INTEGRITY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES
Integrity Research Journals
ISSN: 2811-2407
Model: Open Access/Peer Reviewed
DOI: 10.31248/IJAH
Start Year: 2020
Email: ijah@integrityresjournals.org
Pragmatic analysis of extracts from Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
https://doi.org/10.31248/IJAH2024.125 | Article Number: 937BA8527 | Vol.5 (1) - April 2024
Received Date: 23 February 2024 | Accepted Date: 05 April 2024 | Published Date: 30 April 2024
Authors: Blessing Saina’an Lagan , Daniel Nanlir Nimram , Mary Daniel Nimram* , Umeh Ann Ifeoma , Obins Nuhu Isaac and Nuhu Joseph Azi
Keywords: Co-referenciality, idiosyncracies, implicature, performative, vulgar.
This article investigates the idiosyncrasies of Shoneyin in her text, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives. Some portions of Shoneyin’s text were identified as sample data for analysis. The researcher made use of the theory of speech acts and implicature, propounded by Grice to investigate and analyse the text. The study shows that Shoneyin has employed a brilliant style with various sentence types to sustain readers’ interests and maintains originality to the work. The language used by the writer is quite explicit and “vulgar” for example “grapped my breasts”, “forced his penis” etc. The study assesses the pragmatic idiosyncrasies as uniqueness and not as deviances. Generally, Shoneyin’s use of language in these two texts is point blank, which may be considered as vulgar. She presents her ideas in explicit terms and her choice of words is deliberate. The study concludes that Shoneyin’s choice of words are distinctive.
| Ademowo, A. J. & Balogun, N. (2015). Postproverbial Constructions and selected sex-related Yoruba proverbs/ proverbial expressions. Antropologija, 15(2),9-22. | ||||
| Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Clarendon Press. | ||||
| Bawa, N. M. (2022). Review of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives. Littafi Books. | ||||
| Dooga, J. T. (2008). Contemporary issues in text analysis: Assessing Para's "Warnings". Jos Journal of General Studies, 4(3), 203-216. | ||||
| Ezekulie, C. J. (2014). An investigation of the pragmatic deviance of metaphor in Shoneyin's The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives. AFRREV LALIGENS: An International Journal of Language, Literature and Gender Studies, 3(1), 41-55. | ||||
| Gazdar, G. (1979). Pragmatics: Implicature, presupposition and logical form. Academic Press. | ||||
| Horn, L. (1986). Presupposition, theme and variations. In Chicago Linguistic Society (Vol. 22, pp. 168-192). | ||||
| Horn, L., & Ward, G. (2008). The handbook of pragmatics. Blackwell Publishing. | ||||
| Huang, Y. (2007). Pragmatics. Oxford University Press. | ||||
| Leech, G. N. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics, 1st edition, Longman Publishing. | ||||
| Levinson, S. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press. Crossref |
||||
| McArthur, T. (ed.) (1996). The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University. | ||||
| Mey, J. (2006). Pragmatics: An Introduction (2nd edition). Blackwell Publishing. | ||||
| Oni, F. J., & Mosuro, O. R. (2020). Evaluative semantics and ideological perspectives in Lola Shoneyin's The Secret Lives of Baba Segis's Wives. Papers in English Linguistics, 20(3 & 4), 246-261. | ||||
| Osuala, E. C. (2005). Introduction to research methodology, 3rd edition. Africana-First Publishers. | ||||
| Pam, K. J. (2012). A stylistic reading of Shoneyin's The secret lives of Baba Segi's wives. AFRREV LALIGENS: An International Journal of Language, Literature and Gender Studies, 1(3), 83-95. | ||||
| Searle, J. (1977). Speech acts theory. Oxford University Press. | ||||
| Shoneyin, L. (2010). The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives. Cassava Republic Press. | ||||
| Stalnaker, R. (1972). Pragmatics. In: Davidson, D., & Harman, G. (ed.). Semantics of natural language (pp. 380-397). Dordrecht: Reidel. Crossref |
||||
Copyright © 2025 Integrity Research Journals. All rights reserved.