Speech and Ideologies of Nigerian Women in Works of Nwapa and Adimora-Ezeigbo: Pragmatic-Stylistic Study

Abstract

Abstract In human communication, language has served as a social product used for the accomplishment of certain desirable goals and actions. Similarly, it has been used in presenting and deciphering the ideological patterns and perceptions of humans, in both spoken and written discourses, with the aim of achieving an intended message. The study attempts to use language to project the intrinsic and outer feelings of women, in relation to their experiences with societal ideologies. In the African context, specifically in the Nigerian society; women are labeled with a self- effacing identity and second class status which relegate them to the background. This societal attitude of scum about women in all spheres of life, as the vulnerable and weaker sex; has permeated the psyche of the Nigerian women, that they have gradually accepted this ideology and have overtly and covertly(by words and actions) contributed to their subjugation and dominance in the society. Four novels written by two Nigerian female authors- Flora Nwapa and Akachi Adimora Ezigbo- have been used as the primary data for the work, with a view to projecting the ideological perceptions of women, based on these two female authors. It also adopts an eclectic theoretical framework of speech act and critical discourse analysis. The writers’ style of language in the texts was also considered to give the work, a pragmatic- stylistic essence. The result shows that Nigerian women have contributed to male dominance, especially by their linguistic nuances and dispositions which project them as weak and second class. It suggests that women should first convince themselves of their uniqueness, sensitize themselves mentally that they are not inferior to their male counterparts; and then assert themselves through their linguistic nuances and dispositions, to rightly assume their significant roles as partners in societal development.