A Corpus-based Lexical Study of Sermons in Nigeria

Esimaje, Alexandra Uzoaku

doi:10.5539/elt.v5n9p24

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Since the LL values of linguistic features in the lists are influenced by the sizes of the corpora analyzed, the actual LL values or the associated probability values are not appropriate as cutoff points (e.g. Esimaje, 2012). One potential method called Top N may be applicable to set the thresholds; however, it is unclear to identify the N value and it may involve subjective decisions in order to identify the N value (e.g.…”

Section: Thresholdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinguishing the Language of Destructive Cults from the Language of Mainstream Religion: Corpus Analyses of Sermons

T. Palayon,

Watson Todd,

Vungthong

2022

rEFLections

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The language of religious leaders expressed in their sermons characterizes the social characteristics of their groups. Over the past decades, most studies into cults specifically destructive cults and mainstream religion have mainly focused on their social-psychological characteristics with limited applicability to other religious groups. In this study, corpus-based methods were applied to the sermons of the leaders of two destructive cults (namely, Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones and Heaven’s Gate led by Marshall Applewhite) and the sermons of mainstream religious groups represented by Baptist preachers to distinguish the language between dangerous and beneficial religious groups based on the patterns of key linguistic features. The methodological process includes keyness analyses (namely, keyword analysis, key semantic tag analysis, and key part-of-speech analysis) and multidimensional analysis. The results from a keyness perspective show that the destructive cult sermons promote non-religious concepts with the use of othering, intensification, and strong elaboration. For the mainstream sermons, they uphold religious concepts for life development with the use of personal involvement and moderate elaboration. The results from a text dimension perspective show that the language of destructive cults and the language of mainstream religion displayed in their sermons are both persuasive and elaborative. However, the language of destructive cults is more persuasive and elaborative than the language of mainstream religion. The findings may serve as a basis for how to recognize the potential detrimental and beneficial characteristics of religious groups based on their language.

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Section: Thresholdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinguishing the Language of Destructive Cults from the Language of Mainstream Religion: Corpus Analyses of Sermons

T. Palayon,

Watson Todd,

Vungthong

2022

rEFLections

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“…Several works have been carried out on language use in Christian religious activities in general and Christian sermons in particular. These include Akhimien and Farotimi (2018), Ajayi (2017), Anyanwu et al (2016), Ugot and Offiong (2013), Mekiluwa (2010a and2010b), Esimaje (2012), and Awonuga and Chimuanya (2016), among others. Adedun and Mekiluwa (2010a) investigate the operation of cooperative principles in a Nigerian Christian sermon with the aim of establishing how meaning is conveyed and interpreted in sermonic discourse.…”

Section: Review Of Relevant Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Generic structure potential analysis of Christian street evangelism in Southwestern Nigeria

Ajayi

2020

INK

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Christian street evangelism is one of the Bible-based doctrinal practices found among Nigerian Christians, especially in Southwestern Nigeria. Studies have examined language use in Christian activities, including sermons in church services, at funerals and in marriage ceremonies. However, no scholarly attention has been paid to a linguistic description of language use in Christian street evangelism, which, although sit hares some features with other contexts of Christian activities, manifests some elements that characteristically define it within the series of Christian evangelistic activities. This study, therefore, is a generic structural potential analysis of Christian street evangelism in Southwestern Nigeria. Data were gathered using ethnographic techniques. Data comprised fifteen observed street evangelism activities randomly sampled in different cities in Southwestern Nigeria. Data were subjected to discourse analysis within the purview of Halliday and Hassan’s (1985) Generic Structure Potential (GSP) theory. Findings reveal Christian street evangelism features five obligatory elements: songs, greetings, sermon, prayer and finis; and three optional elements: declaration of purpose, call for confession, and welcome to the fold.

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“…Nigeria is a multi-religious, cultural, tribal and linguistic entity; religion plays a prominent role (Esimaje, 2012) in the socio-political life of the country. Researchers such as Grundy (2008), LoCastro (2012), Odebunmi (2009), Culpeper (2011a, etc.…”

Section: Linguistic Background Of the Muslim Sermons In Nigeriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Im/politeness in Muslim Discourse: A Study of Nigerian Friday Sermons

Kareem¹

2018

IJLC

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This paper investigated the use of im/politeness in Muslim sermons or Khutbahs. The study attempts to show that the Muslim sermon, in its aim to impart various types of religious information to the congregation, is a communicative event that is capable of generating ill-feelings among its various audiences. The Imam is thus expected to make strategic use of politeness elements in his delivery or risk compromising the efficacy of the sermon. To identify these elements, a modified version of Brown and Levinson's (1987) model of politeness was used as an analytical framework. Using naturally occurring data collected from Friday sermons, the study shows that the Imams used several politeness strategies identified in the Brown and Levinson model. Furthermore, the inclusion of data comprising sermons delivered in Yorùbá adduced evidence of the influence of the Yorùbá culture in the linguistic politeness practices of the Imams. In addition, it is shown that although the Imams used the traditional Face Threatening Acts (FTAs), these largely amount to ‗conventional aggression' (Harris, 2001)or ‗unmarked FTAs' (Dynel 2015). The study concluded that the Imams were characteristically polite in their delivery, and politeness is an important feature in a religious discourse such as the Friday sermon.

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A Corpus-based Lexical Study of Sermons in Nigeria

Cited by 8 publications

References 11 publications

Distinguishing the Language of Destructive Cults from the Language of Mainstream Religion: Corpus Analyses of Sermons

Distinguishing the Language of Destructive Cults from the Language of Mainstream Religion: Corpus Analyses of Sermons

Generic structure potential analysis of Christian street evangelism in Southwestern Nigeria

Im/politeness in Muslim Discourse: A Study of Nigerian Friday Sermons

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