Attention of language scholars has been shifting from the structural pattern of language to language as a functional unit given the change of interest from the form of a language to its function. This study presents a stylistic analysis of a well-known poem by David Diop “Africa” and analyses the unique role that language plays in projecting the central theme of the poem. The poem Africa is one of the poems that laments the ill treatments that Africa suffered in the hands of its colonialists, but which quickly paints a picture of hope for the continent. The researchers used foregrounding both as a stylistic theory and a method to analyse the poem so as to investigate how linguistic deviations and parallel structures are employed to project the central theme of the poem. The study revealed that both linguistic deviations and parallel structures as well as figurative expressions abound in the poem. These linguistic tools have, in no doubt, contributed immensely to the projection of the overall meaning of the poem – Africa’s past glories, present predicaments of suffering and humiliation under colonialism and the future of hope and freedom embedded in Africa’s rebirth. The study concludes that language and literary works contribute in a unified manner to expose the rots in society and then project a future of hope. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0876/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

The study explores creativity and innovation in the song (music video) ‘Imagine Say,’ by Imrana, a young Ghanaian musician. Adopting various theories and principles of Stylistics, the study identifies such creativity and innovation as parallelism, deviation, contrast, and other figures of speech, and what they foreground, in order to examine how effectively they contribute to the overall meaning and message of the song. The result indicates that the artiste adopts multimodality to express the meaning and message of the song. The diction, background scenes and chorus, sound effects, personification, repetition Parallelism, deviation, metaphor, and other figures of speech highlight the theme and meaning of the song, and thus help the audience to get the message – Discrimination and injustice against those who come from the streets (the poor and vulnerable) must cease. It is not by choice that they come from the streets; coming from the street does not make one a criminal; if any street person can be charged for any crime s/he must be given a fair hearing at a court of competent jurisdiction, rather than subjecting him/her to mob/instant justice.

The research looked at the illuminatingly obscure nature of the proverb related to the people of AnhwiaNsensanso in the Kwabere East District of Asante. A descriptive survey of ten selected Asante proverbs was used. The purpose of the study was to use AhwiaNsensanso as a case study to examine how the proverb is humorously illuminating, yet insulting. A qualitative approach was employed to access and describe the related views concerning the use of Asante proverbs. It was informed by the theories of Humour, Pragmatics and Feminism. The main finding of the study indicated that Asante proverbs capitalize on culture and tradition to humorously tease and denigrate women sexually. It was observed that this is done without regard to gender constructions that seek to remedy the imbalances created in our contemporary African society. It is recommended by this study that for the contemporary African society to succeed in the application of prescribed gender constructions put in place by the feminist function, a serious survey must be done to address rules that support those utterances in Asante proverbs that are shockingly vulgar. This is because they serve to put women back into a position fought already by gender activists.

The study focused on ascertaining the phonological processes that characterize the speech patterns of some selected preschool children. Data was collected from a sample of ten (10) pupils from ages 1-5 spanning the accepted age range for pupils to be in preschool in Ghana. Productions of the participants on words were recorded and later analyzed to determine the phonological processes present. It was found that the phonological processes that characterized the speech of the sample are syllable structure processes (e.g. cluster reduction); substitutions; and insertions. Further, it was found that age has a role to play in the presence of phonological processes in the speech of an individual. It was found however that some of the pupils were able to correctly articulate sounds when they were repeated to them. The study recommends that this study be extended to other school children in the country as well as teachers and other stakeholders towards ensuring the school-going children learn English pronunciation the right way. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0897/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>