Open Access
American Research Journal of English and Literature
ISSN (Online): 2378-9026
DOI: 10.46568/arjel
Black Lives Matter: Towards a Proposal
*1Department of European Languages, Federal University Birnin-Kebbi,Kebbi State, Nigeria
2Department of English, Waziri Umar Federal Polytechnic, Birnin-Kebbi, Nigeria.
Acheoah John Emike (PhD), Williams Ocheme, Nura Garba Dauran, Olaleye Joel Iyiola (PhD), ”Black Lives Matter:
Towards a Proposal, vol 6, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-7.
Abstract
In this paper, we examine the utterance “Black Lives Matter” from a linguistic purview. A linguistic analysis of the utterance can be explained
not only in terms of literal and non-literal propositions, but also in terms of how the arrangement of language expresses meaning(s). This paper
explores Sperber and Wilson’s Relevance Theory of Communication, cited in Xinyue Yao [1], and contends that: the figurative potential of the
utterance “Black Lives Matter” is a product of how the words are patterned (combined); unintended negative connotations are conveyed about
Black because the topic relevance that the decoder works out in processing “Black Lives Matter”, is neither predictable nor limited; the utterance
“Lives of Black Matter” is a good substitute for “Black Lives Matter”.
