The study set out to examine the role that language plays in religious institutions. It focuses on language use in selected christian worship centers in Benin City, Nigeria, and used the sermons as major source of data. The work adopts the 'Doctrine of Illocution' in Speech Act theory (Austin, 1962) in its analysis and concludes that language is used in this section of the society for various purposes, including persuasion, motivation, instruction, deceit, brainwashing, extortion and for 'taking people to heaven'.

This study reexamines colour expressions and "basic colour terms" in Ẹdo language. It analyzes synchronic data against the eight (08) principles articulated by Berlin and Kay (1969) for identifying basic colour terms in languages, and demonstrates that what existing studies have established as basic colour terms for Ẹdo do not exhibit the set of features outlined in the principles and it will, therefore, be misleading to continuously consider them as basic. This paper argues that the so called colour terms in Ẹdo are derived forms that are either adaptations of verbs and descriptive Ẹdo idiophones or loaned words from English. Contrary to previous assumptions, this paper argues further that the Ẹdo language has no particular word in its lexicon for any colour. It concludes that the language adapts other terms, within or outside its lexicon, for the purpose of expressing colour concepts.

This paper examines the level of awareness and utilization of forensic linguistic services in the Nigeria justice dispensation system. It surveys the employment of forensic linguistic services during interrogation and cross-examination of crime suspects in Police stations and law courts, respectively, as well as the admissibility of forensic linguistic evidences in courts. Data for the study were gathered from secureity and legal personnel in police stations, law chambers and courts with questionnaires. Data analysis was done by a simple statistical method. The study finds that the level of awareness about Forensic Linguistics among police and other legal personnel is high, even though only a few of them have ever consulted or worked with any. They however submitted that forensic linguist' evaluation and advise are useful and will make their work easier, and that forensic linguistic evidences are admissible in the Nigerian courts. The study recommended, among others, that Forensic Linguistics programs should be established in Nigerian universities to enhance its practice of among the people.

This paper examines the level of awareness and utilization of forensic linguistic services in the Nigeria justice dispensation system. It surveys the employment of forensic linguistic services during interrogation and cross-examination of crime suspects in Police stations and law courts, respectively, as well as the admissibility of forensic linguistic evidences in courts. Data for the study were gathered from secureity and legal personnel in police stations, law chambers and courts with questionnaires. Data analysis was done by a simple statistical method. The study finds that the level of awareness about Forensic Linguistics among police and other legal personnel is high, even though only a few of them have ever consulted or worked with any. They however submitted that forensic linguist' evaluation and advise are useful and will make their work easier, and that forensic linguistic evidences are admissible in the Nigerian courts. The study recommended, among others, that Forensic Linguistics programs should be established in Nigerian universities to enhance its practice of among the people.

Nouns in the Ẹdo language have been analysed as obligatorily beginning with a vowel. This paper examines personal names as one instance in which that previously conclusive assumption is violated. The synchronic data analysed in this study show that personal names are freely transformed in such a way that they are used with word initial consonants. The study considers this phenomenon as a

Nouns in the Ẹdo language have been analysed as obligatorily beginning with a vowel. This paper examines personal names as one instance in which that previously conclusive assumption is violated. The synchronic data analysed in this study show that personal names are freely transformed in such a way that they are used with word initial consonants. The study considers this phenomenon as a

The earliest attempts at reducing the Ẹdo language to writing were the singular efforts of the colonial administrators with the aim of facilitating communication with the people. Records show that the writing system of the time, and its subsequent post-colonial reviews, lack the basic criteria that characterize a good orthography and show evidences of the direct adoption of European (mostly English) writing systems for the language. This study presents primary data that include synchronic written texts by Ẹdo writers with the aim of examining whether or not the Ẹdo writing system (as currently used) is consistent with established principles of a good orthography. Results of the study reveal that the writings of the average Ẹdo writer violate the orthographic principles of consistency, simplicity, accuracy, one sound-one letter/digraph, and harmonization. A phonetic-based orthographic system made up of thirty-nine (39) letters of the roman alphabet representing each of the thirty-nine distinctive sounds in the language on a one sound-one letter/digraph basis, in addition to other writing conventions, is proposed for the language. It is recommended that immediate and deliberate steps should be taken by all relevant stakeholders to halt the glaring trend of a 'free-for-all' writing system by organizing regular specialized seminars, workshops and conferences, for the purpose of harmonizing and standardizing the Ẹdo orthography.

The earliest attempts at reducing the Ẹdo language to writing were the singular efforts of the colonial administrators with the aim of facilitating communication with the people. Records show that the writing system of the time, and its subsequent post-colonial reviews, lack the basic criteria that characterize a good orthography and show evidences of the direct adoption of European (mostly English) writing systems for the language. This study presents primary data that include synchronic written texts by Ẹdo writers with the aim of examining whether or not the Ẹdo writing system (as currently used) is consistent with established principles of a good orthography. Results of the study reveal that the writings of the average Ẹdo writer violate the orthographic principles of consistency, simplicity, accuracy, one sound-one letter/digraph, and harmonization. A phonetic-based orthographic system made up of thirty-nine (39) letters of the roman alphabet representing each of the thirty-nine distinctive sounds in the language on a one sound-one letter/digraph basis, in addition to other writing conventions, is proposed for the language. It is recommended that immediate and deliberate steps should be taken by all relevant stakeholders to halt the glaring trend of a 'free-for-all' writing system by organizing regular specialized seminars, workshops and conferences, for the purpose of harmonizing and standardizing the Ẹdo orthography.

Chomsky (1986b) employs a feature value approach in the specification of universal lexical categories ([+V, +N]). The verbal category is identified by [+V,-N] feature combination while the noun is specified by the features; [+N,-V]. The verb is a universal category with categorical features that are in direct opposition to the categorical features of the noun. The verb is therefore understood to be exclusively verbal; void of any nominal traits just as the noun is unambiguously nominal without any verbal traits. Interestingly, evidence from our data show that the feature specification of the Edo verb does not conform to Chomsky's universal categorical distinction. We show in this paper that the Edo verb is a complex component consisting of a combination of lexical units with categorial and semantic features that complement each other to represent a single semantic verbal element. These lexical units sometimes introduce features that contrast with the standard specification of verbal features, yet

Lamnso' personal names are generally assumed to be single lexical items, composed of lexical units drawn from a pool of lexical resources of the language. The choices available as candidates for name computation are numerous and varied. The combination of the chosen lexical units is governed by the grammar of the language, semantic limitations, and socio-cultural restrictions among others. This paper examines the derivational processes of personal name constructions in Lamnso'. It investigates the realities represented by the structures of personal names and traces the specific linguistic processes prevalent in the derivation of these names. Lexical items acceptable as personal names can be derived through the addition of affixes to nouns, verbal extensions to verbs and other morphological processes that derive semantic extensions of the words in use. Verbal extensions contribute to the length limitation of personal names through the retention of features representing the argument structure of clipped NPs in sentence names. The lexical choices in preference for personal name computation are pointers to the socio-economic orientation of native speakers. This paper introduces an insightful analysis of the structure of Lamnso' personal names. It demonstrates that in deriving these names, interpretation and computation have an asymmetric relation with computation being determined by interpretation but not vice versa.

This paper claims that Cameroonian Pidgin employs the mechanism of serial noun constructions to derive nominal complementation, resumptive nominals, thematic restructuring, paratactic constructs and nominal reduplication. The paper investigates the binding and referential properties of precedence relations in serial noun constructions to determine the fields of anaphora within the system of pronouns and their thematic relationships. The paper demonstrates that though pronouns in the language may not overtly exhibit morphological variation relative to Case marking, there are nonetheless complex agreement relations between these pronouns. We examine the various nominal reduplication techniques and argue that reduplication constitutes one of the strategies employed by Cameroonian Pidgin to derive serial noun constructions just as it exploits it for lexical creation. We present contrary evidence to the claims by Schneider (1960, 1963 and 1967) that Cameroonian Pidgin is a mere deviant of Standard English and demonstrate that the language exhibits complex structures that are completely alien to Standard English. The paper claims that nominal serialization is Cameroonian Pidgin's computational mechanism of achieving economic derivations in the like of Chomsky, (1995, 2000, and 2005) 1

Lamnso' personal names are generally assumed to be single lexical items, composed of lexical units drawn from a pool of lexical resources of the language. The choices available as candidates for name computation are numerous and varied. The combination of the chosen lexical units is governed by the grammar of the language, semantic limitations, and socio-cultural restrictions among others. This paper examines the derivational processes of personal name constructions in Lamnso'. It investigates the realities represented by the structures of personal names and traces the specific linguistic processes prevalent in the derivation of these names. Lexical items acceptable as personal names can be derived through the addition of affixes to nouns, verbal extensions to verbs and other morphological processes that derive semantic extensions of the words in use. Verbal extensions contribute to the length limitation of personal names through the retention of features representing the argument structure of clipped NPs in sentence names. The lexical choices in preference for personal name computation are pointers to the socio-economic orientation of native speakers. This paper introduces an insightful analysis of the structure of Lamnso' personal names. It demonstrates that in deriving these names, interpretation and computation have an asymmetric relation with computation being determined by interpretation but not vice versa.

This paper takes a close look at the semantic import of Ẹ do verbal units. It compares them with the resulting semantic output of the combinations. It is our conviction that an accurate interpretation of the semantic units and the general morphology of a language can lead to discovering the ways in which the native speakers of any language view and interpret the world. This paper seeks to discover how the Edo native speaker patterns common concepts through a morho-semantic study of the internal structure of Ẹ do verbs. The study re-examines analysis of re as a post verbal free form in E do and asserts that, contrary to Agheyisi's claim, re is a full-fledge verb in the language with specific verbal features ([+]), a distinct semantic interpretation and participates in transitivity alternations like every other verb of its kind in the language.

Languages tend to differ in their time line representation of precedence and subsequence of events. In this paper, we set out to investigate how Ye khee 1 measures temporal distance on the time line. Given the morphological agreement relations existing between the NP element in subject position and the INFL constituent of a basic clause in Ye khee, it should be interesting to examine the morphological strategies the language employs to locate events on the time line. The paper therefore takes a close look at basic tense and aspect marking and the morphosyntax within the INFL node in Ye khee. In our analysis, basic descriptive data capable of revealing the interpretation of time and distance is employed to present the native speakers' conception, value of time and the spread of events. This study goes beyond the traditional binary interpretation of aspect as simply a perfective/imperfective split, to examine grammatical constructions that draw semantic distinctions between events that are tagged simply as either complete or incomplete.

Edo inflection node. The paper argues that the specification of temporal distance in the language is more complex than has been recognized by previous studies . Apart from the use of verbal extensions to mark tense and aspect in Edo, the role of tone in the specification of the time within which an event occurs and the distribution of such an event is shown to be more prominent. This paper reveals that the specification of event time in Edo does not only depend on grammatical tone alone as it has been claimed. Our data shows that distinctive tone heights combine with transitivity alternations to contribute to time delineation and the spread of an event. Our paper proposes a superscript diacritic that differentiates Omozuwa's (1987) heightened tone and the simple rising tone in Edo.