A Discourse Analysis of Language use in Femi Osofisan’s The Midnight Blackout

Abstract

This study critically examines the language use of Femi Osofisan’s characters/casts as portrayed in The Midnight Blackout and how such usage is affected and determined by situations and contexts. Analysis of discourse in the play is premised on a model adaptation of Discourse Analysis presented in Hyme’s (1962) Ethnography of Communication and Grice’s Conversational Maxim. The study employs Hyme’s Ethnography of Communication model which is encapsulated in the SPEAKING acronym, and Conversational Maxims by Grice which engages the maxim of quantity, quality, relation and manner. This critical analysis reveals language as an indispensable and instinctive medium in human communication. Analysis also reveals the linguistic and social surrounding or environment of Femi Osofisan’s The Midnight Blackout and foregrounds language as the spectrum through which the society can be appreciated.