An Ethnographic Analysis of Names of Round Characters in Wole Soyinka’s The Strong Breed

Abstract

This study attempts an analysis of names of round characters in Wole Soyinka’s The Strong Breed from the ethnography of communication’s perspective. It was discovered that the characters in the text bear different names which reflect diverse ethnolinguistic values. This, therefore, necessitated occasional translation from the source language (SL) to the target language (TL) i.e. English. The names were further dissected contextually based on their discursive illocutionary acts. This subsequently revealed a preponderance of informative acts among others. The research further affirmed the submission of Schineider (2009) that conventional anthroponomastics approaches its subject ethnographically. The study therefore, brings about an interface of literary studies, pragmatics, linguistics and onomastics (the study and science of names).