My thesis examines how language is used in political speeches to reproduce opaque power relations, position speakers towards or away from certain people, ideas and political movements and create special identities through the processes of individuation and affiliation, in order to achieve specific objectives. Selected Nigerian leaders' speeches form the data for this study and Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is the guiding theory. The analysis is being conducted using corpus linguistics (CL) for a quantitative analysis and SFL's system of Appraisal for a qualitative analysis. 

 

 

• 2020: An analysis of power, positioning and identity in Yakubu Gowon's 1966 Nigerian coup speech. Paper presented at Hawaii International Conference on English Language and Literature Studies (HICELLS), held at the University of Hawaii, USA, 13/14 March 2020. Awaiting publication.
• 2016: A contrastive analysis of English and Igbo syllable structures and its teaching implications. Awka Journal of Linguistics and Languages (AJILL), Vol. 10.
• 2014: A re-investigation of the concept of word classes through a categorization approach. Journal of Literature and Art Studies Vol. 4 No 11, pp. 990-1000. 
• 2014: Assoh, B.B. & Unegbu O.C. Literature and corruption in Nigeria; An appraisal of Ifeoma Chinweuba's Waiting for Maria. International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies (IJHSS), Vol. 11 Issue IX.