TOO YOUNG TO MARRY: IMPOLITENESS STRATEGIES IN NOLLYWOOD’S WIVES’ ON STRIKE

Abstract

This study investigates the impoliteness strategies encoded in women’s fight against forced early girl marriage as portrayed in Wives on Strike by Steve Sodiya. The study adopts an eclectic theoretic approach as insights are drawn from Clupeper (1996, 2005) Watts (2003) and Bousfield’s (2008) impoliteness strategies and face attack works. Thirty-three excerpts from Wives on Strike constitute data for analysis. It is discovered that in the fight against gender violence, positive impoliteness and face attack, Negative impoliteness, Bald on record impoliteness are exploited by interlocutors to register their dissatisfactions. From the study, it is discovered that males’ impoliteness strategies are designed as impositions for violence while the females’ impoliteness strategies are deployed as agents of offence to attack the face worth of offenders and put an end to violence against the girl child. It is recommended that since women can constitute a formidable force to stop some societal ills, they should be allowed a voice in both national and international affairs.