CHAPTER ONE

INTROUDUCTION

1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Language  and  society  are  not  independent  of  each  other.  They  always  go together in the development of a people. In other words, language cannot exist and develop outside the human society. People’s habit of thought regulates and determines their language use because man is, essentially, a linguistic animal. This notion is reflected in language use in literary works. For Femi Akindele and Wale Adegbite, ‘Language is the only creative property unique to human beings’ (92). It is also a means through which human beings socialise among themselves. Besides, it is the greatest asset to man through which he sustains himself. In this way, an enduring relationship exists between language and society. Tarni Prasad (247) affirms that man ‘learns the language in society but ‘the language structure always follows the social structure and culture.’ He adds that ‘language expresses not only the thought and feelings of the speaker but also the social culture and tradition.’ Still on the interplay of language and society, Akindele and Adegbite remind us that ‘Language does not exist in a vacuum, but it is always contextualized. That is, it is situated within a socio-cultural setting of community’

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