Open Access

American Research Journal of English and Literature

ISSN (Online): 2378-9026

DOI: 10.46568/arjel

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Research Article Vol. 6, Issue 1 2019 Open Access

Black Lives Matter: Towards a Proposal

*1Acheoah John Emike (PhD), 1Williams Ocheme, 1Nura Garba Dauran

2Olaleye Joel Iyiola (PhD)

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”.