Proposed Twenty-Seventh Letter of English Alphabet to Replace the Digraph ‘SH.’

This paper has interrogated the existence of the twenty-six letters in the English alphabet as currently being employed and has concluded that the twenty-six letters have been around for far too long without acceptable addition. The need for expansion has therefore arisen in the light of achieving space conservation when writing and printing hard copies of documents. The paper disagrees with the presentation of the ampersand ‘&’ as the twenty-seventh letter of the English alphabet instead it has proposed being the hybrid resulting from letters ‘s’ and ‘h’ as the twenty-seventh letter. It concluded by recommending the evolution of appropriate letters for other consonant digraphs and trigraphs. This may help in phonological deepening.

The Syllable Structure of Tiv

Linguistic studies reveal that every language has a particular way of combining its sounds to form words or parts of words called syllables. The paper looks at the syllable structure of the Tiv language, one of the Bantoid languages spoken mostly in the Middle Belt area of Nigeria, especially in Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa and Cross River states of Nigeria. The objective of the study is to investigate the internal structure of syllables in the Tiv language in order to establish the regularities and restrictions inherent in the language. The study, therefore, aims at ascertaining the syllable patterns that are found in Tiv. This study adopts qualitative and analytical research design using the C V tier model of the phonological theory of syllable analysis as proposed by McCarthy (1979) and adopted by Clements and Keyser (1983), to explicate the permissible patterns of syllable structures in Tiv. Data for the study were gathered from native speakers of Tiv, whose language has not been corrupted by urbanisation and the researchers' intuitive knowledge of the Tiv language. It was found out in the study that, some of the permissible syllable structures in Tiv language include vowels and consonants like v, cv, ccv, cccv, cvc. It was also discovered that all the five vowels of the English alphabets may begin or end a syllable in the Tiv language. As found in English and other languages where the sequential occurrence of two or more consonants is termed consonant cluster, the Tiv syllable structure permits two or more consonants at the initial or final positions of the syllable which could occur as onset or coda, but they are not regarded as consonant clusters. They are regarded as co-articulations. The study concludes that Tiv language has a wide range of phonotactic constraints which if studied can contribute to the development of Tiv language.

Optimality Theoretical Approach in Resolving Vocalic Hiatus in Tiv Language

This paper investigates vocalic hiatus resolution strategies in Tiv language. Hiatus is a phonological phenomenon whereby two vowel sounds occur in adjacent syllables with no intervening consonant. It is a dispreferred configuration in many languages but when it inevitably occurs, it is resolved through some of these strategies: epenthesis, vowel assimilation, vowel elision, secondary articulation, vowel coalescence, glide formation and diphthongization. Though there are other hiatus resolution strategies in Tiv, for want of time and space, this paper examines the most common ones: vowel assimilation and vowel elision, as hiatus resolution/repair strategies in Tiv, through the lenses of the Optimality Theory. It adopts a descriptive and analytical research design. The intuitive phonological ability of the researcher and oral interview through purposive sampling were used for eliciting data. Data were presented and analysed in tables. The study establishes the occurrence of vowel hiatus in Tiv. It demonstrates that vocalic hiatus is dispreferred in Tiv as it is in many other languages of the world. The study has shown that Tiv utilises inter-alia vowel assimilation and vowel elision to resolve vowel hiatus. The resolution is meant to ease articulation of Tiv words. Well-formedness of vowel configurations in Tiv was found to be constraint based in which case optimality of a candidate that undergoes repairs through either vowel assimilation or elision is determined by the ranking of the universal constraints that interact in the selection of candidates.

A Discourse Study of Selected Newspaper Headlines on Insurgency in Nigeria

Insurgent activities are so prevalent in Nigeria that the security apparatus finds it very difficult if no almost impossible to curb their excesses. On a daily basis, newspapers are flooded with the wanton destruction of the activities of these elements in the Nigerian society. The headlines of those media reports are therefore selected for analysis in this study. In this study, we draw samples of data, present and group them into number texts and then give a detailed analysis through the application of linguistic tools. We focus the analysis on identifying the linguistic and discourse patterns in the data by using conceptualization and representation as Critical Discourse Analytical and Metaphorical concepts to critically examine the issues in relation to insurgency. Ideological projections are also taken into consideration from both the media practitioners’ perspectives and the militants’ points of view. For easy identification, the data were arranged in terms of their thematic realization and grouped into two broad categories: according to the issues raised and according to the surface as well as underlying meaning realizable in the message. The analysis was presented in relation to the Boko Haram and Niger Delta insurgency in Nigeria. In spite of their differences in terms of ideology and modus operandi, the analysis was done add to the body of literature on the issue.

Culture as an Impediment to Socio-Economic Development in Henry Ole Kulet’s Blossoms of the Savannah

This paper examines how Maasai traditional cultural practices and beliefs in Ole Kulet‘s novel Blossoms of the Savannah hinder socio-economic development. The cultural practices that incumber socio-economic progress has implication on both the immediate Maasai community (as illustrated through Nasila village) and the society at large. In most societies in Africa, traditional and cultural practices inform and influence the daily experiences and behavior of its people. Early marriages and female genital mutilation are practiced in a number of communities across the African continent in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Guinea among others. One of this communities is the Maasai community in Kenya which is the physical setting of Blossoms of the savannah. Some traditional practices among the Maasai are detrimental as is evident in the long-term impact on the psychological, physical and the general wellbeing of its members. This paper focuses on the intertwinement of early marriages, female genital mutilation (FGM), and patriarchy and how they impact the socio-economic development in the society. Early marriages and female genital mutilation practices are socio-economically retrogressive in a 21st century society. These traditional practices and customs have roots in the social, cultural, economic, historical and political discourse encapsulated within the patriarchal structures and realized through gender inequality. This paper therefore focuses on how the traditional practices impede the realization of development in the Maasai community as advanced in Blossoms of the Savannah.

The Essence of Arabic Rhetoric Contributions from Arabic-English Translation

In translation, the target text in general displays fewer linguistic variations than the source text, and its lexical and syntactic patterns incline to be copied, creating interference and standardization of the ST. Is a translation meant for audiences who are unable to comprehend the original text? Or is it saying the same thing again? These questions demonstrate the divergence of the audience in the domain of art. Yet any rendition, which tries to convey the function, cannot transmit anything but essential information. Does this mean that conveying the essential information represents the cause of inferior translation? Does the inferiority come as a result of the transfer of inaccurate content? This is the trademark of translationese. Is it true that traduttore, traditore? Does this really mean a translator is born not made? However, scholars engaged in a heated debate about what is generally regarded as the essential material of a literary work, what it contains in addition to information. Does it mean that we admit that literary work is profound and mysterious? Do we admit that literary work is poetic to the extent that it can only be reproduced by a translator only if he is also a poet? This will be true whenever a translation undertakes to serve its readerships. However, do we blame the translator if the original culture does not exist in the reader’s language and culture? In the present paper, we will attempt to lay a finger on the significance of achieving equivalence in literary translation within cultural implications that may block the translator. A primary of the place is assigned to البلاغة (Arabic rhetoric) as one of the cornerstones of Arabic.