Abiku in Ben Okri’s Imagination of Nationhood: A Metaphorical Interpretation of Colonial-Postcolonial Politics

Kamalu, Ikenna

doi:10.1017/9781782043874.003

Cited by 3 publications

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“…In this review, we will explore how SFL has been used to analyze intertextuality in political discourse and what insights can be gained from this type of analysis. Kamalu (2012) in his work, Intertextuality as a Discourse Strategy in Ben Okri's Fiction, stratified the analysis of intertextuality into four parts that looked at the intertextual dialogue with African folk tradition; incorporations from the Patriarchs of African Literature; intertextual relations with western literary conventions; and textual and ideological incorporations from Okri's works. The study revealed that Okri's deployment of intertextuality as a discourse strategy enables the reader/analyst to link connected texts or styles as their deployment in one situation relates them to other texts outside the immediate context.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intertextuality and The Submerged Portrayal of Goodwill in Nigerian Political Discourse

Agwu,

Amadi

2024

EJELLS

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Political discourse can be understood as the language and communication strategies used by politicians, political parties, government, and media to articulate their perspectives, promote their interests and shape public opinion. In achieving these, political actors leverage the foregrounded knowledge of their audience by alluding to various existing texts and themes that frame their speeches in a way that presents them in a good light to their audience. This concept, known as intertextuality, arms the textual and thematic repertoire of various political actors and provides the basis for an ideological connection between politicians and the masses. This study employs Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics to scrutinize the intertextual dimensions in Peter Obi's political discourse, focusing on linguistic choices at the levels of metafunction (ideational, interpersonal and textual), lexicogrammar, register genre, and context of the situation. Gathering data from online newspaper publications, Facebook and Twitter posts, as well as campaign and conference speeches, the research reveals how Obi strategically deploys intertextual references to convey goodwill and position himself as a transformative figure—a "Messiah" addressing Nigeria's multifaceted challenges. The analysis underscores Obi's adeptness in tailoring linguistic choices to specific contexts and audiences, portraying him as intimately connected to the concerns of the masses. Significantly contributing to a sparse literature on the intertextual analysis of Obi's speeches, this research sheds light on the intricate dynamics of Nigerian political discourse, offering valuable insights into the strategic use of language in shaping political identity and fostering connections with the public.

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Section: Theoretical Framework and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intertextuality and The Submerged Portrayal of Goodwill in Nigerian Political Discourse

Agwu,

Amadi

2024

EJELLS

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“…Victims of onwuike are usually suspected to be spirit-children (Ogbanje in Igbo and Abiku in Yoruba). Ogbanje in Igbo (or abiku in Yoruba) are spirit-children who maintain a cycle of dying and being reborn (Kamalu 2009(Kamalu , 2014. Achebe (1986) in The World of Ogbanje, however, argues that some ogbanje persons live up to adolescence or adulthood before dying suddenly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural–Cognitive Study of Selected Death-Oriented Personal Names in Igbo

Kamalu,

Onumonu,

Udisi

2024

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Working chiefly within the tenets of Cultural Linguistics (CL), this study examines the cultural and cognitive motivations that underlie selected death-oriented personal names among the Igbo of South-eastern Nigeria. Based on the cultural linguistic perspective, the analytical tool for the study is shaped by insights from cultural schemas, cultural categories and cultural metaphors as signifiers of ideation and social meaning. The cultural frames enable the language user to have a better understanding of the cultural and cognitive motivations that underlie the conceptualization of names and naming among the Igbo. Much has been done on the structure and sociological forms of Igbo personal names and their meanings, but only a few studies have been undertaken on the names that express the notions of death and dying in Igbo. More importantly, no previous study has used insights from Cultural Linguistics (CL) or the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) to explain the motivations for the preponderance of death-oriented names among the Igbo people. Thus, this study specifically aims to address the lacuna. The study reveals that the Igbo, like most African and other human societies, recognize and accept the inevitability of death. Consequently, they use language in diverse forms and contexts to express their perceptions of the horrors and pains associated with the inevitability of death. Songs, proverbs and ritual practices are some of the verbal and social semiotic forms through which the Igbo express their knowledge of and attitude toward death and dying. However, names and naming are the most vivid cultural cognitive patterns by which the Igbo show their understanding of the nature of death and dying and their psychological effects on the living. Constrained by space and scope, this study identified and classified six major death-oriented names among the Igbo, as follows: names that depict the overwhelming power of death; names that make an appeal to death; names that depict death as wicked/evil/terror; names that depict death as no respecter of wealth/social class; names that challenge/mock the assumed power of death; and names that depict death as an insensitive entity. Thus, the above frames constitute the major paradigms by which the Igbo express their knowledge of and attitudes toward death and dying.

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The metaphorical naming of selected dreaded diseases and medical conditions in Igbo language and thought

Kamalu

2020

Topics in Linguistics

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Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), which forms the theoretical anchor of this study, expresses the role of language and cognition in construing and communicating human experiences. CMT posits that metaphor in discourse is shaped by the ideological orientation and cultural worldview of the speaker or group. Previous studies on Igbo language and culture have used insights from linguistics, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, religious studies among others to show how the group expresses its social and cultural experiences, but none, to the best of the present researcher’s knowledge, has used the CMT approach to study the group’s construal of dreaded diseases and medical conditions in its environment. Working within the tenets of CMT therefore, this study shows how the group uses metaphors to express ideation and tenor in relation to some dreaded diseases and conditions. The study reveals that the Igbo use different conceptual metaphors such as container, journey, leaf, natural/physical force, heavy burden, etc. to frame their understanding of some dreaded diseases and conditions. The diseases and conditions are named/classified according to the narratives around them; the effects of the disease on the skin of the sufferer; the visual impression of the disease on the distant other; the effects of the disease on the mind/brain of the sufferer; the physical effects of the disease on the body of the sufferer; and the assumed causes/sources of the disease. Descriptive and analytical approaches are used in the discussion of primary data. The language the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria use to express their understanding of their natural world and social relations is chiefly metaphorical, and the names they ascribe to diseases and medical conditions emanate from their understanding of their cultural and social orientations, bodily actions and experiences.

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Abiku in Ben Okri’s Imagination of Nationhood: A Metaphorical Interpretation of Colonial-Postcolonial Politics

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Intertextuality and The Submerged Portrayal of Goodwill in Nigerian Political Discourse

Intertextuality and The Submerged Portrayal of Goodwill in Nigerian Political Discourse

Cultural–Cognitive Study of Selected Death-Oriented Personal Names in Igbo

The metaphorical naming of selected dreaded diseases and medical conditions in Igbo language and thought

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