Journal of Language and Linguistics

METAPHOR AND EVALUATION AS ECOLINGUISTIC DEVICES IN HELON HABILA’S OIL ON WATER

Rachel Omoyokan Davidson — 2025-10-09

This paper investigates metaphor and evaluation as ecolinguistic devices in Helon Habila’s Oil on Water, a Nigerian novel that dramatises the ecological devastation of the Niger Delta. Oil on Water presents an imaginative re-creation of how oil exploration has altered the natural environment and human livelihoods. Within the framework of ecolinguistics and drawing insights from cognitive metaphor theory and appraisal theory, this study examines how metaphors construct ecological meanings and how evaluative language conveys attitudes, judgments, and values about environmental degradation. The analysis reveals that metaphors in the text highlight tensions between purity and pollution, life and death, and nature and exploitation, thereby encoding the struggle of marginalised communities in ecologically compromised spaces. Evaluation, on the other hand, amplifies ideological positions by foregrounding negative judgments of oil corporations and political elites, while affirming sympathy for human and nonhuman victims of ecological violence. The study concludes that metaphor and evaluation function not merely as stylistic devices but as ecolinguistic strategies that deepen readers’ awareness of the politics of ecology and the ethics of environmental survival in Nigeria. The paper argues for the continued use of literary texts in ecolinguistic inquiry to illuminate the cultural and moral dimensions of ecological crises.

THE IMPACT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE DOMINANCE ON YORUBA LANGUAGE USE AMONG SELECTED YOUTH IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Moshood Abimbola Alabi — 2025-10-09

Language endangerment, which can lead to linguicide (language death) in some cases, is an important concept in linguistics. The dominance of the English language over other local languages can be a threat to the growth of some of these languages. This study investigates how the English language in Lagos State dominates the local language, Yoruba, in Nigeria. The method adopted for the study is a mixed method. The basis for the analysis was through the investigation of the school subjects and the outcomes of the interviews conducted with some filmmakers in Lagos State. We collected data from the sources so as to demonstrate the influence of the dominant language on the local language (Yoruba) through the Language Imperialism Theory. Our results showed that most schools in Lagos do not adhere to the language policy of the government on the use of the local languages, and most of the movies that are supposed to be acted in the Yoruba language are dominated by the English Language. The implications of this are that the Yoruba language has been marginalised. This study contributes to the policy of the government in ensuring that the local languages do not become extinct.

A COGNITIVE STYLISTICS STUDY OF MIND-STYLE IN DUL JOHNSON'S ACROSS THE GULF

Ogechi Stella Mmeka — 2025-10-09

This article adopts a cognitive stylistics perspective, applying Schema Theory and Text World Theory to examine mind style in Dul Johnson’s Across the Gulf. Using qualitative textual analysis, it explores salient passages featuring Ifunanya, Janbut, and Ofala to demonstrate how linguistic choices and narrative structure construct distinct mental worldviews and guide readers’ cognitive engagement. The analysis reveals layered text worlds and nested subworlds of memory, imagined futures, and traumatic recall that foreground a semantic split between characters’ internal and external realities. Through deliberate schema affirmation and disruption, Johnson invites readers to reconstruct characters’ perspectives: Ifunanya gestures toward a maternal schema while contesting imposed silence, Janbut unsettles masculine archetypes through vulnerability and displacement, and Ofala’s communal authority fractures under threats to lineage. These stylistic strategies function as powerful devices that cultivate empathy, ethical response, and psychological complexity rooted in experiences of war and dislocation. The study contributes to cognitive stylistics and postcolonial reading practices by showing how text-world construction and schema dynamics mediate cognition and moral engagement with trauma and identity.

LEXICO-SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF HELON HABILA’S MEASURINGTIME

Victoria Bala — 2025-10-18

This paper explores Helon Habila’s Measuring Time through the lens of lexico-semantic analysis, investigating how language functions not only as a narrative tool but also as a medium for ideological expression and thematic exploration. The study examines the author's deliberate use of lexical patterns, figurative expressions, collocations, and connotative meanings to construct characterisation,pe narrative progression, and communicate complex socio-political realities. Drawing on Lyons’Lexical Field Theory as a theoretical framework, the paper analyses how language is used in literary texts helps revealow meanings are shaped and how writers manipulate linguistic choices to create particular effects. This is achieved through semantic relations that extend beyond sentence boundaries, reinforcing the novel’s emotional and ideological depth. Special attention is paid to how lexical choices highlight the inner lives of the twin protagonists Mamo and LaMamo while also reflecting broader postcolonial themes such as identity crisis, disillusionment with leadership, historical memory, and the human cost of resistance. Through a combination of lexical richness and semantic layering, Habila crafts a narrative that is introspective, politically charged, and emotionally resonant. The study also draws from relevant critical literature to support the claim that meaning in Habila’s novel is constructed not only by what is said but by the subtle semantic associations that permeate the text. By uncovering the intricate web of language use in Measuring Time, this paper highlights how linguistic strategies can enrich literary meaning and deepen readers’ engagement with African narratives. Ultimately, the study affirms Habila’s place among contemporary African writers who use language to interrogate history, identity, and power.

SALIENCE AND ERASURE AS ECOSTYLISTIC DEVICES IN HELON HABILA'S OIL ON WATER

Alfred Austin Obi — 2025-10-20

In Nigeria's Niger Delta, where oil drilling has caused significant harm to the environment and communities, Helon Habila's 2010 novel Oil on Water stands out as an important response. This study examines the book through the lens of ecolinguistics, specifically using Arran Stibbe's (2015) ideas of salience (what is highlighted) and erasure (what is hidden). The goal is to understand how Habila’s writing highlights the severe environmental damage happening in the Niger Delta, alongside the suffering of people affected by oil extraction. The analysis focuses on Habila’s use of vivid imagery, powerful metaphors, and broken narrative styles to illustrate the impact of this exploitation and the silences created by companies and the government. By examining ten excerpts, this paper demonstrates how the novel expresses the hidden realities of those harmed by oil extraction, transforming overlooked victims into central elements of the urgent ecological narrative. Ultimately, this research positions Oil on Water as a significant voice against harmful practices and supports the idea that literature can challenge damaging ideologies, striving for justice and sustainability.

INTERTEXTUALITY AND INTERDISCURSIVITY IN POLITICAL APOLOGIES: TRACING THE REUSE OF APOLOGY TROPES IN NIGERIA'S DEMOCRATIC HISTORY

Covenant Adura — 2025-10-09

This study examines the discursive strategies of political apologies within Nigeria's democratic landscape, utilising the theoretical lenses of intertextuality and interdiscursivity. The research is important as it moves beyond evaluating the sincerity of apologies to deconstructing their function as rhetorical tools that recycle historical tropes to achieve specific political ends. The primary objective is to trace how apology discourses are reused, recontextualised, and recalibrated across different political events, revealing a patterned performance that shapes public memory and political legitimacy. Employing critical discourse analysis, this paper analyses five media excerpts from The Sun and The Guardian newspapers, dated between April 2023 and April 2025. The findings reveal a persistent repertoire of apology tropes, including the 'legacy apology', the 'proxy apology', the 'nostalgic reconciliation apology', the 'rejected apology', and the 'bureaucratic error apology', which are intertextually linked to past grievances. The study contributes to the field by providing a nuanced framework for understanding Nigerian political discourse, demonstrating that apologies are not isolated speech acts but are deeply embedded in a complex web of historical, social, and political discourses that continually inform and reshape public sphere negotiations.

CONFLICTS AND MULTIPLE INTERPRETATION OF JUDGEMENTS IN THE NIGERIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: DEALING WITH THE ABUSE OF ENGLISH AS THE ROOT CAUSE

Ukaoma Comfort Obiageri — 2025-10-09

The Nigerian Criminal Justice System continues to grapple with a persistent challenge: the conflicting and multiple interpretations of judicial judgments. At the heart of this issue lies a fundamental problem-the abuse and inconsistent use of the English language, which serves as the official language of legal proceedings in Nigeria. This paper explores how linguistic imprecision, ambiguous legal expressions, and poor language training among legal practitioners and court officials contribute significantly to contradictory judicial interpretations. Using Okocha v. State (1995) as a supporting case study, the paper analyses how the poor framing of judicial pronouncements can lead to miscarriages of justice or prolonged litigation due to conflicting interpretations. The research further examines how legal English, with its complex structure and technical vocabulary, often becomes a barrier rather than a tool of clarity in the justice delivery system. Recommendations are made for improving the use of legal English through specialized language training, clearer drafting of legal documents, and the institutionalization of plain English in court proceedings. The paper argues that without addressing the linguistic foundation of legal discourse, efforts at judicial reform may remain superficial and ineffective.

MUSIC AS CATALYST FOR PEACE, UNITY AND NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION: A SOCIO – PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF SELECT NIGERIA PEACE AND UNITY SONGS

Chinecherem Esther Obasi — 2025-10-17

The incessant ethnic conflict, religious intolerance and political instability witnessed in the country, attributed to the multilingual and multicultural nature of Nigeria have left the citizens with sense of fear, despair and loss. These have also threatened the fabric of national unity and hindered social progress. Attempts aimed at putting an end to this menace are on – going. Musicians are not left out in this quest for peace and unity. Consequently, this paper sets out to examine how musical discourse functions as a catalyst for social change and national integration. A purposive sampling technique was adopted in selecting two peace and unity songs produced in Nigeria that directly address these challenges. The study adopts a socio-pragmatic framework, applying Presupposition, Context, and Leech’s (1983) Politeness Maxims as analytical tools. Through qualitative analysis, the study reveals among others, that the musicians exploit linguistic politeness, shared cultural presuppositions, and contextual cues to negotiate and broker peace, reinforce unity in diversity as well as appeal to loyalty and empathy. The study concludes that peace and unity songs in Nigeria do not only mirror societal aspirations but also perform pragmatic acts that can shape national consciousness, heal divisions and foster inclusivity and sustainable peace and transformation.

ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS IN THE DISCOURSE OF POLITICAL APOLOGIES IN NIGERIA: A SOCIOSEMANTIC STUDY

Faith Ibrahim — 2025-10-09

In Nigeria' s complex socio- political landscape, ethnic and religious affiliations significantly influence public discussions, especially regarding political apologies. These apologies act as vital tools for conflict resolution, rebuilding trust, and affirming authority in a diverse yet divided nation. This research examines how ethnic and religious sentiments are woven into political apologies and their role in either worsening or easing societal divisions, particularly after Nigeria' s return to democracy in 1999. Analysing political apologies sheds light on how leaders address identity- based grievances related to perceived injustices and violence that deepen ethnic and religious tensions. The study aims to identify language patterns in apologies that reveal ethnic biases or religious appeasement, assess their effects on public perception and peace efforts, and suggest ways to promote fairer political dialogue. Using a sociosemantic framework, this qualitative discourse analysis reviews excerpts from five reputable online news articles, including Premium Times and Vanguard, from 2018 to 2022. These articles feature Nigerian leaders' expressions of remorse regarding ethnic displacements, historical injustices, and interfaith conflicts. Results show that, although apologies often use strategies like expressing regret and admitting fault to foster inclusivity, they also expose underlying ethnic or religious biases. For example, shared heritage may be invoked to deflect criticism but often overlook deep- seated prejudices. This research enhances discourse analysis by providing a detailed understanding of how political apologies connect to Nigeria' s ethno- religious issues, offering helpful recommendations for policymakers to develop narratives that promote national unity and prevent conflicts. Overall, this study highlights the importance of sociosemantic methods in analysing power- related discourse in fragile democracies like Nigeria.

CIVILIZATION OF THE DARK ROMANTIC HEROES IN THINGS FALL APART AND ACROSS THE GOLF

Mary Mary Adebayo — 2025-10-09

This study brings to fore the fallibility of the dark romantic heroes in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Johnson’s Across the Gulf. The human fallibility construed in the internal conflicts and struggle that juxtapose their external achievements reveals the control of the internal construct over the external. Both heroes, Okonkwo and Ofala became very rich and successful in business and family and are highly respected in their communities but committed suicide and died abominably and tragically. The weave of force that pushed them to succeed is the same force that pushed them to their failure and demise. That force is not external or in their actions, it is in the internal construct of their individual minds. This is the place of the highest civilization in the romanticism tenet, where the life of the individual is shaped and becomes the force that drives the individual to the final destination. The dark romantic pursuit of this research discovered that both heroes in their internal construct struggle with fear, guilt, shame, vengeance and self-destruction, all attributes of the internal construct which the romantics have established is the center of all creativity and dictates the variables of individual lives. While Okonkwo was driven by the fear of failure or of being seen as weak triggered by his father’s weakness and failure that ended in failure and shameful death, Ofala was driven by the fear and shame of revealing that his wife was not chaste, or later that the only son of the family born to him by his wife is not his son. Both men hide conflict that consumed their minds and while the internal conflict led them to greatness, it ultimately destroyed them. This study establishes that the dark sinister and evil nature can live along with the good within man and can lead to both success and destruction.

MEMOIRE MATRILINEAIRE ET CONTRE-ARCHIVE DANS LA SAGA SEGOU DE MARYSE CONDE

Obinna Okah — 2025-10-09

Dans la fresque monumentale Ségou (1984-1985), Maryse Condé retrace l'effondrement de l'empire Bambara à travers la lignée patriarcale des Traoré. Si la critique a largement analysé cette chute sous l'angle politique et masculin, cet article propose de relire l'œuvre comme une tentative de constitution d'une "contre-archive" féminine. En s'appuyant sur les théories de la matrilinéarité et de la corporéité postcoloniale, nous démontrons que face à une Histoire officielle masculine marquée par la rupture et la mort (l'exécution de Tiékoro, l'exil de Naba), les personnages féminins (Nya, Siga, Naba) incarnent une mémoire de la continuité. L'analyse révèle que le corps féminin dans Ségou ne fonctionne pas simplement comme un espace de reproduction biologique, mais comme un lieu de résistance épistémologique où se conserve ce que l'archive coloniale et patriarcale tente d'effacer. En insérant des voix de femmes discordantes dans la chronologie des hommes, Condé subvertit le récit épique traditionnel pour suggérer que la véritable survie de l'identité africaine ne réside pas dans le nom du Père, mais dans le "ventre" de l'Histoire.

NARRATIVE STRATEGIES OF DEPICTING ENDURING SHADOWS AND HORRORS OF THE EMPIRE IN GEORGE FOX’S AMOK

Catherine John Mamman — 2025-10-09

This Paper examines how George Fox’s Amok (1978) uses narrative strategies to evaluate the psychological and cultural effects of World War II on the Japanese. The analysis focuses on the novel’s use of atmospheric immersion and relentless pacing as narrative tropes for signifying how natural, political and cultural forces transform Kurusu, the main character of the book, who devours the jungles of the Philippines years following the war. The story follows a fast-paced, suspenseful format that reflects the unpredictable nature of the Amok’s attacks: brief, intense chapters alternate between the soldier’s lonesome viewpoint, the fear of the local villagers, and Michael Braden’s compulsive pursuit after his brother is killed. Similar to a predator pursuing prey in the dark, this fast-paced rhythm deprives readers of leisure by intensifying the sensation of impending conflict and growing violence. Fox’s skilful atmospheric immersion, which is accomplished through sensory-rich descriptions of the oppressive Philippine jungle, humid air thick with decay, rustle of unseen foliage, distant screams echoing through mist-shrouded valleys, and the metallic scent of blood mingling with tropical rot, complements this. As a postcolonial wilderness that engulfs society and permits the straggler's insanity, the jungle itself emerges as an active enemy that blurs the lines between natural savagery and human ugliness. In remote areas where American expatriate planters, Philippine authorities, and even Japanese veterans struggle to face a ghost of empire, these components criticize the erasure of wartime wounds. This essay makes the case that Amok serves as a warning about the cyclical nature of conflict by referencing postcolonial theory, namely, ideas of residual trauma and hybrid identities, as well as horror genre conventions. Fox demonstrates how story form may humanize geopolitical scars by inspiring empathy for both victims (displaced villagers and colonial vestiges) and perpetrators (the broken, duty-bound soldier). The analysis provided emphasises the novel’s significance in late-20th-century Gothic literature as a vehicle for contemplation of the empire’s persistent secrets, where insanity and cruelty continue long after formal hostilities cease, through close textual readings and historical contextualization of Japanese holdouts and Philippine-American entanglements.

STIGMATISATION, PROTEANISM AND THE ADOLESCENT FEMALE IN TSITSI DANGAREMBGA’S NERVOUS CONDITIONS AND JAMAICA KINCAID’S ANNIE JOHN

Ethel Joffi MOLUA — 2025-10-09

Stigmatisation and proteanism are concepts that seem to be like polar opposites but they share a fascinating, often defensive relationship and overlap as adolescent girls negotiate a space for themselves in the postcolonial society. Adolescent girls are archetypically raised to consider others, to consider contexts and to be self-sacrificing. For this reason, their egos may have different developmental needs and this leads to imprints of stigmatisation. Therefore, they experience seismic and protean shifts, as they mutate easily to transcend boundaries that are thrust upon them by the society. Being stigmatized, their "fixed" identity becomes a source of pain or exclusion. Proteanism often emerges as a counter-strategy when senior women break free from the shackles of male dominance, they want to be in a position of power. So, the power dynamics is shifted to focus on the adolescent female who becomes marginalised and stigmatised by the senior female. The paper addresses the gap between the female generations and shows how proteanism is used as a reclamation of power. By refusing to be stigmatised, the adolescent female in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions and Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John possess the ability of character shape shifting which serves as a catalyst to stigmatisation.