A Pragmatic Analysis of Features of Nigerian English in the Subtitles of Selected Nigerian Home Videos
Chapter One
Aim and Objectives of the Study
As it has been noticed, the importance of subtitles in Nigerian home videos in transporting Nigerian cultures and conventions across linguistic boundaries in Nigeria and the outside world cannot be overemphasised. That is why it is required that all users (speakers and hearers) of Nigerian English irrespective of their cultural backgrounds share the contextual knowledge of Nigeria as a speech community before the subtitles which are used for interpretations of utterances of characters in Nigerian home videos can be intelligibly comprehended. In relation to this, this study is interested in investigating the effects of the choices that Nigerian home videos producers make while subtitling utterances of characters in their movies on other users of English who follow storylines of the movies through the subtitles. It is also in the interest of the study to:
- identify elements of Nigerian English in the subtitles of Nigerian home
- examine the effect of the Nigerian English features on wider intelligibility using a pragmatic analysis.
- make a distinction between formal and functional uses of Nigerian English as demonstrated in the subtitles of Nigerian home
- explain the importance of context in the interpretation of utterances as subtitled in the Nigerian home
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
As a very important part of this work, this chapter is basically concerned with examinations of related material to the topic under study. In essence, the materials to be reviewed are categorised based on these levels:
- The review on this level will focus on several related works of scholars aroundthe world on pragmatics as a subfield of linguistics with a special attention given to context and its related pragmatic
- Here, literature material on Nigerian English will be incisively
- The review process on this level will include the study of works on Nigerian home
- As a matter of necessity, related literature material on pragmatic parameters for Nigerian English usage as observed in the subtitles of Nigerian home videos will be generally studied.
AN OVERVIEW OF PRAGMATICS
The possibility of providing an all-encompassing definition of pragmatics has been a great challenge to linguists around the world. One reason for this could be traced to the argument on specifying the domains of meaning pragmatics as a sub-field of linguistics covers. As a matter of fact, the definitions of pragmatics we have today have been given by scholars based on different standpoints from which they have considered it to be. In the work of Levinson (1983) however, several definitions of pragmatics as given by notable linguists are reviewed. In reference to his review, these definitions and some other ones outside his work are considered.
Generally, pragmatics has been seen as “the study of language use” (Levinson 1983: 5) but in the earlier work of Morris (1938) it is explained in relation to syntax and semantics as an aspect of semiotics – study of signs. In the distinction he makes, “the formal relation of signs to one another” and the study of the “relations of signs to the objects to which the signs are applicable” are syntax and semantics respectively while pragmatics studies “relation of signs to interpreters.”
In the contributions of Searle, Kiefer and Bierwisch (1980:viii), it is proposed that pragmatics “is one of the words . . . that give impression that something quite specific and technical is being talked about when often in fact it has no clear meaning.” This can be related to the view of Yule (1996:127) on the subject when he says that “pragmatics is the study of „invisible‟ meaning or how we recognize what is meant even when it isn‟t actually said (or written).” The point here is that what “has no clear meaning” or “invisible meaning” is actually the “intended speaker meaning” (Yule 1996:127) – the central interest of pragmatics.
Then, identifying the intended speaker meaning for the purpose of decoding the actual message in an utterance may not be achieved based on a straightforward interpretation, the reason a much more far reaching definition of pragmatics as given by Levinson (1983:25) is of a great value. He says, pragmatics is “the study of the ability of language users to pair sentences with contexts in which they are used.”
This is expatiated on by Denham and Lobeck (2010:331) when they say that the meaning of an utterance “is bound up with the context in which you hear it – where you are, what you are doing, who says it, what kind of experiences you‟ve had, your cultural expectations, and so on.” Specifically, they iterate that “How speaker intention and hearer interpretation affect meaning is the subject of pragmatics, the study of utterance meaning, or how the meanings of the things we say are shaped by context” (pp331). In pragmatics, understanding meaning of an utterance based on the context in which it is made is very important. This is more than grammatical view of the form (syntactic structure) of the language used rather it is highly dependent on „user-oriented‟ view of language use which has to do with how the linguistic elements are used in the context of interaction (Mey 1993:39). Because various aspects of pragmatics deal with different considerations in the study of the phenomenon, each of the major aspects of the discipline and some individuals who have contributed to their propagation are looked into subsequently.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, attention is given to the method by which the research work was carried out. The chapter then comprises sources of data collection, method of data collection and analytical procedure used.
Sources of Data Collection
The sources of data collected for this research are found in selected Nigerian home video cassettes. A few of these cassettes were purchased from video cassette vendors while some were borrowed from colleagues. A total number of six (6) Nigerian Home videos is used for the analysis. Two of these are produced in Hausa, two in Igbo and two in Yoruba languages as listed below:
Hausa
- Macigiya by Haruna,Sani
- Karangiyaby Mu‟azu, Usman
Igbo
- Ebelebe by Calistus,Fred
- Nurse Eliza by Nwabuisi,Uche
Yoruba
- Isese by Olaiya-Okesola,Moji
- Eko Onibaje by Abisogun,Taofiq
Although the films are originally produced in (three of) Nigerian languages as mentioned above, they are all subtitled in English language. The main focus of the research is that while watching the films, relevant utterances in the subtitles are identified.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSES AND DISCUSSIONS
INTRODUCTION
The focus of this chapter is on presentation, analyses and discussion of the data collected for the purpose of this research. In order to achieve this, twenty five utterances which are divided under religious, economic, political/power, socio-cultural, ideological and creativity themes in relation to the Nigerian society are presented here in terms of detailed analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
FINDINGS, SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
This chapter predominantly focuses on the findings this study has been able to make and subsequently provides summary and conclusion on the research.
FINDINGS
This work examined pragmatically elements of Nigerian English in the subtitles of Nigerian home videos. It acknowledges the true existence of Nigerian English and recognises it as a variety in its own right. It is based on the acknowledgement and recognition the work moves on to identify and analyse elements of the form of English in Nigerian home video subtitles. In the light of the above, the following findings were made.
- The study finds out that there are elements of Nigerian English which can hinder comprehension among other speakers of English in Nigerian home videos subtitles. This can be tracedto:
- religious inclination of Nigerians and the Nigerian
- economic situation of Nigeria as a
- socio-cultural values which are unique to Nigeria as a cultural
- political or hegemonic uniqueness of the Nigerian
- reflection of different ethnic ideologies with each peculiar to a linguistic group where it is used in the ethnically heterogeneous Nigerian
- The study finds out that other users of English will need to be able to operate contextually on the social and psychological world view of the Nigerian society in other for them to meaningfully understand the elements of Nigerian English as presented in Nigerian home video
- By extension, the study finds out that in spite of the efforts of the video producers to satisfy their wide audience, other speakers of English who rely solely on the subtitles while viewing Nigerian home videos have been much more confoundedas:
- the use of language in the subtitles comprise both direct and indirect illocutionary forces and this group of viewers do not have adequate knowledge and competencies to derive the indirect illocutionary forces (i.e. producers‟ intended meanings) from their direct illocutionary
- the Nigerian society has its own lexicon adequately represented in the subtitles which alien viewers of the locally produced home videos in some way find difficult to
- The study finds out that the English language, despite its domestication in the Nigerian society is not sufficiently/completely similar to indigenous languages in which the Nigerian videos are originally acted. It is therefore observed that the (English) subtitles do not fully represent the same social reality with the indigenous Nigerian
SUMMARY
This study is on A Pragmatic Analysis of Elements of Nigerian English in the Subtitles of Nigerian Home Videos. It is a five – chapter study. In the first chapter, an introduction on Nigerian English and pragmatics is given with an incisive discussion on background of the study.
The chapter also discusses statement of research problem, aim and objectives, significance of the study and delimitation of the study. Subsequently, chapter two of the work reviews previous works of scholars around the world on pragmatics as a subfield of linguistics with a special attention given to contexts. The chapter also covers literature material on Nigerian English, Nigerian home videos, pragmatic parameters for Nigerian English usage as observed in the subtitles of Nigerian home videos and theoretical framework. Specifically, chapter three comprises methodology which is subdivided into sources of data, method of data collection and the analytical procedure used. The whole of chapter four centres on presentation and analysis of the data. The data are presented from religious, economic, political/power, socio-cultural, ideological and creativity perspectives. Chapter five consists of summary of the entire work and its conclusion.
CONCLUSION
The study is on a Pragmatic Analysis of Elements of Nigerian English in the Subtitles of Selected Nigerian Home Videos. Based on the findings, the study concludes that Nigerian English with its unique elements exists and it is a variety of English in its own right with. The variety has served Nigerian home videos producers as a means to reach a wider audience especially other users of English who do not understand Nigerian languages in which the films are originally produced through subtitles.
From a pragmatic point of view, the study believes that the other users of English may not generally be able to interpret sufficiently utterances they read on the screen from the point of view of the producers based on these users‟ conventional and ideational knowledge of English. However, it will be highly demanded of the group of viewers to share the same socio-cultural contextual knowledge of Nigerians whose languages the videos they view are originally produced.
The study recognises the fact that when understanding is considered in a broad sense anybody who understands English should understand whatever is said in it especially in relation to Banjo‟s Variety III of Nigerian English which is nationally acceptable and internationally intelligible. On the contrary, the study specifically sees understanding as a matter of degree, ranging from minimal understanding to total confusion or understanding. Thus, in order to achieve total understanding rather than total confusion there is a need for other users of English to acquire the pragmatics of Nigerian English as intuitively acquired by producers of Nigerian home videos. It is when this is achieved that those viewers of Nigerian home videos who rely solely on the subtitles will be able to function very well not only in communicative acts in which Nigerian English is used but also in understanding meaningfully the utterances presented in the Nigerian home videos subtitles.
Concisely, the ability of other users of English to understand meaningfully elements of Nigerian English in the utterances presented in Nigerian home videos subtitles is not singularly determined by the variety of English used. Rather, it is basically dependent on degrees of experience, background information, ability to identify necessary speech acts and contextual competences about Nigerian socio-cultural setting shared by other users of English who rely on subtitles while viewing Nigerian home videos and the film owners who produce the subtitles.
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