Browsing by Author "Mariam Titilope Olugbodi"

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    A Generative Phonological Approach to the Analysis of Selected Undergraduates’ Utterances
    (2022) Amirah Abidemi Affinih; Mariam Titilope Olugbodi
    Language variation isfacilitated by language contacts .Nigerian Scholars have over the years embarked on the description ofthe taxonomy ofNigerian English atthe level ofphonology and three major varieties have been identified by scholars over the years—the yet to be codified acrolect ,the Standard Nigerian English (SNE);themesolect,which isthe intermediate variety,Popular Nigerian English (PNE)thebasilect,andNigerianPidginEnglish (NPE),whichisthesubstrate variety.Theaim ofthisstudy isto identify the phonological features ofNigerian English inselected undergraduates ’ utterances.Particularly ,the study sets out toinvestigate whether the university undergraduates are representatives of the acrolect or mesolect based on their level of educational attainment .The utterances of ten (10) 400 level undergraduates ofKwara State University were analysed using a juxtapositional approach.Fifty randomly selectedwordsfromtheutteranceswereanalysed using the Distinctive Feature Approach .The study revealed that most ofthe deviant phonemes are syllabic in nature because they aremostly vowels.Also,there are instances ofsubstitution oftheSNEdiphthongs withtheSpeakers’VarietySVmonophthongsasaresultofthedisparitiesinthephonemiccomponentsof the SNE and the speakers ’first language .The study concluded that the attainment of the SNE in the Nigerian context isfeasible ifthe codification ofthe SNE can beattained toaid the syllabus design for Englishlanguagepedagogyinanon-nativecontextasNigeria.
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    Demystifying the Labyrinth of the Delta: An Eco-linguistic Analysis of Selected Poems of Tanure Ojaide
    (Journal of English Language and Literature, 2024) Mariam Titilope Olugbodi; Moshood Zakariyah
    Ecological issues in the context of Niger-Delta, Nigeria have been approached mostly from the perspective of environmental degradation, and marginalisation in previous studies. However, in literary pieces, which are mostly the dominant objects of analysis in those studies, there are underlying linguistic imports, which are reflexive of the beauty of the literary discourses revolving around the Niger￾Delta environment. It is based on this backdrop that this study sets out to examine selected poems of Tanure Ojaide from an ecolinguistic perspective. To achieve the aim of the study, five poems are selected purposively from Ojaide’s Songs of Myself and analysed using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to data analysis. The data is also examined using the Eco-critical Discourse Analysis (EDA) approach. The findings from the study reveal the use of rhetorical devices to converge towards emphasising the beauty of the ecological characteristics of the physical environment. The use of imagery by the poet draws on readers’ socio-cognitive instincts towards the appealing to their emotive senses. In conclusion, the use of the eco-linguistic approach to examine the poems has not only revealed the poet’s intents but has also demystified the myth behind the ecosystem of the Niger Delta.
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    Spectrographic Analysis of Articulatory Variations in the Vocalisations of Selected Nigerian Newscasters
    (Journal of Linguistics & Literature, 2023) Mariam Titilope Olugbodi
    Since the 20th century, with the launch of natural language processing software, such as the Praat software in 1995, speech analysis has transcended subjective interpretations to scientific evaluations. This study aimed to carry out a spectrographic analysis of articulatory variations in the vocalizations of selected Nigerian Newscasters using the application of the Praat software. More importantly, the articulatory variations traceable in the vocalizations of the newscasters that are indicative of hyperarticulations and hyper￾articulations are examined. Ten (10) words were selected from a corpus of spoken texts collected through the survey method— the interview of selected Nigerian newscasters. From the data analysis, it was found that hyperarticulations are marked by phonemic substitution, /r/ intrusion, and vowel length elongation while a lack of pitch variation, phonemic reduction, and syllabic reduction indicates hypoarticulations. Also, it has been found that both hyperarticulations and hyper-articulations are reflections of the attitudes of the studied newscasters as second-language speakers of English towards the attainment of proficiency in the standard variety. Not only attitude but also variations impact on other cognitive and social factors that are manifestations of the sociolinguistic realities of the studied context.