A LEXICO-SEMATIC ANALYSIS OF OLU OBAFEMI’S NAIRA HAS NO GENDER

CHAPTER ONE

1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Language is the brain behind communication among human beings in different societies

(Jackson, 1990, p.1). This implies that ideas, messages, norms etc., are shared among people in divergent societies through conventional symbols and sounds- verbal communication. But communication can be non-verbal e.g. shaking of hands, gestures, nodding, winking etc. Jackson (ibid).

An aspect of this broad means of communication is lexic-semantics which is formed by lexis and semantics. Lexis is “the vocabulary of a language” (Crystal 2008, p. 279). While semantics is defined as “a major branch of LINGUISTICS devoted to the study of MEANING in LANGUAGE (crystal, 2008, p. 428). Thus the selection of words in relation to their functional ends in terms of meaning informs the field of lexico-semantics. This implies that each time a language user sets out to speak or write, he/she is faced with choices to select from among infinite sets of lexical items.

However, since contexts that constrain language users when speaking or writing differ in situational, socio-cultural, political and geographical degrees, there is bound to be lexico-semantic variation. The English language as used in the Nigerian context differs in these degrees, from the ways it is used in native contexts such as the USA, the UK, Canada, etc, (Jenkins, 2003). In this connection, Adedimeji (2009, p.2) has this to say “In Nigeria… the need to express

local wisdom and concepts through the medium of an otherwise foreign language had generated the regional lexico-semantic variation that characterizes the use of Language.”

It is against this background that we set out to investigate Naira Has No Gender (a play piece by Olu Obafemi) through the lens of Lexico-semantics. The underlying assumption is that, since the text is written in English to express the socio-political realities of Nigeria, we shall then attempt to relate these “Nigerianisms” to their functional imports in the social context.

1.1

It is a compelling truism that the English Language is a world Language and that it is according to Aje, (2003).

“…. the most colonized and the most colonizing….” Language. This submission is reminiscent of the many invasions experienced by the people that lived on the island now called England and the imperialism and colonization of the English in many parts of the world. Nigeria was not an exception in the colonization business of the English.

The Nurture of English Language in Nigeria could be principally attributed to colonization, Christianity and commerce in the Country. For instance, the Christian missionaries were saddled with the responsibilities of proselytizing people from their traditional believes to Christianity, thereby establishing missionary schools whre the new African convert were taught how to read the Bible, Alabi (2007 p.78). This implies that the main aim of the missionaries was not to teach the English language for its own sake, but to make peole understand the message of

the Bible. And since contact between people leads to linguistic and cultural transaction, the English Language was gradually being appropriated by the indigenes.

And like Christianity, colonialism is also a contributing factor in the nurture of English Language in Nigeria. To this end, (alibi, 2007, P. 28) has this to say,…. Later, the British colonized Nigeria and of course, used their language. English for administration. This administration states of the English further advanced the nurture and survival of English in the Country.

Equally prior to Christianity and colonialism, there had been trades contacks between certain British sailors in certain parts of the Country (Musaka, 2003, p.23); (Adedimeji 2009, p. 4-5).

These activities were followed by the infamous. Trans-Atlantic Slave trade, business returned some African states as Liberia, Sierra Leone etc. Their exposure to the European world implies that they were exposed to the English Language as well.

1. THE USE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NIGERIAN LITERATURE

There seems to be a proliferation of Nigerian literary works in the English language

throughout the country, and it is observed that the country has the greatest output of literature in Africa in English Language, (http://www.onlinenigeria.com/Nigerianliterature/). Some of these works were originally written in the indigenous languages such as Fagunwa’s Igbo Olodumare translated by Ajadi (1984, 1995) as the Forest of God

From the wake of the struggle, for independence in the 1950s, writers such as Achebe had written literary pieces to orchestrate the voice of the Nigerians against colonialism. These writers also extended their struggles against social, political and cultural maladjustments to the Present-post-colonial periods when independence had been achieved. For instance Soyinka’s The Man Died, and Kongi’s Harvest Achebe’s A Man of the People, and Anthills of the Savanah, and Amadu’s Sunset in Biafra, are important literary works of Nigerian. It could be said that the Nigerian Literature in English is the one which attracts greater attention and have the greater influence nationally and internationally” (http://www.onlinenigeria.com/Nigerianliterature/). This is probably due to the fact that English language has gained a wide currency nation wide and internationally.

The Drama, one of the three genres of literature, is a medium through which the Nigerian socio-political and cultural realities are mediated by using English language in particular. But this English seems to have maintained a middle course by trying to balance the equation between Nigerian socio-cultural contexts and the foreign tongue (English). This is expressly visible in the words of Achebe (1975) cited by Adedimeji, 2007 p.166) “The English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experiences. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its new Africa environment.” This seems to be the place of English language in Nigerian literature.

1. THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study is aimed at investigating Naira Has No Gender by Olu

Obafemi using Lexico-semantic variation as our theoretical construct. It is presumed that the text has within it traces of Nigerianism which we shall attempt to bring to the limelight.

The study is as well premised on the need to explicate these Nigerianism vis-à-vis their functional uses in socio-political and cultural contexts where they are applied.

1. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Much work had been done in the analysis of many Nigerian literary works using different

theoretical frame works. This work, it is hoped, shall advance the scholarship in lexico-semantic variation in Nigerian literary works.

Beneficiaries of this study include students at the secondary School and undergraduates levels. Readers from other disciplines can as well benefit from the study as it will intimate them with such usages as Nigerianisms which are used in literary texts, with Naira Has No Gender being a case study.

1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Texts (literary texts inclusive) can be x-rayed through different layers of linguistic

analysis such as morphology, syntax, pragmatics etc. However, due to time and space constraints and for a thorough analysis, we have restricted ourselves in this study to the lexico-semantic variation specifically the five typologies of Adegbija (1989). Another underlying reason for thi

restriction is that Lexico semantic variation best explains the socio-cultural aspects inherent in texts, literary texts in this case. The whole play will be studied with a view to identifying and classifying its lexico-semantic patterns.

1. METHODOLOGY

This study will be descriptive and analytic. It will adopt Adegbija’s (1989) classification

of lexico-semantic variation in Nigeria English. These are: Transfer, Analogy, Acronyms, Semantic Shift or Extension and Coinages or Neologism and the framework will be used in describing and analyzing the data.

1. A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF OLU OBAFEMI

Olu Obafemi was born on April 4, 1950 in Akutupa Bunu, Kogi state, Nigeria. He read

English at the Ahmadu Bello University of Leeds, England, specializing in dramatic literature. Olu Obafemi, a professor of English at the University of Ilorin is a playwright, a poet and a scholar. His published works includes Night of Mystical Beast, Wheels, Pestle on the Mortar. His published plays have been performed to audience in Nigerian Universities and to Africa and international audience in Kenya, Cameroon, England and the United States.

Obafemi has won many academic fellowships and awards. He was awarded the DAAD study visit to the University of Bayreuth, Germany in 1993,1994 and 1995. Professor Obafemi is a fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) as well as fellow of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Arts (SONTA).