A contrastive analysis of language, culture and meaning in the Yoruba and English languages: a modern approach and new perspective

  • Abdullahi-Idiagbon Mohd Sani Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Keywords: Contrastive analysis, English, Yoruba, Culture, Language pedagogy

Abstract

Some aspects of language use  and cultural practices across the English and Yoruba languages are contrastively  discussed. These include patterns and forms of greetings determined by spatio-temporal circumstances such as greetings and naming traditions, among other norms, to ascertain the aspects in which the two languages are alike and in which they differ. Illustrations are provided and differential descriptions offered through interlingual comparison. It was discovered that effective teaching and learning of a language will necessarily have to go beyond the boundary of symbols and language code to a fair knowledge of non-linguistic aspects of language. The paper concludes  that learning a target language will be greatly enhanced and yield valuable results in terms of competence, proficiency, and most importantly, language pedagogy if the language and culture of the first and target languages are simultaneously studied.

Author Biography

Abdullahi-Idiagbon Mohd Sani, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Abdullahi-Idiagbon is a lecturer in the Department of English and Literature at the Federal University Gusau, Nigeria. He has published in local, national and international journals and attended conferences across the globe. His research interests are Discourse Analysis, Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics and Syntax.Email: msidiagbon@gmail.com
Published
2019-09-03
Section
Articles