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This paper examines the persuasive strategies of advertising herbal medicine in southwestern Nigeria. With recourse to the rhetorical model of analysis, the article identifies and discusses the propaganda techniques/rhetorical strategies in the discourse relative to the herbal medical practitioners' ideological perception of trying to project modern-day herbal healing in Africa as an alternative to that of the failing synthetic drugs of western medical practice. Although the social practice of advertising herbal medicine is culturally based, this study reveals that there are no significant culture-specific strategies of advertising in the data sampled, as the communicative strategies generally fit in with the prefabricated style of advertising discourse. In view of the fact that the advertising genre like other areas of public life is a site of struggle over meaning, the study takes a critical look at the instances of the advertisers' tendency to abuse meaning in language by making certain advertising claims which there is no objective evidence to back up.

This article explores the complementary role of Cultural Linguistics in making up for the inadequacies of linguistics‐oriented theories of humour in unpacking culturally embedded meanings in humorous discourse. On the basis of purposively sampled internet memes, it analyses different types of cultural presuppositions in some food metaphors that netizens in Nigerian online interaction appropriate to negotiate gender and class identities, which reflect inherent beliefs, shared values and communicative practices in the Nigerian world. It applies Sharifian's categorisation of the analytical tools of Cultural Linguistics―cultural schemas, cultural categories and cultural metaphors. The article concludes that mental spaces and conceptual blending are instrumental in forging a holistic conceptual approach, which can account for not only the linguistic but also cultural and discursive meanings of humour as an essentially social and interactional phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the discursive practices of coercive persuasion deployed by Nigeria's Minister of Information and Communications to justify the rebranding Nigeria campaign as a policy designed for value reorientation of the citizenry in the wake of the country's image crisis both domestically and internationally. Sampling data from select addresses and interviews of the country's chief image maker during the campaign, the study analyses some discourse structures and strategies in the public discourse, drawing theoretical insights from van Dijk's Critical Epistemic Discourse Analysis to re-examine and re-interpret meaning in relation to knowledge claims in the organised persuasive communication. The article demonstrates that there is artful management of information and construction of knowledge in the persuasive discourse largely to present an institutional version of reality in re/telling Nigeria's national identity narratives. The study concludes that the rhetorical means of controlling the discourse and managing the minds of the audience typify leadership practices of knowledge construction to achieve policy dominance given certain norms and conventions of nation branding practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the discourse/counter-discourse generated in/by Reuben Abati's treatise, proclaiming that some spiritual forces must have been responsible for presidential slip-ups characteristic of some successive Nigerian Presidents who have been operating in/from Aso Villa, Nigeria's seat of power. It juxtaposes the ideology (the presidents are not to blame for their gaffes) in Reuben Abati's treatise with the divergent ideologies embedded in the counter-discourses of two main rejoinders by Femi Adesina and Sonala Olumhense. It analyses the stylistic markers-cum-rhetorical strategies in the texts with the aim of uncovering or discovering their underlying ideologies. It applies Jeffries' Critical Stylistics, a model of Critical Discourse Analysis which postulates that to critically approach texts, there is need for the reader to engage some specific tools of analysis to get a clear sense of how texts may influence the ideological outlook of their recipients. It reveals that although the texts producers use language to configure realities and alternative realities relative to the workings of Nigeria's Presidency thereby demonstrating the ideational function of language, the texts are highly ideological and interestingly their ideologies are threaded through linguistic form and choice. Thus, it demonstrates that Critical Stylistics is a viable model to analyse texts with underlying ideologies, using stylistic tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines appraisal resources deployed by Nigerian online community to air their views, construe attitudinal meanings and steer public perception about the representations of presidential candidates during the 2015 election. Data were drawn from the WhatsApp broadcast messages of these online users on the representations of the two key contenders during this period namely, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The study applies the tenets of appraisal theory. The study reveals that in appropriating evaluative strategies, online text producers inscribe and invoke negative and positive instantiations to portray an ideological stance about the contenders. The study concludes that WhatsApp provides suitable platform for Nigerian electorate to challenge bad governance, monitor the unfolding events in the nation, actively participate in the Nigeria's nascent democracy and serve as change agents in 2015, and suggests that adequate attention should be paid to interrogating the evaluative strategies citizens appropriate during electoral processes to act as the social conscience of the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines aspects of Nigeria’s Niger Delta conflict through a close reading of Ahmed Yerima’s play, Hard Ground, which explores and exploits the endemic unreliability and slipperiness of meaning as a way of understanding the conflict. The article analyses some of the vexed issues that come to the fore in the conflict between ethnic identities/loyalties and national interest which forms the background to the play. The article is informed by the poststructuralist approach to literature, showing how such an approach can be useful for bringing to the surface political tensions in a text. In so doing, it attempts a stylistic analysis of certain schemes and tropes in the play, demonstrating how these sometimes justify and at other times attempt to regulate the conflict of identities. Hence, the deconstructive reading of the text attempts to unpack fragmentations of meaning in the conflict rhetoric to reveal the commodification of language as site of struggle in the Niger Delta conflict. The study further shows the place of drama as a useful tool for addressing pressing sociopolitical issues that touch on leadership question, responsive governance and enduring conflict resolution strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the semiotic resources deployed in resisting negative stereotypes of Nigeria in the international community, particularly representations of the country in the Western media. Data for the study were drawn from Nigeria’s Heart of Africa nation branding campaign. The study applies the discourse-historical approach (DHA) pioneered by Ruth Wodak of the Vienna School of CDA. DHA attempts to integrate much available knowledge about the historical sources and the background of the social and political fields in which discursive events are embedded. Further applying Reisigl and Wodak's presentation of the discursive strategies normally oriented towards understanding texts related to nations and national identities, among others, the study reveals that in appropriating the semiotic resources in the campaign, the discourse producers have predilection for the discursive strategies of mitigating negative attributes which the out-group intensifies, and highlighting positive attributes which the out-group seemingly under-reports in its representations of Nigeria. Notwithstanding the rhetorical dynamics of the semiotic resources, the study concludes that enduring national image management thrives on creating new images and associations lived by a country’s citizens rather than tries to refute old ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the rhetoric of power resistance of the opposition party in Southwestern Nigeria against the ruling party at the federal level, drawing upon the 26th November 2010 inaugural speech of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State. Applying the tools of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) expounded in Fairclough's (1992) social theory of discourse, the paper examines how the rhetor configures the nullity of the suppressive 'instruments of federal power' on the political will, culture and structure of the Southwest (the then acclaimed political enclave of the opposition in Nigeria's party politics). The paper further examines the rhetor's configuration of the ruling party as being 'reactionary' in contrast to the 'progressive' orientation of the opposition party. In doing so, the resistance discourse celebrates the philosophy of 'Awoism' - the social and political teachings of Obafemi Awolowo about good governance - on which the acclaimed progressive principles of the opposition are anchored. The study reveals that contest for the acquisition and retention of power by the ruling party and the opposition still largely dominates the trajectory of rhetoric in contemporary Nigerian politics as opposed to the increase of rhetoric of social and political commitment whereby enduring ideological formations and sound policy issues define the development of coveted democratic ideals in Africa's political landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts geared towards effective knowledge production in most African states have suffered grave setbacks owing to their extreme reliance on foreign languages to mobilise the people for national development. Apparently, citizenship education does not take cognizance of the social realities and the low level of education in Africa, as the predominant use of foreign languages has excluded the majority of the African people, who use only their indigenous languages, from national development processes. Consequently, a gulf is created between the vision of the leadership and the aspirations/willpower of the populace. To redress this unwholesome trend in twenty-first-century Africa, this article calls for a pan-African orientation that prides itself on deploying African indigenous languages for mass mobilisation. Drawing on the Nigerian experience of propagating citizenship education, the paper appraises government sensitisation drives on issues such as the country's re/branding project, political socialisation, safety practices of food/drug consumption and environmental sustainability. It is the contention of this paper that in order to bridge the knowledge gap between the elite and the unlettered, there should be an aggressive paradigm shift towards using indigenous African languages to mediate and negotiate government-citizenry transactions for the evolvement of the personally responsible, participatory and justiceoriented African citizen [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the manifestos prepared by some candidates aspiring for the post of Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife, Nigeria, between 1999 and 2000. It examines the appropriation of rhetorical tactics by the aspirants to impress upon the target audience that they possess the ability to clearly decipher the problems of the university and determine the required antidote. The study focuses on two major issues that are recurrent in the discourse: the challenges facing the university at the turn of the twenty-first century and the kind of leadership that the university would desire to stem the tide. It adopts Aristotle's model of rhetoric to analyse the discursive practices of the respective candidates relative to these key issues. It reveals that although the candidates address the same range of subjects, they still, at some point, employ varied rhetorical appeals to manipulate the target audience. Such appeals generally, however, still fall within the range of the rhetoric of political campaign, but they are strategically chosen to reflect the context of the discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the devastating consequences of Liberia's fourteen-year civil war for the people and the country at large, the task of mobilising the people and reinforcing their commitment to the cause of nation (re)building rests not only on the leader's vision but also on how they expressly share the vision with their followers. This paper examines how President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf tailors certain rhetorical strategies in her first inaugural speech of 16th January 2006 to tuning up the Liberian people's mindset to embrace her vision and imbibe the attitude necessary for the attainment of social and political goals in post-war Liberia. Applying the principles of the socio-cognitive model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as espoused by van Dijk (2006) to the analysis of the text of the inaugural address, the study interrogates the manipulative nature of the discourse even when it appears that the speaker is mobilising the people for a common goal. The study observes that the asymmetrical relations between the political public speaker and the audience offer the former the latitude to exercise some kind of control on the latter on issues of social representations such as knowledge and ideologies in political processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the semiotic resources of gender representations. Finding the prototype of sexist talk dramatised in Ola Rotimi's Man Talk, Woman Talk (2006. In Four One-Act Plays. Ibadan: University Press PLC), it attempts a re/reading of the dramatic text with a view to interpreting the characters' actions-cum-rhetoric. Considering that meaning in the discourse is created through complex semiotic interactions of high cultural values and significance, the paper adopts a social semiotic analytical framework which puts a premium on how people regulate the use of semiotic resources in the context of specific social situations and practices. Hence, it analyses verbal and nonverbal signifiers invoked by the characters to enact gender stereotypes. The analysis reveals that the playwright could have deployed the signifiers to make a statement on the absurdity of sexism. Hence, his biting satiric thrust in the play which bestrides the eccentricity of both genders calls for a re-assessment of gender relations for peaceful co-existence in a chauvinistic society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the hegemonic influence of foreign languages like English and French, African languages in these modern times are being marginalized in terms of acquisition, learning and use. Drawing on the linguistic situation in southwestern Nigeria, this article sheds light on three major domains: education, religion and the media, where there is gross disuse of the indigenous language, Yoruba, in favour of English. This development creates the impression that although researchers in African linguistics have taken great strides in the description of the indigenous languages at all levels, the contributions and findings from their intellectual efforts have not imparted considerably on the larger society. As such, there seem to be missing links between linguistic theorizing/modeling in academic papers/blueprints and the trajectory of African linguistics-cum-development. To ensure the survival of African languages, this study challenges researchers in African linguistics to adopt a holistic approach which, according to Jibril (2007), should be a combination of action research, advocacy and activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper invites attention to language (ab)use evident in the lexico-semantic constructions and reconstructions that are tactically deployed to configure and, more often than not, to conceal Nigeria's debased value system. It discusses some linguistic choices in relation to the major facets of the situation, namely labour and productivity, security, social life and politics. The article acknowledges the fact that the depravity of Nigeria's social order is alarming and unhealthy for national development and, to this effect, has been the subject of many discourses. But it contends that the linguistic options that Nigerians use to code all kinds of unacceptable behaviour are as threatening to the cause of national development as the practices themselves. Therefore, this study posits that any crusade that is geared towards sanitizing the Nigerian society should not be directed only at the manifestations of the country's perverse world-view but also at the linguistic expressions that serve as their 'life support' system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]