Lexical, Structural and Rhetorical Features of Nigerian English Print Media

Authors

  • Taiwo Oluwaseun Ehineni Indiana University USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v3i11.601

Keywords:

Nigerian English, Print Media, Rhetorical, Structural and Lexical Features

Abstract

Language is invariably a great instrument in the media world. It is the vehicle of disseminating and presenting issues, trends, happenings and events in the society to the general public. Though language is universally used in media, the style of use differs from one genre to the other. Therefore, this paper attempts to examine the peculiar linguistic and stylistic elements in Nigerian English print media. Methodologically, the study collects data from national Nigerian English newspapers and linguistically analyses them to identify peculiar features. Specifically, it identifies lexical, structural and rhetorical features that are peculiar in Nigerian newspapers. It discovers that the English of the Nigerian print media possesses certain linguistic features and as a result, it is stylistically different from the official English usage often used in Nigerian educational institutions. The paper avers that the peculiar use of English language in the Nigeria media reveals a variety of English with a distinct Nigerian flavour.

Author Biography

  • Taiwo Oluwaseun Ehineni, Indiana University USA
    Department of Linguistics

References

Alabi, O. (2012). Lexical choices in selected news headlines stories in The Guardian and The Nation newspapers. Masters project. Department of English. University of Ibadan

Andrew, C. (2007). Media-generated shortcuts: do newspaper headlines present another roadblock for low information-rationality. International Journal of press/politics. Harvard: Sage publications p, 24-43

Ayodele, O. (1998). African print media misuse of the English definite article ‘The’: a content analysis of seven Nigerian newspaper lead items. African Media Review 2(3), 92-109.

Babalola, E.T. (2002). Newspapers as instruments for building literate communities: The Nigerian experience. Nordic Journal of African Studies. 11(3) p 403-410

Bell, A. (1991). The language of the news media. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press

Chiluwa, I. (2005). Pragmatic and discourse analysis. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University of Ibadan.

Crystal, David. (1995). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dor, D. (2003). On newspaper headlines as relevance optimizers. Journal of Pragmatics 35, 695-721

Ehineni, T (2014) Head features and Government in Nigerian news headlines. (Unpublished Masters Thesis). University of Ibadan

Ehineni, T. O (2014) A Syntactic Analysis of Lexical and Functional heads in Nigerian newspaper headlines. International Journal of Linguistics. 6 (5): 9-21

Fowler, R. (1991). Language in the news. London: Routledge

Halliday, M.A.K. (1967). Language of advertising. London: Routledge.

Leech, Geoffrey. (1974). Semantics. England: Penguin Books Ltd.

Quirk, et al. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London: longman.

Reah, D. (1998). The language of newspapers. London: Routledge.

Sherpa, P. (2012). The strategic use of language in newspapers headlines. Masters Project. Department of Media Studies. Christ University, Bangalore.

Stainton, R. J. (2004). ‘The pragmatics of non-sentences’ In The handbook of pragmatics. ed. Horn, Land Ward, G Oxford: Blackwell publishing house. p 266-287.

Taiwo, R. (2004). ‘Speech as headline’ In The Domestication of English in Nigeria .eds. Awonusi S. and Babalola, E.A. Lagos: University of Lagos Press

The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press

Tiono, I. N. (2003). Analysis of syntactic and semantic factors found in newspaper headlines

Tosanwumi, J. O. and Ekwuazi, H. O. (1994). Mass communication: A Basic Text. Caltop Publications Nigerian Ltd.

Nigerian Newspaper Sources

Punch newspaper (2014)

Sahara Reporters (2014) (2014)

Tribune (2014)

Vanguard (2014)

Downloads

Published

2014-11-24

Issue

Section

Article

Similar Articles

1-10 of 303

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.