This study explores the utilization of humor in Nigerian political cartoons within newspapers as ... more This study explores the utilization of humor in Nigerian political cartoons within newspapers as a tool for redesigning the new Naira notes. Investigating the integration of satire, wit, and caricature, this research delves into the impact of humor in communicating socio-political messages through visual representations. By analyzing examples from newspapers, the study aims to uncover the multifaceted role of humor in reshaping public perception and discourse surrounding the redesign of currency, particularly the Naira notes, within the context of Nigerian political cartoons.
This paper seeks to closely account for the role language plays in the development of empires. La... more This paper seeks to closely account for the role language plays in the development of empires. Language plays different roles such as officialdom, legislature, mass media, education etc. in a particular setting. The scope of this study is the role language plays in the development of Gobir kingdom. The language spoken in the kingdom is predominantly Hausa, and this language helped in bringing about unity among the Gobirawas. Language is an important variable in kingdom development. Indeed, it can be said that development will be completely impossible without the phenomenon of human language. Both the formulation of the term kingdom development and the articulation of what constitutes it are only possible because there is language to express them. The most effective engine of a people's culture is their first language. All languages are highly developed and sophisticated system of communication capable of meeting the demands of the society. Hausa have helped Gobir kingdom to attain the level of sophistication needed as a kingdom.
This study evaluates the use of indigenous language(s) and its implication in the academic settin... more This study evaluates the use of indigenous language(s) and its implication in the academic setting of Nigeria. Teachers tend to deviate from the conventional way of teaching or interacting with their students formally as been proposed by the National Policy on Education (NPE). This study x-rayed the current situation of language in the National Policy on Education in Nigeria, bringing about the challenges that our education faces and the future of English language. A total number of one hundred (100) students at basic education level (Secondary Schools) in Sokoto State, Nigeria, were sampled and same aforementioned number of students was sampled from the Tertiary Level of Education here in Sokoto. The findings revealed that provisions of multilingual education contained in the National Policy on Education are not properly implemented by the majority of the teachers and the Government has not taken the implementation of the provisions any serious. The findings also revealed that the future of English in the Nigerian educational sector is at risk considering it being the language of officialdom. This study recommends that the Federal Government of Nigeria should put more effort in the implementation of the National Policy on Education (NPE).
Students are expected to, in formal situations, use language properly for effective communication... more Students are expected to, in formal situations, use language properly for effective communication and grammatical formulation. The growing concern about the use of texting endangering the standard forms in language prompted the research so as to determine the presence of SMS features in academic writing of University undergraduates. This research work is aimed at investigating the use of textisms, and the extent to which they are prevalent in students' written essays. The instrument used for data collection was essay writing; the data were collected from essays written by fifty females English language levels I-IV students of the Department of European Languages, Federal University Birnin Kebbi. However, the findings reveal that only ten out of the fifty essays contain textisms, (i.e. 20%). The research findings agree with Crystal's assertion that it is very rare to find textisms in schoolwork, contrary to the general belief which people have that textisms are used in essays and examinations. However, the work was also able to determine that if the use of textisms though rare, is not currently discouraged, in the nearest future it can lead to poorer level of literacy in English language as standard orthography could be lost.
Languages with restrictions on syllable structure permit vowel epenthesis in order to satisfy Hau... more Languages with restrictions on syllable structure permit vowel epenthesis in order to satisfy Hausa is one of the major languages that have more first language speakers than any other language in Sub-Saharan Africa (Caron, 2013). It belongs to the Chadic branch of Afro Asiatic languages with about 50 million people speaking the language in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Togo and Ghana (Caron, 2013). The majority of its speakers live in northern Nigeria and in the southern areas of the So, when there is occurrence of this phonological aberration (epenthesis) in the English of Hausa speakers, achieving international intelligibility may be hindered. And even if it does not hinder intelligibility to an extent, it may show lack of competence, maturity, and expertise in the use of English language. The occurrence of this aberration may make the English of a Hausa speaker to sound, rather, clumsy when compared to Standard British English (SBE).
The researchers examine a general overview and approaches to psychological and social analysis of... more The researchers examine a general overview and approaches to psychological and social analysis of language development in children. Behaviourists claim that child language acquisition is governed by habit forming and reinforcement by imitation, repetition, and analogy Nativists claim that children are born with an innate ability to acquire language because they do have language innately. According to the proponents of social pragmatic theory, language development centres within the framework of social development, because communicative intentions are expressed in social contexts. In other words, the paper investigates the psychosocial processes of first language acquisition with the aim of shedding a bit light on this human-specie phenomenon. The stages of language development are universal among humans. However, the age and the pace at which a child reaches each milestone of language development vary greatly among children.
The primary aim of this paper is to analyse the pedagogical effectiveness of English Language tea... more The primary aim of this paper is to analyse the pedagogical effectiveness of English Language teachers in teaching Secondary School students in Sokoto State, Nigeria. Descriptive Survey research design was used to get the opinion of the participants and the population of the study consists of 480 participants. Research Advisor (2006) was used to select 217 out of 480 participants using proportionate and simple random sampling technique. Research design instrument titled "Pedagogical Effectiveness of English Language teachers questionnaire (PEEFTQ) to collect data from the participants. Construct and content validity and reliability indexes of 0.83 was obtained from (PEEFTQ) using cronbach alpha. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data and the result of the analysis indicated among others that the application of various teaching methods has significantly improved pedagogical effectiveness of English Language teachers in Secondary Schools. The study concludes that the use of instructional materials has contributed towards improvement of pedagogical effectiveness of English Language teachers. The study recommends that, there is need for government to organise capacity building programs for teachers to facilitate the application of various teaching methods so as to significantly improve pedagogical effectiveness of English Language teachers in Secondary School Students.
Context plays a role in language interpretation because it includes whatever other consideration ... more Context plays a role in language interpretation because it includes whatever other consideration the hearer/reader takes into account in discovering the speaker/writer's intention in saying/writing a particular utterance or statement. The pragmatic analysis of language can be broadly understood to be the investigation into that aspect of meaning which is derived not from the formal properties of words and constructions, but from the way in which utterances are used and how they relate to the context in which they are uttered or written. So, this paper tends to pragmatically examine selected virtual 2019 political campaign cartoons. In pragmatics, much of what we learn comes from inferences from the language rather than from what is openly said. These cartoons are reflections of the cartoonists' political ideologies. The aim of this study is to investigate whether or not these cartoons send underlying messages to the populace. The theory adopted for this study is Grice (1975) Cooperative Principles. When one abides by cooperative principle one agrees to act according to various rules or rather maxims. These maxims specify what participants have to do in order to converse in a maximally efficient, rational, cooperative way. Political Cartoons constitute the data for this study and were sourced from various e-news and social media platforms, of the 15 political campaign cartoons sampled, 10 were analyzed. The findings reveal that; the maxim of relation was mostly adhered to, considering the fact that all the cartoons are politics based, but in some cases, other maxims were violated. Political cartoons are lampooned, contextually communicative and pass important messages as they mirror the happenings in the society, but, in a ridicule way.
This study evaluates women slang among students in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. Women ten... more This study evaluates women slang among students in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. Women tend to device some unique means through which they communicate within the group. Therefore, they borrow, coin or create words connotatively from either English language or other indigenous languages they use to refer to persons, places, things and processes within their environment. This paper seeks to explore this kind of language with specific reference to women slang among 300-Level and 400-Level female students of the Department of Modern European languages and Linguistics, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. The Theoretical Framework adopted in this study is "Slang Word Theory". The instrument for data collection was Questionnaire and Observation method. The findings of the study reveal that, historically, women were put in a difficult situation(s) due to the fear of uttering some certain words that the society may consider as inappropriate or taboo. As such, they tend to develop new words and associate new meanings to the already existing words to circumvent the taboo words. The paper concludes by identifying the most important processes used in women slang.
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Papers by Imrana S Ahmad