Contextual Triggers of Family Conflicts in Folake Amanfo’s Celebrity Marriage and Caliph Uzar’s After Knot

Abstract

This study investigates contextual triggers of family conflicts, as portrayed in Folake Amanfo’s Celebrity Marriage and Caliph Uzar’s After Knot. Aspects of pragmatic theory and context model served as the framework. Findings showed that six discursive contexts are foregrounded as triggers of family conflicts. The contexts – speculative assumption, rebuttal argument, communication gap, emotional insecurity, aggressive complaint and blame shift –realize verbal, physical, financial, and sexual family conflicts. Speculative assumption which enhances family conflict is realized through cognitive, linguistic, and social macro contexts. Rebuttal argument stimulates conflict through high voice pitch (VCE) and metaphor (MPH). Communication gap triggers conflict through (wrong) inference and linguistic context. Emotional insecurity necessitates family conflict through cognitive and linguistic contexts. Aggressive complaints and blame shift, as prompters of family conflict, are enhanced by metaphor, linguistic and social contexts. Participants within the family interactions make inferences to create and sustain family conflict.