EXPLORING THE VIOLENCE OF LANHUAGE IN AHMED YERIMA'S MOJAGBE

Back to Page Authors: Oluwasuji Olutoba Gboyega

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Keywords: language, violence, African literature, power and status negotiation

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Abstract: Language is a matter of feminist concern owing to its potential for violence and violation. Feminist scholars such as Murray (2010), Mills (2008), Schwalbe (2000) and Kirkwood (1993) stress the importance of language in constructing gender identities and negotiating status hierarchies. They all discuss language as a strategy for gaining power and status in social integration through depriving, violating, denigrating, threatening or insulting others. Language in this regard can be used to avoid responsibility for an action thereby deflecting its subject to another. Previous studies aver that linguistic violence can result to objectification, degradation and tearing down of the dignity of the opposite sex. It is from this perspective that this paper will explore the violence of language in Ahmed Yerima's Mojagbe. The paper will interrogate the level at which both masculine and feminine can be at the receiving end of abuse in the community. The discourse is about how both genders inflict violence on each other through language use.

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