Browsing by Author "Ayodabo, Sunday J."

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    A Configuration of Socio-Political Dialectics in Nigerian Pidgin English: Trends in Peter Onwudijo’s Poetry
    (International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS)​ ISSN 2356-5926, 2016-03-29) Ayodabo, Sunday J.
    Peter Onwundijo’s poetry collection, De Wahala for Wazobia (2007), comments on the contemporary Nigeria’s pitiable social problems. The poet employs Nigerian Pidgin English, not only as a dialectal tool to examine the issue of Nigeria’s amalgamation, but also as a lingua franca, which aptly describes the polity of multilingual Nigeria. It addresses the myriad hydra-headed issues like corruption, educational decay, election malpractices, neocolonialism, and insecurity among other forms of vices plaguing the nation which continue to militate against her development. The poems were analysed using sociolinguistics and semiotic theories as frameworks. The result of the analyses showed that the poet’s ability to effectively use the Nigerian Pidgin English to address such important issues does not make the language inferior when compared to the other established languages of the world. Rather, it should be seen as a language (second) that reflects creativity, productivity, simplicity, acceptability and understanding among the Nigerians. Indeed, it makes for a wider understanding of the poet’s major concern, as the pidgin, in Nigeria, is often being described as “the language of the people” The study appraised the collection as an attempt at demystifying the Nigerian Pidgin English as well as evaluating its relevance for modern Nigerian poetry in its quest to radicalize the political and economic situation in Nigeria.
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    The dynamics of the Language of newspaper headlines in Nigeria
    (International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2013-09-01) Ayodabo, Sunday J.
    This paper has looked at the dynamics of the structures of headlines. Related literature was reviewed on functions and influence of the print media, mass media and language development, and studies in headlines, to give the work the necessary theoretical foundation. The study employed survey approach to look at reportage of headlines of some newspapers in Nigeria. Three questions guided this study: What are the types of headlines cast for the stories? What is the syntactic structure of the headlines? What is the level of social responsibility displayed by the editors, in casting the headlines? A total of 24 headlines were purposively collected as data, and analyzed. The analysis has revealed that ‘plain’, ‘headlines with pointers’, and ‘speech as headlines’ characterized our data. Also, most of the headlines are cast in simple sentence structures. This result is significant for mass media teachers as they apply principles and theories of language, in their business of teaching mass media courses, daily.
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    Exploration of Proverb as a Crucial Device in Tunde Kelani’s Saworoide
    (An unpublished essay downloaded, 2016) Ayodabo, Sunday J.
    This treatise explores Tunde Kelani’s movie Saworide (1999), with a view to examining the functions of proverbs in movie production. A textual analysis of some selected proverbs in the movie was carried out to demonstrate the implications of this phenomenon in an attempt by the producer to project the themes of political legitimacy, accountability and institutional checks on corruption in a changing socio-political structure. The study highlighted the importance of proverbs in films, and showcased how proverbs serve as a crucial device of story-telling in the re-creation of a genuine and believable Nigerian democratic story. The study revealed that proverbs in the movie serve as material resources in generating the plot development, criticizing actors’ actions, depicting, transmitting and preserving the Yoruba culture, and projecting the moral and thematic purposes of the movie
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    Traditionalism as a source of Change: Ola Rotimi’s Kurunmi as an epitome
    (The Belogradchik Journal for Local History, Cultural Heritage and Folk Studies Volume, 2016) Ayodabo, Sunday J.
    Ola Rotimi’s Kurunmi has generally been classified as a tragedy, historical play, postcolonial text, satire etc. Such general classifications have limited the analyses of the play to thematic thoughts such as cultural clash, postcolonial disillusionment, and its understanding as an emblem of the Greek dramatic tradition. For this reason, this paper examines the issue of traditionalism in the play centering on the faithfulness of the writer in utilizing actual historical materials and personalities of the 19th century Yoruba war between Ijaye and Ibadan armies (in Nigeria) and its implication on the general sensibility of the society. The paper examines the role of the major character of the play, Kurunmi, as a traditionalist and how his display of epic heroism helps produce resounding themes of socio-cultural relevance. It argues that a conscious reading of the personalities, attributes, and egos of Kurunmi as a traditionalist would make the reader have the privilege of having a real sense of the complex nature of Kurunmi’s character rather than seeing him as a prototype of a Greek tragic hero.