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Pleonasm in Written English Among Senior Secondary School Students in Onitsha, Nigeria

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Pleonasm in Written English Among Senior Secondary School Students in Onitsha, Nigeria Ebonyi Journal of Language and Literary Studies 1 (2) April 2018 Volume 1 No. 2: 162 -174 (2018) ISSN 9091 4582 7142 PLEONASM IN WRITTEN ENGLISH AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ONITSHA, NIGERIA Bridget Ngozi MADU [email protected] Department of English Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Nigeria Abstract This study investigates Senior Secondary School students’ ability to identify various forms of pleonasm in written English. Pleonasm is the use of more words or parts of words than necessary within a context. The theoretical framework used in this study is Error Analysis, which is a technique for identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the deviations from the established rules. Data were obtained from ten selected Senior Secondary Schools in Onitsha North L.G.A., Nigeria. A questionnaire which has 30 items on pleonasm was used as an instrument for data collection. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The t-test statistics were used for analysis. Result shows that most students identified occurrences of syntactic and semantic pleonasms but could not do same for pleonastic use of foreign words, idiomatic expressions and acronyms. Finding further shows that there is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and that of female students. It is therefore recommended that secondary school students should be taught to keep abreast of local and international acronyms in the language, so as to avoid pleonasm. Good language/linguistic dictionaries, and thesaurus should be provided in school libraries. The right use of foreign words and acronyms, and idiomatic expressions should be properly taught in secondary schools so as to avoid pleonastic statements. Keywords: Pleonasm, written English, senior secondary school students in Onitsha, error analysis, pleonastic use Introduction: Pleonasm is the use of too many words to express a meaning within the same context. Agbada (1999, p.108) defines it as: “unnecessary repetition of words having the same meaning in a sentence”. This is the use of more words than are necessary to express a meaning in a sentence. Crystal (2008, p.35) views pleonasm as “a term used in grammar for one element which repeats or anticipates some other element in a sentence and thus semantically redundant”. Agbada (1999) sees pleonasm as tautology which is: energy wasting because it involves the repetition of words of the same idea, sometimes in the same sentence. In order words, these tautological words do nothing but echo other words already found in the same sentence. Most commonly, this happens when a second language user of the English language, in an attempt to express his/her ideas, uses more words than necessary. When such errors occur, many would like to think that as long as the facts are correct, it does not matter if the grammar is bad. Grammatical errors, no matter how negligible they might seem portend grave consequences. On this, Betty, (2010, pp.16, 117) warns “poor grammar reflects badly on you – you might miss out on a job opportunity, you might not be taken seriously when making a complaint, you could even put off a potential inherent date…”. Findings of Mac Arthur (1995) also reveal that ‘a speaker’s underlying knowledge of the rules of grammar and their use in socially appropriate circumstance is of paramount importance’. Pleonasm occurs at semantic, syntactic, and lexical 162 Ebonyi Journal of Language and Literary Studies 1 (2) April 2018 (acronyms, foreign words) levels. It also manifests in Biblical references, stylistic preferences or idiomatic expressions. Pleonasm may however be employed to achieve linguistic, poetic and literary effects. They are used as a rhetorical repetition, they are helpful for reinforcing a contention, an idea or a question rendering the expression easier and clearer to understand. Also, they serve as a part of idiomatic language, professional and scholarly writing (Mac Arthur, 1995). However, once pleonasm is not for poetic, literary effects and so on as stated above, it becomes an error. Among the students of secondary schools in the area covered by this study, it has become fashionable to use chat orthography/language in conveying their thought, so much so that there seem to be no boundary to their employment of such informal writing pattern. Also, because of the pervasive employment of the short-hand chat writing system, it often becomes difficult to determine when some deviations from the norm of writing found in students’ writings are cases of error or mistake. Particularly, pleonasm has become a common occurrence in students’ speeches and writings. This is worrisome considering that pleonasm is a barrier to a good writing. Besides adding bulk to sentences, it enshrouds meaning or promotes lack of clarity. As a teacher of English, it became very compelling to investigate the phenomenon of pleonasm among the students of the area already defined. The primary aim of this study is to determine the extent to which the occurrence of pleonastic expressions as observed in some tests or writings are cases of error or mistake. Specifically, the study seeks to find out whether the students can identify pleonasm in writings or not; if they do, it would be taken that the uses are cases of mistake or style, but if they do not, it would be taken that the uses are cases of error. To this end, the study adopts the distinction already set up in the literature between error and mistake. Mistakes are seen to be an attribute of both native and non-native speakers, not usually systematic, and not a function of incorrect learning, hence can be self-identified and self- corrected. On the other hand, errors are systematic and are symptomatic of second language learners’ speech/writing; they cannot be self-identified nor self-corrected by the person who committed them. They are indicators to the learner’s lack of proper grammatical knowledge. Types of pleonasm: There are basically two types of pleonasm: Syntactic Pleonasm and Semantic Pleonasm. Other sub- types including Pleonastic Acronyms, pleonasm in Stylistic Preferences/Idiomatic Expression, and Pleonasm in Foreign words also exist. These concepts are operationally explained below: Syntactic pleonasm: Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases following some set rules to create well-formed sentences in a language. In a syntactic construction, every word or phrase deployed must have an identifiable function and when a word or phrase is engaged more times than is required for the function it performs, it becomes syntactically pleonastic. This is what is referred to in this work as syntactic pleonasm. There are three Types of Syntactic Pleonasm: Multiple Negation, Multiple Affirmation, and Double Possession. Multiple negation is the use/occurrence of more negators than is necessary to form a negative clause. In the English language, only one negative marker is required to turn an affirmative clause to negative. For example, in “I don’t want no guns here”, only don’t or no is required to turn the sentence negative but, instead, both are used, thus incurring an error of pleonasm. Multiple Affirmation means to reply ‘yes’ or express agreement. Its opposite is negative. For example, in “I do love you”, “I love you” is already in the affirmation. The additional word “do” is a multiple affirmation in the sentence. The multiple affirmation is unnecessary, and therefore pleonastic. Double Possessions are double genitives in grammar in the form of either a noun, pronoun, or an adjective that are used to show possession or close connection between two things. For example, 163 Ebonyi Journal of Language and Literary Studies 1 (2) April 2018 in “Tochukwu is a classmate of ours”, “classmate” and “ours” in the same clause are double possessions, i.e., both of them express the same close connection. Semantic Pleonasm: Semantic pleonasm is a repetitive usage of same words within a context. According to Palmer (1976, p. 59), it means “sameness of meaning”. Grammatically, when words that have same meaning are used within a context in a stretch of writing or speech, it becomes pleonastic. For example, in “The best graduating student from PMES received a Laptop as a free gift from the president of the Old Boys Association”, the words “free” and “gift” convey sameness of meaning. Pleonasm in Acronyms: Acronym is a creative process in language formation. It is a word formed from the first letters of the words to make up names of something – (New Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary – Seventh Edition). Okoh, (2010, p.42) also defines acronyms as “an abbreviation involving the selection of the first letters of the key words in a title”. This creative process gives rise to an acceptable structure. Pleonasm in acronyms is therefore repetition of a word that is already abbreviated in an acronym. For example, in “She is infected with HIV virus disease”, the “V” in “HIV” means “virus”. So, to have the word “virus” again in the sentence is pleonastic. Pleonasm in Foreign words: Redundancies are sometimes seen in foreign words whose meanings are repeated in the same context. Foreign words are those that are imported from other languages (like L1). Pleonasm in foreign words is therefore repeating a word that is already expressed as a foreign word in the same sentence or utterance. For example, in “My father employed an experienced chauffeur driver recently for our school bus”, the word “driver” is a repetition of the foreign word “chauffeur”. Stylistic Preferences/Idiomatic Expression: Idioms add beauty and charm to the language. English language is rich in idioms used in either spoken or written form. But the use of these idioms with their meanings in an utterance can make it redundant and clumsy. Stylistic Preferences/Idiomatic Expression, therefore, refers to a situation/the act of using idioms as well as their meanings in an utterance.
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