Gender stereotyping in Ola Rotimi's Man Talk, Woman Talk A social semiotic reading.

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]