The case of Semantic Ambiguity: English usage in Nigerian politics
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Date
1984
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Publisher
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria
Abstract
This thesis is an attempt at examining the significance of semantic ambiguity to
communication. The work is based on data collected from the political events which
occurred and the speeches that were made during the Nigerian Second Republic (1979 -
1983). The semantic analysis of the data has been done largely in terms of Componential
Analysis.
The thesis reviews the theoretical and attitudinal controversies surrounding the concepts of
semantics and semantic ambiguity. It also examines the implications of these controversies
for a study on communication in an L2 medium in politics. The work also establishes that the
complexity and dynamics of the relationship that exists between language and reality make
the occurrence of semantic ambiguity a linguistic inevitability. It further characterizes
second-language-induced cases of the semantic phenomenon, and reveals that though the
occurrence of semantic ambiguity does not discriminate between L1 and L2 situations of the
use of a language, the incidence of the semantic feature is higher in an L2 situation.
The work suggests that the moral characterizations of semantic ambiguity should be deemphasized
in linguistic studies, as such characterizations more properly belong to the
discipline known as Ethics. It reveals that rather than being a linguistic aberration, semantic
ambiguity is a linguistic normality which, moreover, constitutes a linguistic facility.
Finally, the thesis highlights two potential areas for further research: (1) the semantic
structure of contradiction in the 'interlanguage' of L2 users of English who have Nigerian
languages as their L1s (2) the socio-cultural determination of logic in meaning
Description
252p
Keywords
Semantic, Political, Language, English, Linguistic