological Approach to Literature and Lennard Davis’ Social Model of Disability Theory were adopted as the framework, while the interpretive design was used. Ten African novels were purposively selected because of their deep engagement with the trope of postcolonial Africa as a disabled continent. The novels were J. M. Coetzee’s Foe, In the Heart of the Country (IHC) and Waiting for the Barbarians (WB), Zaynab Alkali’s The Stillborn (TS), The Virtuous Woman (TVW) and The Descendants (TD), Aminata Sow Fall’s The Beggars’ Strike (TBS), Ben Okri’s The Famished Road (TFR), Ngugi wa Thiongo’s Petals of Blood (POB) and Naguib Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley (MA). The texts were subjected to literary analysis. The most persistent concern is the portrayal of disability generated by instances of neocolonial disillusionment through tyrannical governance, unemployment, spervading gender dissonance. Disability is inscribed through tyrannical rule of postindependence African leaders (Foe, IHC, WB, POB and MA). Inability to hold on to family land generates unemployment (WB and TFR). The unending quests for power, position and wealth by post independence African leaders are portrayed as restricting and results to outright exploitation of the masses (POB, TFR, WB and MA). Ghettos and alleys are creation of neocolonial neglect. These are depicted as incapacitating environments (TFR, POB and MA). A similar structure of neocolonial misrule forces young women into prostitution (POB, TFR and MA). Female characters are exploited and become victims of double standard, a corollary of gender dissonance, observed in African society which allows men to be labelled as non-disabled and women as disabled (TS, TVW, TD and TBS). Neocolonial abuse of fundamental rights of lower class citizens and their incapacity to challenge this abuse is depicted as disabling (TFR, POB, MA, Foe, WB, IHC and TVW). Most of the characters that are depicted as disabled share a similar experience of having non-congenital disability which is imposed on them by neocolonial misgovernance and frustrating social environment. . African novels depict disabled characters as a microcosm of marginalisation of neocolonial African society from decision-making, social life and economic development. Therefore, post independence Africa manifests a continuous struggle for freedom from colonisation, oppression and disablement through the trope of disability. 2023-05-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2432 FEATURES AND STRATEGIES OF SIGNIFICATIONS IN SELECTED ONLINE NEWS NARRATIVES OF DISASTERS JOHN, Fredrick Friday Gabriel Significations are important features of disaster narratives that have consistently featured in online news. Previous linguistic studies on disaster mainly focused on lexicosemantics,ix discourse patterns and rhetoric of actors in war situations, with little attention paid to the semiotic resources underlying narratives of disasters. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate significations in news reportage of disasters, with a view to identifying the semiotic features and pragmatic strategies of the narratives. Han-Liang Chang’s Disaster Semiotics, complemented by M. A. K. Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics and Jacob Mey’s Pragmatic Acts Theory, served as the framework. The descriptive design was used. Purposive sampling was employed to select news from two foreign stations, namely Cable News Network (CNN) and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and two Nigerian stations, namely Television Continental (TVC) and Channels Television (Channels TV), owing to availability and suitability of relevant news items on their websites. The news selected were between 2015 and 2019 because of the preponderance of disaster that period. Purposive sampling was employed to select 36 reports (CNN – 6, CBS – 6, TVC – 12 and Channels – 12) because of their relevance. The data were subjected to semiotic analysis. Three semiotic types were represented in the news narratives: indexicality, iconicity and symbolicity. Three indexical subtypes were discovered in all stations, namely spatial, temporal and personal. Spatial was used to identify disaster regions; temporal was employed to periodise disasters; while personal was used to point to victims of disasters or to personify hurricanes and volcanos (CNN and CBS). Iconicity was used in three ways across all stations: distance, quality and quantity, and sequential order. Distance was used to proximise; quality and quantity were employed to intensify disaster consequences; while sequential order was used to show relatedness of hurricanes, volcano and flood to micro disasters (fire, poverty and epidemic). Symbolicity was used in three ways: naming, figurisation and framing. Naming of hurricanes was random, using positive/negative reinforcement, allusive reference/inference and positive/negative inference (CNN). Naming of volcano and flood was constructed after the affected regions (CBS, TVC and Channels). Figurisation was realised by alliteration, metonymy, hyponymy, hyperbole, and simile (all stations). Framing was achieved by conceptual metaphors, namely DISASTER IS CONQUEST (all stations); FLOOD IS POSSESSION (TVC and Channels); HURRICANE IS TERROR (CNN); FLOOD IS TERROR (TVC and Channels); HURRICANE IS WAR (CNN and CBS); and FLOOD IS EVICTION (TVC and Channels). The pragmatic strategies of the narratives were juxtaposition, blackmail, entreaty, sensitisation, edification and propaganda. Juxtaposition was used to contrast disasters, using statistical figures (CNN and CBS). Blackmail was deployed to appeal to emotions of government agencies (Channels and TVC). Entreaty was employed to motivate people to respond (CNN and Channels). Sensitisation was utilised to educate people about disasters (Channels and CNN). Edification was used to console victims, using moral and religious comments (TVC). Propaganda was employed to publicise government’s response (Channels and TVC). Online news narratives of disasters are mediated discourses that account for disaster management techniques in global and local situations. 2023-07-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2429 RESOURCE ENTITLEMENT PERSPECTIVES, CONTEXT AND IDEOLOGY IN ONLINE NEWS REPORTS ON HERDSMEN-FARMERS CONFLICT IN NIGERIA TOMERE, Dubamo Entitlement, which typifies context-bound expression of individuals’ rights, power and privileges over environmental resources, constitutes a major theme in news reports on herdsmen-farmers conflict on Nigerian online newspapers. Extant studies on the conflict have largely focused on the sociopolitical dimensions, stance acts and discourse representations of the conflict in Nigerian online media and the question of entitlement. However, scant attention was paid to the pragmatically-grounded entitlement perspectives taken on the conflict of ownership and control. This study was, therefore, designed to investigate the perspectives of the resource entitlement conflict in Nigerian online news reports, with a view to determining the entitlement types and contexts, ideologies, pragmatic strategies and locutions. Marina Sbisa’s model of Speech Acts Theory, complemented by Akin Odebunmi’s harmonised model of context and Teun van Dijk’s Socio-cognitive Critical Discourse Analysis, was adopted as the framework. The descriptive design was employed. News reports published in 2015-2021 were purposively selected because of their heightened reportage of the entitlement resource conflict. The quota sampling technique was used to select 106 online news reports (66 from Premium Times (PT) and 40 from Sahara Reporters (SR)). The data were subjected to pragmatic analysis. Three entitlement types, namely state, folk and group, were identified in the online news reports. State manifested concessional and non-concessional forms (PT); folk projected indigenous and non-indigenous categories (PT), while group presented occupational and ethnic subtypes (PT and SR). These entitlement types manifested in six contexts: political, social, legal, economic, sociocultural and cultural. State and folk occurred in legal context; group manifested in sociocultural and economic contexts; state was entrenched in political and social contexts, while folk was found in cultural context. These entitlements and contexts projected four ideologies: separatist, solidarist, egalitarianist and feudalist. Separatist was found in SR, solidarist and egalitarianist were presented in PT and SR, while feudalist was constructed in PT. Separatist was enacted through politicisation of agrarian context (PAC) and ethnicisation of occupational context (EOC). Solidarist was foregrounded by strategisation of topical news narratives (STNN), ethnicisation of occupational context (EOC) and religionisation of economic acts (REA). Egalitarianist was presented through STNN, PAC and EOC, while feudalist was created through commodification of territorial space (CTS). These strategies were projected by four locutions: potential consequence-indicative, self-defensive, conflict-indicative and peace-intended. Politicisation of agrarian context was marked by potential consequence-indicative and selfdefensive, while STNN was occasioned by conflict-indicative. Ethnicisation of occupational context was foregrounded by potential consequence-indicative, self-defensive and conflictindicative; while CTS was realised through potential consequence-indicative; and REA was constructed through potential consequence-indicative and peace-intended locutions. These entitlement discourses culminated in evocation of polarisation, ethnocentrism and security insights. Entitlement perspectives, enacted through pragmatic and ideological resources in Nigerian online newspapers, reveal that the herdsmen-farmers conflict thrives on ethnic, political and occupational drivers of national disintegration in the Nigerian space. Therefore, policy makers, educationists and national environmental conflict management agencies should consider these variegated entitlement perspectives in addressing the herdsmen-farmers resource conflict in Nigeria. 2023-07-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2427 REPRESENTATION OF PUBLIC OPINIONS ON NIGERIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS IN SELECTED NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS, 2011-2019 ADEBIYI, Oluwabusayo Folasayo Public opinion columns in Nigerian newspapers often provide vital information on sociopolitical issues. Previous studies on political media discourse focused on how public opinions shape pre-election political debates and speeches in Nigeria. However, little attention was paid to how linguistic choices constrain public opinions, especially on Nigerian presidential election results. This study was, therefore, designed to investigate the representation of public opinions on the Nigerian presidential election results in Nigerian newspapers, with a view to determining the public opinion types, their underlying contexts and linguistic forms. Norman Fairclough’s Dialectical-relational model to Critical Discourse Analysis, complemented by M. A. K. Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar, served as the framework. The descriptive design was adopted. Public opinions published in February and April of the election years in 2011-2019 were purposively selected because of their robust contents on public opinions on Nigerian presidential election results. Purposive sampling was used to select 300 public opinions, 50 from each of the following newspapers: The Nation (TN), The Guardian (TG), Nigerian Tribune (NT), Vanguard, Leadership and Punch. The data were subjected to critical discourse analysis. Three public opinion types, namely nationalistic, moralistic and diachronic, were identified. Nationalistic revealed strong identification with one’s nation (TN, Punch and TG); moralistic expressed positive and negative dispositions (TN), Vanguard and Leadership; while diachronic presented the acceptance or rejection of the election results (NT, Punch and TG). These public opinion types were found in six contexts: corruption, retention of power, social and political reformation, violence and credible elections. Nationalistic perspectives were situated in the contexts of social reformation. Moralistic opinions manifested in the contexts of corruption and retention of power. Diachronic opinions were used in the context of credible election. Public opinions and context were discoursally marked off by modalities: grammatical (epistemic and deontic) and lexical, which were used to unveil peoples’ attitude towards the election results. Epistemic modals were demonstrated in diachronic and nationalistic perspectives, while deontic modals reflected in nationalistic and moralistic perspectives. Epistemic and deontic modals were prominent in NT, Punch and TG; while lexical modality within the bounds of diachronic, moralistic and nationalistic perspectives were deployed in NT, Vanguard and Leadership Six processes, namely material, mental, relational, verbal, existential and behavioural were deployed. Material process projected all the opinions, while mental process was associated with emotional feelings towards the election results in moralistic and nationalistic opinions. Relational process reflected desperation in the nationalistic and moralistic perspectives. Verbal process was used to reflect moralistic views. Existential processes were used to construct violence in diachronic opinions, while behavioural processes revealed sentiment in moralistic and nationalistic perspectives. Election fairness was captured in Punch, NT and TN; whereas TG, Vanguard and Leadership featured election results as biased. Public opinions on Nigerian presidential election results in 2011-2019, presented through context-driven discoursal and linguistic representations in the selected Nigerian newspapers, capture the sociopolitical realities in the Nigerian political space. 2023-07-01T00:00:00Z