Demystifying the Labyrynth of The Delta: An Ecolinguistic Appraisal of Selected Poems of Tanure Ojaide

Moshood Zakariyah; Mariam Olugbodi

doi:10.24036/ell.v12i4.125495

Demystifying the Labyrynth of The Delta: An Ecolinguistic Appraisal of Selected Poems of Tanure Ojaide

Moshood Zakariyah⁽¹⁾, Mariam Olugbodi⁽²⁾,
(1) Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria

Nigeria
(2) Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria

Nigeria

Corresponding Author
Copyright (c) 2024 Moshood Zakariyah, Mariam Olugbodi

DOI : https://doi.org/10.24036/ell.v12i4.125495

Full Text:

Language : en

Abstract

Abstract

Ecological issues in the context of Niger-Delta, Nigeria have been approached mostly from the perspective of environmental degradation, and marginalisation in previous studies. However, in literary pieces, which are mostly the dominant objects of analysis in those studies, there are underlying linguistic imports, which are reflexive of the beauty of the literary discourses revolving around the Niger-Delta environment. It is based on this backdrop that this study sets out to examine selected poems of Tanure Ojaide from an ecolinguistic perspective. To achieve the aim of the study, five poems are selected purposively from Ojaide’s Songs of Myself and analysed using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to data analysis. The data is also examined using the Eco-critical Discourse Analysis (EDA) approach. The findings from the study reveal the use of rhetorical devices to converge towards emphasising the beauty of the ecological characteristics of the physical environment. The use of imagery by the poet draws on readers’ socio-cognitive instincts towards the appealing to their emotive senses. In conclusion, the use of the eco-linguistic approach to examine the poems has not only revealed the poet’s intents but has also demystified the myth behind the ecosystem of the Niger Delta.

Keywords

Ecology, Aesthetics, Niger-Delta, Poetry

References

Abba, A.A. and Onyemachi, N. D. (2020). Weeping in the Face of Fortune: Eco-Alienation in the Niger Delta Ecopoetics.

Ahmadipur, T. (2011). An introduction to ecolinguistics. Human and Environment. 17, 11-32.

Alexander, R. J. (2009). Framing discourse on the environment: A critical discourse approach. New York: Routledge.

Alexander, R. J. (2018). Investigating texts about environmental degradation using critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistic techniques. In A. F. Fill & H.Penz (eds.), The Routledge handbook of ecolinguistics, pp. 196–210. London: Routledge.

Alexander, R. & Stibbe, A. (2014). From the analysis of ecological discourse to the ecological analysis of language. Language Sciences 41. 104–110. Doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2013.08.011

Couto, H. H. (2014). Ecological approaches in linguistics: A historical overview. Language Sciences, 41, 122-128. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2013.08.001.

Couto, H. H.. (2018). Ecosystemic linguistics. In A. F. Fill & H. Penz (eds.), The Routledge handbook of ecolinguistics, pp. 149–161. New York:Routledge.

Couto, H. H., Elza, K., do Couto, N. N. & Anderson, N. D. (2021). Ecosystemic discourse analysis (EDA). Ecolinguística: Revista Brasileira de Ecologia e Linguagem (ECO- REBEL), 7(1). 5–17. URl: https://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/handle/ri/21713.

Fill, A. (1998). Ecolinguistics: State of the art 1998. AAA: Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 3-16.

Fill, A., & Mühlhäusler, P. (eds.), The Ecolinguistics Reader: Language, Ecology and Environment. London: Continuum, pp. 175–202 (Reprint of Halliday, 1990).

Fill, A. & Mühlhäusler, P. (2001). The ecolinguistics reader: Language, ecology and environment. London: Continuum.

Fill, A., Penz, H. & Trampe, W. (2002). Colourful Green Ideas. Peter Lang, Bern.

Finke, P., (2001). Identity and manifoldness. new perspectives in science, language and politics. In: Fill, A., Mühlhäusler, P. (Eds.), The Ecolinguistics Reader,Language, Ecology and Environment.

Continuum, London, pp. 84–90.

Halliday, M. A. K. (1990). New ways of meaning: The challenge to applied linguistics. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6. 7–36.10. DOI:10.13.140/RG.2.2.26421.52969.

Halliday, M. A. K. (2001). New ways of meaning: The challenge to applied linguistics. In Alwin Fill & Peter Mühlhäusler (eds.), The ecolinguistics reader: Language, ecology and environment, pp. 175–202. London: Continuum.

Huang, G. (2017). One assumption and three principles for ecological analysis of discourse and behavior. Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 49(6). 880–889.

Haugen, E. (1972). The ecology of language. In: Dil, Anwar S. (ed.), The Ecology of Language: Essays by Einar Haugen. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 325–339.

IEA (2018). The International Ecolinguistics Association. http://ecolinguisticsassociation.org. Retrieved 2018-09-26.

Inyang, U. E and Orhero, M. I. (2020). The Saro-Wiwa Motif in Niger Delta Poetry. Abraka Humanities Review, 10 (1),

Missihoun, H. (2019). “Environmental activism and poetry: Tanure Ojaide’s the Tale of the Harmattan” in Tanure Ojaide: Life, Literature and the Environment (Essays). USA: Circus World Press.

Mühlhäusler, P. (2000a). Humboldt, Whorf and the roots of ecolinguistics. In: M. Pütz & M. Verspoor (eds.), Explorations in Linguistic Relativity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 89–99.

Mühlhäusler, P. (2000b). Language planning and language ecology. Current Issues in Language Planning, 1(3), 306-367. DOI:10.1080/14664200008668011.

Mühlhäusler, P. (2002). Ecology of languages. In: R.B. Kaplan (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics, (pp. 374–387). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mühlhäusler, P. (2003). Language of Environment – Environment of Language: A Course in Ecolinguistics. London: Battlebridge.

Mühlhäusler, P., & Fill, A. (2001). The Ecolinguistics Reader: Language, Ecology and Environment. London and New York: Continuum.

Mühlhäusler, P., & Peace, A. (2006). Environmental discourses. Annual Review of Anthropology, 35(1), 457-479. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123203.

Nash, J. (2011). Norfolk Island, South Pacific: An empirical ecolinguistic case study. Journal of the Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association, 2011(116), 83-97. DOI: 10.1179/0001279118047752333.

Nash, J. (2015). Placenames and ecolinguistics: Some considerations for toponymists. AAA: Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 40 (1-2), 99-103. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24722041.

Nash, J. (2016). Toponymy, drawing, and representing place: A comment on James Cantrill’s “On Seeing ‘Places’”. Environmental Communication, 10(5), 671-676. DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2016.1183504.

Nash, J., & Mühlhäusler, P. (2014). Linking language and the

environment: The case of Norf’k and Norfolk Island. Language Sciences, 41(Part A), 26-33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2013.08.004..

Ohwavworhua (2022) titled “Ecological Injustice and Solidarity in the Poetry of Selected Niger-Delta Poets”. https://www.reserchgate.net 364355886.

Ojaide, T. (2015). Songs of myself: Quartet. Ibadan: Krafts Book Limited.

Ononye, C. & Chiluwa, I. (2023). There is still something positive about

the Niger-Delta ecology. Metaphor and ideology in the Niger-Delta poetic discourse. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics.

Poole, R. (2022). Corpus-assisted ecolinguistics. London: Bloomsbury.

Stibbe, A. 2018. Positive discourse analysis. In A. F. Fill & H. Penz (eds.), The Routledge handbook of ecolinguistics, pp. 165–178. New York: Routledge.

Stibbe, A. (2015). Ecolinguistics: Language, ecology and the stories we live by. London and New York: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781315718071.

Sule, E. E. (2015). Nature and environmentalism of the poor: Eco-poetry from the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. Journal of African Cultural Studies, I28(1), 1-12. DOI: 10.1080/13696815.2015.1083848.

Udumukwu, O. (2019). Trembling in the bsalance: Liminalty and nationess in Tanure Ojaide’s Poetry. In O. Onookome & Gomba, O. (eds.), Life, literature and the environment: Essays on Tanure Ojaide. USA: Cissus World Press Limited.