Visual verbal texts can be interpreted from the perspective of multimodality and intertextuality. This chapter investigates the manner in which visual-verbal code-pairing in texts becomes humorous within specific contexts and the role of incongruity as a major ingredient of humour. Adopting a combination of visual semiotics theory, incongruity theory and superiority theory, the author analyzed 50 purposively sampled humorous texts on Facebook for the meaning and humour inherent in them. The author demonstrates that the two parts to the visual-verbal humour may constitute a composite whole, forming the unexpected portion, while the background to the joke serves as the expected.
This paper studies the verbs that result from contact between English and Yorùbá languages. Using data generated from informal discussions, it discusses two of the categories of lexical verbs in use in Yorùbá-English code-mixing. The first type, clean verbs, originate from each of the languages in contact and are interchangeable; the second type, hybrid verbs, is a creation that results from language contact. The study concludes that these features of the verb are part of the grammatical basis of the Yorùbá-English code-mixing.
Scholars have discussed Yorulish (Yorùbá-English) code-switching/mixing from the perspectives of sociolinguistics, contact linguistics and pragmatics, among others; but the syntax-semantics aspect has not enjoyed much scholarly scrutiny, if any. Multi-word expressions (MWEs) are characterised by noncompositionality as they comprise two or more words, which have a unique meaning not traceable to any of the combined words. This study examines the syntactic behaviour of MWEs in Yorulish code-switched grammar, with an eye to the meaning before and after code-switching/mixing. The adopted theoretical framework is a combination of Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language Frame theory and Chomsky's Transformational Generative Grammar. Data were purposively sampled from standard dictionaries and textbooks on English and Yorùbá languages, and code-switched/mixed with words from the alternate language. The MWEs selected are idioms (from English and Yorùbá); phrasal verbs, phrasal-prepositional verbs and prepositional verbs (from English); and splitting verbs and serial verb constructions (from Yorùbá). The study suggests that switching is allowed when components of MWEs are relatively free as in English prepositional verbs, but barred when they are fixed as in Yorùbá splitting verbs and idioms. Nevertheless, apart from idioms where both English and Yorùbá substrates resist switching, the other Yorùbá MWEs are more impervious to switching than do those of English origin, which suggests that Yorùbá is the base language.
Every culture has its rules of interaction and interpretation, and each also has rules for proverb construction and usage. As a literary genre, proverbs in Yorùbá and Igbo do possess some features that identify them in their areas of usage. These we explore in this paper with particular emphasis on the structure and the texture that proverbs share in the two languages. With data collected from literary works and scholarly publications of Yorùbá and Igbo scholars, this study reveals that proverbs in the two languages have identical structure and texture with few optional items on both sides. This study concludes that proverbs probably have universal structures and textures as found in the two cultures.
Advances in ICT have brought both joy and sadness to individuals and organizations. Cybercrime, a byproduct of advances in ICT, is a relatively new area where crime flourishes in Nigeria, and many such cases have been reported by victims at different social forums. This study investigates cybercrime as it affects individuals and the society at large with a view to exposing the tricks often used by fraudsters and offering possible solutions. Data were collected from personal experiences (phone calls and text messages), WhatsApp messages and stories posted on Facebook and Nairaland forums by victims. They were analysed descriptively. The article suggests that tougher legislative sanctions and strict law enforcement by government can curb this menace. Also, through grammatical competence, improved morality as dictated by culture, logical reasoning, and avoidance of greed, individuals can detect fraudulent proposals and escape cyberattacks.
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