Penguin Unused

Exploring the Creative Resources of Language in Speaking

 

Introduction

     Language is essentially an oral phenomenon and human beings communicate in diverse ways, making use of their senses. While it is true that some non-oral aspects of interaction are rich, language articulated in sound remains fundamental. It may not also be out of place to note that not only communication, but thought itself, relates in an altogether special way, in sound. This study therefore takes into cognisance the words we speak, the types of speeches we make and the place of creativity in the whole process of communication. It is observed that words do not just exist in a vacuum; they live in different aspects of our everyday activity. The speaker does not use stones to communicate. He uses words and he does so in an imaginative manner. From the literary-critical perspective, this study examines the various creative resources of language at the disposal of the speaker, the public user of words.

 The Words We Speak

   Words have life; they can move, make peace and create wars. The fascination which words hold for man is also reflected in creative writings. Great works of Shakespeare, Milton, Swift, Chaucer, Wilde Oscar and others have documented great words of created characters. Words are rich and can be highly imaginative. It is from this wealth of creativity that advertising agents have benefited from. Words are printed boldly in newspapers to catch attention, coinages, catch-phrases, puns and even hyperboles are other devices used by advertisers and propagandists in communicating with their audience. At the political, national and international scenes, words have assumed significant platforms.

         Victor Hugo in Ullmann, S (1972) captures the picture perfectly when he asserts that:

     "Words are mysterious passers-by of the mind... present everywhere, a dwarf hidden beneath our tongues, the word holds the globe under its heel and enslaves it. Place a word upon a man, and the man shuddering, withers away and dies, penetrated by its deep force. At its breath, helped by the soul and by light, the dark immensity slowly unfolds itself" 38

     Simply put, words are products of the imaginative ingenuity of the speaker. They can be harmless as they remain unused but the effects on any individual are better imagined. In view of the increasing importance attached to words, efforts have been made to define them as accurately as humanly possible. But then, the poser remains: What exactly is a word? Oyeleye (2005: 171) has observed that general linguistics has not succeeded in providing a consistent definition of the word across languages. This perhaps shows that the word can only be defined with respect to a particular language. Within the context of English for example, it is possible to have recourse to the several dictionary meanings of words. This does not, of course, imply that the word is very easy to define.  For instance, Aristotle defined words as ‘the smallest significant unit of speech and language'. While some people dwell on its function as a unit of meaning, Bloomfield (1933) regards words as the ‘minimum free form', implying thereby "the smallest speech-unit capable of functioning as a complete utterance" as in the example, "fire!" (cf. S Ullmann, 1972:40)

     Lucas (1989:210) literary approach gives the phenomenon of words a unique insight. He explains the dual implications of words in terms of denotative and connotative. Denotative meaning is precise, literal and objective. It carries no emotional overtones, no sentimental attachments, and no moral judgements. It simply describes the object, person, place, ideas or event to which the word refers. One way to think of a words denotative meaning is as its dictionary definition. For example denotatively the word, ‘school' means a place, institution or building where instruction is given.

     For the creative speaker, the connotative meaning is more viable. It is distinctly figurative and subjective. Put in another way, the connotative meaning of the word ‘school' includes all the feelings, associations and emotions that the word touched off in different people. For one person ‘school' might connote personal growth, childhood friend and a special teacher. For another it might connote frustration, discipline and boring homework assignments. Connotative meaning gives words their intensity and emotional power. It arouses in listeners feelings of anger, pity, love, joy, fear, friendship, nostalgia, guilt, greed and the like. Speakers, like poets, often use connotation to enrich their meaning. 

 

The speaker

 A speaker is one who uses words to create meaning. He is a smith of some sort who creatively combines words in a way that they will make sense to the audience that they are intended for.  Adebileje (2009:65) defines speaking as a productive skill and the medium by which information is orally encoded into linguistic form for transmission to a decoder. In other words, it is a verbal mode of expression involving speech sound that must be heard and understood by the listener. The implication of this is that speaking must be meaningful and aimed at communicating and exchanging information and ideas.   The speaker is indeed doing a great job. This perhaps explains the position of Ogunsiji (2004: 25) who asserts that while it is mandatory for a person to be able to speak (except he or she suffers some speech defects), he or she may not be able to read and write unless he learns to do so. This implies that while speaking is primary, reading and writing are secondary

Thornton (1980: 11) amplifies this by observing that :

             Language is primarily a system of sound used in face-to-face situations with other people, where features, other than language ,like facial expression and gestures, can be employed in consort with language in order to tie the language to the context and to make.

Chronologically, speech predates writing (cf Wallwork, 1969: 14-15). All the languages that exist in writing today first existed in the spoken form. And there are many languages in the world today that exist in the spoken form only. It must however, be stressed, that what is central to this paper is not just the process of speaking but the art and craft of speaking. That is, the creativity involved in the practice of communication. Listeners should not just receive sound wave but they should pick concepts, instructions and  images from the artistic user of words.

 

Types of Speeches

Ogunbayo (2009: 81-82) has identified four basic types of speeches to include informative, instructive, entertaining and persuasive. These are not mutually exclusive of one another because while a speaker in trying to inform may make his presentation in an entertaining style, another speaker might inform his audience and try to persuade them to act on the information. It is however, instructive to stress that the fundamental purpose of a speech will generally fall into one of the four basic types:

1) Informative Speech:

     This speech serves to provide interesting and useful information to the audience. Some examples of informative speeches include the following:

-A teacher telling students about dinosaurs

-A student talking about her research

-A travelogue about Zuma Rock

-A computer programmer speaking about new software

2) Demonstrative Speech:

     This has many similarities with an informative speech. A demonstrative speech also teaches you something. The main difference lies in including a demonstration of how to do something.

     Some examples of demonstrative speeches include:

-How to start your own blog

-How to bake a cake

-How to write a speech

-How to compose on the piano

3) Persuasive Speech:

     A persuasive speech works to convince people to change, in some aspects, the way they think and the way they do something; or to start doing something that they are not currently doing.

     Some examples of persuasive speeches are:

-Become an organ donor

-Improve your health through better eating

-Television violence is negatively influencing our children

-Become a volunteer and change the world

4) Entertaining Speech:

    The after dinner speech is a typical example of an entertaining speech. The speaker provides pleasure and enjoyment that make the audience relax or identify with anecdotal information.

     Some examples of entertaining speeches include:

-Excuse for any occasion

-Things you wouldn't know without the movies.

 

 

 

 

Speech as a Creative Construct

     As human beings, we speak every day. And this regular exercise is often a product of the creative resources of language. While many of us are unaware of it, the truth is that we constantly use imaginative skills in our interactions with others. Several people employ idioms, adages, proverbs, similes metaphors in their public speeches. It should be noted that all these are skilful expressions which belong to the province of creative writing and rhetoric.

    In identifying some creative skills which are indispensable to effective public speaking and employable for result- oriented communication, Oyeleye(Ibid:175) recalls that ancient rhetoricicians used to distinguish between three stages in rhetoric. The first was known as the ‘inventio' (which is the finding or discovery), the second was the "dispotio" (which is the arranging, structuring, or plotting) and the third was the "elocutio"( which is the style) . The first stage is well known to everybody because everyone always has some messages or information to pass across before speaking. Once we have this message, the next stage is to decide how to arrange structure or plot the message which we want to pass across. And after this we can then choose the style in which to present the information  This naturally leads us to the importance of style in creativity. A very important characteristic of creative writing which boosts the effectiveness of public speaking is style. Every individual has its own style of writing, and speaking. It is this style that needs to be improved by employing creative writing skills.

     Locating euphemism within the linguistics and literary context of speaking, Yusuf (2004, 1) has observed that this figure of speech occurs in different forms of communication, especially in moments of personal, social or national difficulty and draws attention to the fact that the term has been defined in different ways by various authors. For example, euphemism has been described as "words which mask reality by giving it a better face" (Haln 113) .They have also been characterised as "words or phrases designed to avoid harsh or distasteful reality. Euphemism has all been referred to as " whitewash language " that is language that sounds very pleasant Yusuf concludes by itemising some of the sources of euphemism to include allusion, sound patterning, metaphor, idiom, proverbs, verbal irony, rhetorical question and oxymoronic construction among others.

      It is important to stress here that literary critics often distinguish between the various ways in which words can be manipulated to produce imaginative and creative effects. The most pronounced are called figures of expression, or more conventionally put, figures of speech. Before we examine some of these literary tools of expression, let us briefly consider the relationship between literary criticism and creativity.

 Literary Criticism and the Creative Practice

    It should be stated right from the outset, that what the literary critic does is to give the public, as completely and clearly as he can, his considered response to a creative work and by that, help us to a fuller enjoyment and understanding of the experiences in and behind the work. Alternatively, the critic can also reveal, by examining a piece of writing in detail, the elements in the writing which combine to make its particular quality. . The literary critic who is conscious of the fact that   his account and evaluation of an author must depend on the actual words written by the author, supports his fundamental remarks and judgements with pieces of examined texts, the texts out of which his judgements comes. To do anything contrary would be tantamount to a prejudicial or biased assessment which in itself is indicative of critical indiscipline (Moody, 1979: 2-8, Coombes, 1993:8)

     Criticism seeks to achieve analytical precision. The criticism of a piece of creative work is not antithetical to literary enjoyment. It is not the substitution of an intellectual pleasure for an aesthetic pleasure or the diminishing of the creative understanding to a dull routine. On the contrary, it is an opening up of the artistic product for what it can really be: a unique and fascinating experience, carefully provoked by its maker and fully available only to those with the patience as well as the sensibility to recreate. If a poem, for instance, is a good one, the criticism begins in pleasure and deepens that pleasure as it proceeds. It makes our pleasure more articulate and therefore more meaningful. Emotion is enriched and extended by the exercise of creative. Thought (cf. Rawlinson, 1968: 1, Cox and Dyson 1972:12)

To discus criticism therefore in this manner is to defend it. We cannot be content to like literary work merely at random and to pay them the compliment of not more than a passing glance; we cannot be content to take from a great poem, for example, only it, as though it were simply a confirmation of something we already knew. The great poem has the power to enrich and extend us, to make us something more than we were before. In its essential greatness, it is unlike any other poem. But how is this uniqueness to reach us, unless we attend precisely and in very great detail to what it is? Every word in the literary parlance counts. Every interplay of meter with rhythm, every modulation and nuance of tone.

    It is instructive to note here that the influence of criticism on the final shape of the literary work is a remarkable one. Because, even in the published form, the literary product still depends very largely on the work of criticism for establishing its importance or its place in the tradition; for criticism, as Izevbaye (1979:26) argues, is often responsible for bringing the work to the public; it might reduce the esteem it already enjoys, with the reading public or it might help build up a tradition by creating taste for similar literature. It might also bring out the importance of a work by discovering in it new meanings not noticed before by the public and thus give the work a new form and a new importance, perhaps over and above that originally intended or thought of, by the author.

The creative writer surely needs the audience – the reader or the critic –to succeed. And the critic needs to co-operate by an active and impartial reading of what is in front of him. The literary product or the creative piece merely exists by the fashion of the printed pages and between its cover and the book shelves, but its real existence is only when in a critic's mind and consciousness, it comes alive. It is criticism that gives creativity colour and glamour. For the creative speaker and his critical audience, it is the same whole circle.

Figures of Expression

For the creative speaker, the figures of speech are ready tools of aesthetic expression. They become very handy when the speaker wants his audience to feel him Figures of speech are materials of articulation that that take the conversation beyond the day-to-day context. A few examples will drive home the point.   

Alliteration

This is the repetition of a leading vowel or consonant sound in a phrase. Alliteration can take the form of assonance or consonance. However, unlike in strict definition of alliteration, assonance and consonance can regularly occur within. The meaning is conveyed essentially through sound harmony:

The leaves live and sneeze on the tree.

Apostrophe

This is a rhetorical figure in which the speaker addresses a dead or abstract person, an abstraction or inanimate object. It is widely applied for emotional emphasis.

1. Do you lie so low oh great mountain of the Ileco dynasty?

Here the speaker addresses the dead as if talking to a living being.

Climax

 A climax is a figure of speech in which a sequence of terms is linked by chain- like repetition through three or more clauses in ascending order of importanceas in:

The angry man entered the house, saw his enemy and killed him.

The rains came, soaked the cloths and swept the house away.

Hyperbole

This is essentially an exaggeration for the purpose of emphasizing a point. It is not meant to be taken literally.

The whole country came to witness the coronation ceremony of my uncle.

The entire world stood to honour Obama at his inauguration as president.

Of course the whole country did not attend the coronation neither did the entire world stood for Obama. The point being made is that the events were well attended.  The creative speaker uses this figure of speech for effect-to aa to generate interest in the discussion.

Irony

A subtly humorous perception of inconsistency in which an apparently straight-foreword statement or event is undermined by its context so as to give it a very difficult significance.

Rut Brutus is an honourable man. What is mearnt really is that Britus has not behaved honourably

Metaphor

Metaphors are used to reflect a form of comparison. This comparison is made by suggesting some common qualities shared by two or more actions. This resemblance as an imaginary identity rather than directly stated as a comparison.

In the sentence Amina is a flower, there is a direct link between he fragrance of the flower and that of the girl

Kola is a lion.

 This direct comparison with the lion is simply to reflect the strength of the boy. The creative speaker uses this figure of speech, not only to demonstrate the beauty of words, but also to show how several meanings can be derived from condensed expressions..

Metonymy

This is used in literature to replace the name of one thing with the name of something associated with it.

We must respect the crown. This implies that royalty or kinship, which the crown is associated with, must be given its place of honour.

Oxymoron

This literary tool combines two conventionally contradictory terms in a compressed word link. Let us take general examples:

Women are necessary evil.

The old man is the wisest fool.

Paradox

Paradox is a literary statement that is so surprisingly self- contradictory as to drive us into seeking another sense or context in which it would be true.

A child is the father of the man

The ripest fruit is the saddest

Personification

This figure of speech gives human qualities and characteristics to inanimate objects and non living things .The function is to heighten the quality of the message and make it have emotional strength. Examples include:

The forest is singing

The leaves are dancing.

 In the illustrations, human qualities are given to forest and leaves.

Pun

This is an expression that achieves emphasis and humour by contriving an ambiguity – a play on words whereby two distinct meanings are being suggested either by the same word or by two similar sounding word.

For instance: It is a fool that fools but a double fool that thinks everyone is a fool.

   Rhetorical Question

In literature, rhetorical questions are not meant to be answered .They are asked to strengthen a point being made or to stress an instruction being given.

The expression: Should we then abandon schooling because the fees are high? Is not meant to be answered but to stress the importance of education.

Simile

Similes are used in expression  to compare two things, ideas, concepts and situations. This comparison is done with the use of ‘ as' or ‘ like'. Examples:

The young man runs as fast as lightning.

The city is as quiet as the grave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

    At the core of communication and linguistic competence, is the phenomenon of creativity. To appreciate speaking as an art is to inject beauty, colour, freshness and style into the speech activity. The creative speaker does not use clinches and dead idioms. He does not vanish with the message he intends to pass across. Neither does he create noise or boredom in the communication process: but with the creative resources of language, he makes his utterance contagious and infectious, leaving his audience asking for more. There lie the intricacies of language, stylistic writing, public speaking and the creative spirit.

 

 

 

 

Mark Ighile lectures at the Department of English, Redeemer's University, Mowe, Ogun State

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Adebileje, A, (2009) "Spoken English"in Ibitoye Charles and Adebileje Adebola. (eds) Use of English and communication skills for Tertiary Education. Dopemu: Polar World Consult Ltd. Pg 65-75

Allwork, J.F. (1969) Language and Linguistics. London: Heinemann

Bloomfield, L (1933) Language London: Allen and Unwin

Coombes, H. (1987) Literature and Criticism. England: Penguin Books.

Cox, C.B. and Dyson, A.E. (1970) The Practical Criticism of Poetry London : Edward Arnold.

Izevbaye, Dan (1971) ‘Criticism and Literature in Africa' Perspectives on African Literature Ed Christopher Heywood .  London:  Heinemann 25-30.

Lucas, S (1989) .The art of Public Speaking (3rd Edition) New York. Radom House

Ogunbayo, O (2009) Speechmaking! In Ibitoye, C and Adebileje A (eds) use of English and communication skills for Tertiary Education Dopemu: Polar World Consult ltd. Pg 77-95

Moody, H.L.B (1979 ) Literary Appreciation. London: Longman Group Ltd.

Ogunsiji, A (2004) "Developing the Basic Language Skills for communicative competence in Learners of English as a second Language in Nigeria" in Ibadan Journal of English Studies. Vol 1 19-34.

Oyeleye, L (2005) "The power of words and the techniques of Public Communication. In  Oyeleye (ed) Language as Discourse in Society. Ibadan: Hope Publication ltd: Pg 168-178

Ullman, S (1972) Semantics: An introduction to the science of meaning Oxford: Basil Blackwell

Yusuf, Y.k. (2004) "Linguistic Sources of Euphemism" in Ibadan Journal of English Studies Vol 1. 1-18

Thornton, G (1980) Teaching Writing, London: Edward Armold

Ong, W (1982) Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the world. London: Methuen

Rawlinson, D. H. (1968) The Practice of Criticism Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

About the Author

Mark Ighile is a researcher and teacher. He lectures at the Department of English, Redeemer's University, Nigeria. His areas of specialisation and research interest include Cultural Communication, Oral Literature, Bible as Literature, Folklore Studies, Literary Stylistics and Criticism.

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