Investigating Ambiguity in Headlines of Contemporary Yorùbá Newspapers

Main author: Osunnuga, Tola
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-24572
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description In this paper, an analysis of form of linguistic ambiguity in the headlines of contemporary Yorùbá newspapers is presented. The paper analyses 100 verbally ambiguous headlines in some newspapers. The focus of the paper is on examples of lexical and structural ambiguity that result in involuntary humour. This is usually contrived by Yorùbá newspaper writer for the sake of entertainment which makes the headlines funny. Therefore, this paper examined some words and expression which are possibly ambiguous in the headlines of contemporary Yorùbà newspapers. The headlines collected in our corpus and analysed were selected precisely because the sources of ambiguity that produced the humorous effect were of a linguistic nature. This is in an attempt to propose a systematic analysis of humorous headlines that have rarely been considered in the Yorùbá literature.
format Journal Article
author Osunnuga, Tola
author_facet Osunnuga, Tola
authorStr Osunnuga, Tola
author_letter Osunnuga, Tola
title Investigating Ambiguity in Headlines of Contemporary Yorùbá Newspapers
publisher Horizon Research Publishing Corporation
publishDate 2013
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/24572/