ABSTRACT
Gender
and language differences are integral field of study in sociolinguistics that
accounts for the way language is used in the society and the choices people
make when speaking. This is usually complemented by pragmatics. A number of
studies have been done on gender and language differences, however, there
appears to be inadequate research on the socio-pragmatic investigation of gender
and language differences in these African literary texts; Ama Atta Aidoo’s Change and Chimamanda N. Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun and applying Speech
Acts and Mood system as analytical tool
of study. Therefore, the study investigated the language differences of
both genders and how they relate to context in the selected texts.
The
study employed both the qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis to
foreground the differences in the language choices of both. Using the purposive
random sampling technique, a total of twenty inter-gender dialogues were
selected from Ama Atta Aidoo’s Changes
and Chimamanda N. Adichie’s Half
of a Yellow Sun. For data
analysis, the research employed Speech Acts by J. L. Austin and J. Searle and
Mood Systems tool as propounded by M.A.K Halliday.
Findings
showed diverse language features in utterances made by male and female
interlocutors in the selected African texts. It was discovered that within the
socio-cultural context of love, marriage and family events, men and women
language differed. In Changes, male
interlocutors used more indicative interrogatives, directives, tag questions
and minimal responses while female interlocutors used more indicative
declaratives, imperatives, assertives and expressives hedges, polite
expressions and intensifiers. In Half of
a Yellow Sun, male interlocutors used more indicative declaratives,
commissives, expressives, intensifiers, vernacular, polite expressions and
hedges while female interlocutors used more indicative interrogatives,
assertives, directives, tag questions and minimal responses. Within physical,
socio-cultural and psychological contexts as identified in the texts, it was
discovered that socio-cultural context dominates the texts in form of marriage
and family events.
The
study concluded that males interrogate more while females expressed more of
simple, polite but emphatic sentences. However, the study discovered that
context is the ultimate determinant of human language choices.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
A crucial distinction between human beings and animals is to a
large extent the way we communicate with one another. Human beings use words to
express emotions, thoughts and information of any kind. In each language use, words
are constructed in a particular way and it is inspiring to know that when
studying written or verbal words, it is quite possible to ascertain whether a
word belongs to one gender or another even when the person has no clue about
the gender of the one communicating.
Language, according to Osisanwo (2008:1), is human vocal noise or
the arbitrary graphic representation of this noise, used systematically and
conventionally by members of a speech community for purposes of
communication. It is important to know
that language is a human attribute. It has a graphic representation which is in
form of text, used in different ways by members of a society to communicate
their feelings, intentions, fears, anger and roles.
Language is a means of communication used by people of the same
sex or opposite sex to accomplish such functions as ordering, promising,
arguing, and so on. In essence, any communicative function needs to be carried
out within a context, which may either be situational, interpersonal or social
and cultural. In the process of communication, language users are expected to
be in possession of two sets of capabilities: They should have knowledge of the
forms of language they use and must know how to use this knowledge in
negotiating meaning. In order to clarify meaning, the speakers and hearers or
writers and readers should be able to interact meaningfully as context influences
meaning.
Gender and language have become an interesting topic which
linguists have investigated over time. Early studies in linguistic anthropology
see Lakoff (1973, 1975) J. Coates (1988), Fishman (1980), Zimmerman (1975) and
many others looked at the differences between women’s and men’s speeches across
languages to identify distinct female and male language features. Focusing on
the findings by Lakoff (1975), among speakers from similar social class, women
tend to use more standard and formal language forms which are characterized by,
intensifiers, hedges, tag question sentences, minimal responses, exclamation
remarks, polite expressions and indirect expressions. While men use more of
vernacular, taboo words, proverbs, command expressions, interruptions,
strategic language in order to control conversations and less minimal responses
to mention but a few. Lakoff in his book Language
and women’s place concludes that women’s language is inferior while men’s
language is superior. According to the findings, the difference in men and women’s language features reflects
a power imbalance between the sexes
However,
according to Lakoff (1975), there are different views why men and women possess
different language features. To him, women belong to the minority group which
is oppressed and marginalized and women belong to different subcultures, and
their differing conversational styles reflect these subcultures. Also is the
view that women’s language is weak, hesitance and lack confidence. As a result,
women’s language features present women as powerless, incapable of holding
power and of presenting their point of view forcefully.
Holmes (1992:16)
posits that “the aim of sociolinguistics is to move towards a theory which
provides a motivated account of the way language is used in a community, and of
the choices people make when they use language”. Dong Jinyu
(2014) states that the main content of sociolinguistics is the study of the
relationships between language and society that is; it majors on the study of
language structure and social context.
Bucholtz
(1999) in his own view emphasizes that what is needed in the study of
the differences in gender language is a form of analysis which is less focused
on the individual woman or man and trends of speech in the society as a whole,
but more focused on the way context and individual mutually shape the manner in
which the interaction takes place. This study therefore, investigated the
differences in gender language use of interlocutors as it relates to context in
the selected text - Ama Atta Adio’s Changes and Adichies’ Half of a Yellow Sun.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Different scholars have recognized and taken interest in the
language use and creative prowess of Ama Atta Aidoo’s Changes and Chimamanda’s Half
of a Yellow Sun. However, most of
the studies available on these literary texts are mostly on theme, creative
processes and aesthetics; little attention is given to linguistic studies like
socio-pragmatic investigation of the language difference of genders and how it
relates to context. This study investigated the different language features of
the interlocutors, contexts, speech acts and mood types of male and female characters
in the selected texts, hence the question, do women in all contexts truly
reflect powerless language as opposed to their male counterparts? The study adopted
insights from Wardhaughs’ theory of “difference” in the language differences of
genders.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main objectives of this study is to investigate the gender
language differences in Changes by
Ama Atta Adio and Half of a Yellow Sun
by Chimamanda N. Adichie. The specific objectives are to:
1.
examine what context
influenced the language use of men and women in Changes by Ama Atta Adio and Half
of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda N. Adichie;
2.
investigate the predominant
gender language features employed by men in Changes
by Ama Atta Adio and Half of a Yellow Sun
by Chimamanda N. Adichie;
3.
examine the language
features of women within their sub-cultural settings in Changes by Ama Atta Adio and Half
of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda N. Adichie and
4.
investigate the predominant
mood types and speech acts implored by men and women in Changes by Ama Atta Adio and Half
of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda N. Adichie.
1.4 Research Questions
1. What is the influence of context on the language choices of men
and women in Changes by Ama Atta Aidoo
and Half of a Yellow Sun by
Chimamanda N. Adichie?
2. What
predominant gender language features were employed by men in Changes by Ama Atta Aidoo and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda N.
Adichie?
3. What
predominant gender language features were employed by women in Changes by Ama Atta Aidoo and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda N.
Adichie?
4. What
predominant mood types and speech acts are employed by women and men in Changes by Ama Atta Aidoo and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda N.
Adichie?
1.5 Scope of the Study
This study focused on the socio-pragmatic features of gender
language differences as it relates to context in the selected texts. Two gender
based texts have been selected as the data for this study, both by female
authors; Changes by Ama Ata Aido, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda. The
choice of texts arose from the need to do a thorough and unbiased study on
issues around gender language differences (language features of men and women)
reason being that only a detailed analysis will enable useful understanding of
this study.
1.6 Significance of the Study
Bucholtz, (1999) states that what is
needed is a form of analysis which is less focused on the individual woman or
man and trends of speech in the society as a whole, but more focused on the way
context and individual mutually shape the way interaction takes place. This
study bridged the gap by investigating the gender language differences as it
relates to context in Changes by Ama Atta Adioo and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda
Adichie.
1.7 Justification for the Study
Sociolinguistics is concerned with language in social and cultural
contexts and it focuses on how we use language to accomplish acts (e.g.
apologies, declarations, etc) in our different settings. Speech act is a theory
propounded by J.L.Austin (1962) and J. Searle (1975) who believe that we cannot
account for the use and meaning of language in the absence of context. In
Pragmatics, speech act conveys the actual intention of a language user. Hence,
the investigation of gender language differences as it relates to context
becomes vital and necessary.
1.8 Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework for this study is J. Searle’s and J.L.
Austin’s Speech Acts theory. Speech act focuses on language use in a particular
context. This theory explains the role of utterances in shaping the attitudes
of the individuals in different forms of interpersonal communication which has
to do with the actual intention of the speaker and the effects it has on the
hearer. According to them, in every utterance (Speech Act), the actions of
promising, requesting, predicting, confirming, etc. are performed.
This study also adopted M.A.K Halliday’s Mood Structure, which is an
aspect of Systemic Functional Grammar. Mood is a system through which
interpersonal meanings are realized within an exchange. Eggins (2004) posits
that language involves interactions where we initiate or respond to the act of
giving or demanding for goods-and-services or information Eggins (2004).
Therefore, Halliday and Mathiessssen (2004) regard this function of giving or
demanding for goods and services or information as one of exchange. Within mood
is a choice between imperative and indicative. If indicative is chosen, there
is a choice between declarative and interrogative and if imperative there is a
choice between jussive and non-jussive.
There have been some discussions on the sociolinguistic approaches
applied in the study of gender and language so far. According to Coates (1988),
the research on language and gender is divided into studies that focus on dominance
and those which concentrate on difference in language features of men and
women. The first to pioneer this field was Lakoff (1973) whose work confirmed
that women’s speech had some features that were different from men’s speech.
Women have tendency to use forms which help them express uncertainty related to
what they are talking about. In Lakoff’s view, some language aspects consisting
of lexical distinctions, tag questions, strength of directive speech acts,
strong versus weak expletives, question intonation with statement syntax are
more associated with women than with men. Women who use these features are not
only considered to be weak, but also inferior and powerless.
1.9 Synopsis of the Selected Texts
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi’s novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (2007), is a prose work about the Biafran war
in the 1960s. Adichie draws from a page of modern African history and writes
about the traumatizing effects of the civil war on the lives of several
individuals. Having their privileged lives swept up by the war, Olanna, her
lover, Odenigbo, and Ugwu, are obliged to flee to the villages of Eastern
Nigeria, where they must endure the chilling violence of war and have their
values and morality challenged under dire circumstances.
Undoubtedly, Half of a Yellow
Sun is the master piece of a devoted female African writer about the
experiences of women and their multiple struggles that reflect their roles in
the gender circle more especially is their language use. Her work made it
clearer to scholars that as much as men have their roles in social, political,
and economical privileges just because they are men, women in their individual
and domestic corners also play roles through language to reflect same or even
more roles. Therefore, Adichie’s novel is dominated by women from different
social classes with the determination of surviving the test of life and the
hope of improving upon it. An example is aged mothers keeping the village
tradition, female lecturers, with some contradicting cultures by living together
with the same boyfriend under the same roof as in the case of Olanna and
Kainene. Some others out rightly changed their gender roles like Mrs Muokelu
who would “have been better off born a man” (p: 270). Other expressions such as
“do you not have your own flat and your own job? You must never behave as if
your life belongs to a man, do you hear me? Your life belongs to you and you
alone” (p: 203) and many other expressions.
Changes by Ama Ata Aidoo
The Ghanaian author; Ama Ata Aidoo in addition to addressing a
wide range of issues of concern to Feminist/Womanist thought like the ways
female children become women, the meaning of marriage for women, where women‘s
work fits into their lives, or women‘s sexuality, the author remarkably gives a
sense of structural and linguistic irony which is functional signifying a
couple of things like no language is powerless or inferior but contexts
determines what we say and how we say it.
Changes as a love story is a novel that explores the
changes that working women in Africa must face in their marriages and families
while men's lives remain unaltered. After Esi divorces Oko, she has more time
to focus on her career, but after she remarries to Ali Kondey, she must find a
balance between being a career woman, a wife, and a friend to Opokuya who
encounters problems in her marriage of a different nature.
================================================================
Item Type: Postgraduate Material | Attribute: 100 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Price: N3,000 | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
================================================================
No comments:
Post a Comment