Literary Creativity in Second Language English: A Speech Act Study of Ola Rotimi’s Ovonrawmen Nogbaisi

Abstract

Language remains the most formidable tool that writers use for literary creativity. It is the vehiclethrough which literature delights and instructs. The most important gift God gave human beings overand above other creatures he created is the power of language (Ezeigbo 2008). Language isindispensable to the creative artists, to literary critics, who must have a facility for words. Words are nodoubt a powerful tool in the literary arsenal of the writer. In the hands of a writer, words can do a lot ofthings. Writers are creative people who create with words. It is no longer in doubt that the Englishlanguage has become the most dominant language in most domains of communicative activities in thetwentieth century. It is also the language that has the largest population of speakers in the world. Akere(2004) identified three types of users/speakers of English across the world. The first types are firstlanguage (L1) speakers, that is those for whom English is a first or native language. This group ofspeakers are estimated to be above 375 millions. The second type is second language (L2) speakerswho are as many as native speakers. They are those for whom English is a second or added language.The third type of speakers, are those for whom English is a foreign language (EFL). Nigerians belongto the second category of speakers.