Browsing by Author "Ajileye, Michael Olugbenga"

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    Impact of communication filters on the speeches of female Yoruba and Igbo speakers
    (U. P., 2023) Ajileye, Michael Olugbenga; Mbata, Carolyn O.; Dozie, Chinomso Patricia; Chidi Eustace Okere
    Differences in the ways that men and women use language have long been of interest in the study of discourse and sociolinguistics. Despite extensive theorizing, actual empirical investigations have yet to converge on a coherent picture of gender differences in language. The male/female sex biological categories are assumed to have a bearing on the masculine/feminine gender social categories. This categorization is assumed to affect almost every aspect of human living, including the use of language by the different genders. This work is a study of works and assumptions on sex-conditioned language or genderlect, with special attention on the characteristics of female speech. This aspect identified the observed linguistic filtering devices in female speech in an attempt to establish them as stereotypes. The study further attempted a survey of filtered female speech and established pragmatic bases for the models. A clear attempt was made to identify and classify the semantic constraints inherent in the connotative properties of the utterances of some female speakers of the English, Igbo and Yoruba languages while also attempting a possible literal and contextual interpretation of the utterances and the possible 'misunderstandings' that may arise from the 'filtered' utterances. Oral discussions and unobtrusive observations were conducted to get data related to the manifestation of genderlect in female speech. The findings affirmed the thesis of differences in gender speech styles
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    Rhetoric in religious discourse: Elicitation and dialogue as dramatic pause in Nigerian pentecostal sermons
    (U. P., 2024-07) Ajileye, Michael Olugbenga; Okere, Chidi Eustace; Dozie, Chinomso Patricia
    This study examines the use of elicitation, as well as dialogic interrogation and dialogic repetition, as devices for dramatic pause in Nigerian Pentecostal sermons. Sermons are by their nature, usually monologic, in which the preacher monopolizes the conversation space from commencement to conclusion. The congregation usually is expected to sit through it all, listen and imbibe the message. This trend, noted mainly in orthodox Christianity circles, has been observed to often lead to boredom and attention fatigue in the audience. This study notes that Nigerian Pentecostal preachers, while still wholly in control of the sermon, appear to have effectively reversed its monologic nature by employing elicitation and dialogue as audience-engaging and attention-arresting devices to introduce unique pause effects in their sermons, thereby creating that general impression of vitality and activity often associated with the Nigerian Pentecostal brand of Christianity. This study identified these devices as discursive practices embedded in the social practice of Pentecostal preaching, which are among the principal ways in which its ideology is circulated and reproduced. This present study constitutes a part of a general intellectual investigation, which involves the identification of specific discursive patterns that characterize Nigerian Pentecostal Christian sermons and to determine how they are intertwined with the general ideology of persuasion as a goal.