Language use in the construction of memory: A study of T-shirts inscriptions of graduating students

Abstract

This paper examines the linguistic choices in the construction of memory on the T-shirts worn by graduating students at the University of Calabar and Cross River University of Technology, Calabar in Southern Nigeria. The study adopts multimodal discourse analysis and memory theories to account for the motivations behind the inscriptions, the situational meanings they communicate and the explication of the semiotic resources within the social context of the university environment. A total of 112 graduating students representing the target population participated in the study. The data were generated by means of semi-structured interviews while using audiotape recording and digital cameras as research tools to elicit the appropriate information. The findings show that the use of inscripted T-shirts has become a popular youth culture among graduating students in Nigerian universities purposively devised to re-enact memories of their complex experiences as students. As demonstrated by the participants, the T-shirt inscriptions reflect the collective (un)pleasant memories of achievement and self-fulfillment, relief and freedom, gratitude, leadership and challenges which transmitted via semiotic resources that portray peace, joy and social elevation. The messages are combined to covertly portray the deteriorating state of education in Nigeria and call for revamping strategies that could introduce a conducive environment, and a promising economy that would ease hardship on Nigerian students.