AN EXAMINATION OF LINGUISTIC ELEMENTS OF BILINGUALISM IN ALIYU KAMAL’S LIFE AFRESH

Mohammed  Sheriff; Clifford  Gbeyonron Irikefe

doi:10.34118/ajsssr.v6i2.2826

Mohammed Sheriff Federal University Dutse
Clifford Gbeyonron Irikefe Yobe State University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34118/ajsssr.v6i2.2826

Keywords: transliteration, lexical insertion, lexical borrowing, primary source, bilingual, pragmatic transfer

Abstract

This paper attempted to analyse linguistic elements born by the bilingual expertise of the author of the novel ‘Life Afresh’, based on three headings: transliteration, lexical insertion and lexical borrowing. The study adopted, as its method of data collection, careful perusal of the primary source with the aim to identifying the related linguistic elements of the headings mentioned above that served to anchor the research paper. Other printed materials were also consulted in the course of collecting the data for the study. The purely content and text analysis applied in explication of the data sourced from the text was restricted within the three headings. This was to arrive at a reliable conclusion whether or not the novelist applies mixed presentation in order to get the message relayed to a wide coverage of the target audience, and to deviate from some literary styles of writing so as to create a sociolinguistic picture or form English is taking especially in places where it is not native. The study provided that the author uses expressions that are purely Hausa via English words. These forms of expressions cannot be easily understood by someone who does not understand Hausa because they are products of pragmatic transfer. The paper concluded that the author employs words from his first language, hence L1 and some linguistic expressions of the L1 while using his second language, hence L2 as medium of transmission. The study finally recommends that similar studies of literary text be conducted in order to bring to light the linguitic expertise of weaving expressions usually created by products of bilingual acumen

References

Achebe, C. (1975). Morning Yet on Creation Day. London: Heinemann.
Adeseke, A. E. (2016). "African Literature (Drama) and the Language Issue", Social Review, Volume 2 Issue I. ISSN 2528-6825
Buttar, K. H. (1997). The Assessment of bilingual children’s reading comprehension: [unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Durham.
Cummins, J. (1981a). Bilingualism and minority language children . The Ontario Institute of Studies in Education. Toronto.
Crystal, D. (2008). A Dictionary of linguistics and phonetics 6th ed: Blackwell Publishing.
Dare, O. (2012). The domestication of the English language for literary purpose in Nigeria: creating a national identity. International journal of Social Science and Humanity. Vol. 2 No. 6.
Dognino, A. (2015). “Do bilingual writers write differently?”: bilingualism cross the lifespan. 11th Annual Symposium Centre for Intercultural Language Studies (CILS), the University of British, Columbia.
Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Feghali, M. (1938). Proverbs et dictions syro-libnais. Paris: Institut d’ Ethnologie.
Holmes, J. (2008). An introduction to sociolinguistics 3rd ed: Pearson Education Limited.
Inez, B. (2004). “Multiculturalism, globalisation and wordliness: origin and destination of the text. Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature.
Jibrin, S.M. (2012). A systemic text linguistic study of selected Nigerian novels: (unpublished PhD thesis). Department of English and Literary Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Latilo, T. A & Beckley, A.T. (2016). Essential English language for senior secondary schools. Tonad Publishers Limited. Ibafo, Ogun- Nigeria.
Linda, F. & Roger, F. (2006). Dictionary of idioms and their origins. Kyle Cathine Limited. (UK).
Tej, K. B. & William C. R. (2004). The handbook of bilingualism: Blackwell Publishing Limited.
Tucker, G. R. (2001). A global perspective on bilingualism and bilingual education. Georgetown University Press.
Yeibo, E. (2011). Nativisation of English in African texts: A lexico-semantic study of transliteration in Gabriel Okara’s “The Voice”. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences.