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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 1

Publication Date: January 25, 2023

DOI:10.14738/assrj.101.13755. Fomukong, S. E. A. (2023). Cultural Barriers to Equality: Eco-Discursive Frames Against the Woman’s Search for Self in Lola’s The

Lock on My Lips. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(1). 153-166.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Cultural Barriers to Equality: Eco-Discursive Frames Against the

Woman’s Search for Self in Lola’s The Lock on My Lips.

Seino Evangeline Agwa Fomukong

The University of Bamenda, North West Region, Cameroon

Higher Teacher Training College

ABSTRACT

In the North West Region of Cameroon especially, the traditional law on land

ownership supplants that of the constitution of Cameroon which gives equal rights

to men and women. Consequently, a married woman does not own land as per the

customary law in most of the rural areas of this part of the country. In The Lock on

My Lips, the news of a woman having a land certificate ignites conflict in Kibaaka, a

rural community that is predominantly agrarian. The women led by Mrs Ghamogha

resist this tradition against Ability and other men who try to preserve this aspect of

the culture. Perpetua Lola presents a cultural arena that acts in defining the eco- linguistic choices made in the text. This study examines the exploration of the

ideology of social power through the effect of the ecological context on language and

its role in a gender biased context. The paper uses the survey research design,

identifying and describing the lexico-semantic patterns and the discourse forms of

the text representing plants, animals and diseases with the socially constructed

sacrilege of a woman owning a piece of land. Ruth Wodak’s Discourse-Historical

approach is used in conjunction with Teun van Dijk’s Socio-Cognitive approach, to

examine how women are referred to linguistically through referential, predication,

argumentation, framing and intensification discursive strategies. The study

concludes that discourse constitutes society and culture, with some ideologies

behind it portraying unequal power relations which Lola fights against in the text.

Keywords: frames, ideology, eco-discursive, proverbs, discourse, gender.

INTRODUCTION

Language is regarded as a social phenomenon and therefore related to social functions which

are context-oriented and looks at daily conversation as a means of understanding literary

discourse (Zyngier 2001, p. 371). Discourse is all about language put to use in social situations,

at which level linguistic elements are combined to form larger units above the sentence level.

Bahazig (2016, p.122) explains that discourse is any language which includes verbal and

nonverbal elements that are meaningful. Discourse analysis studies semiotic signs that are

assigned different meanings in different contexts, the use of language and the natural

occurrences of language use and aims at discovering the functioning of language, the worth of

texts and the meanings in texts that are not obvious at the surface level. It studies the

relationship between language and context that is basic to an account of language

understanding (Levinson 1983, p.21). Understanding here involves more than knowing the

meanings of the words uttered and grammatical relations between them. It involves making

inferences that will connect what is said to what is mutually assumed. These inferences can be

realised through frames.

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Fomukong, S. E. A. (2023). Cultural Barriers to Equality: Eco-Discursive Frames Against the Woman’s Search for Self in Lola’s The Lock on My Lips.

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(1). 153-166

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.101.13755

Framing is a social schema for interpretation, a collection of anecdotes and stereotypes that

individuals rely on, to understand and respond to events. In other words, people build a series

of mental ‘filters’ through biological and cultural influences. They can use these filters to make

sense of the world. The choices they then make are influenced by their creation of a frame

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org>wiki). Gamson and Modigliani (1989, p. 143) describe framing as

‘a central organising idea or storyline that provides meaning to an unfolding strip of events. The

frame suggests what the controversy is about, the essence of the issue.’ Moreover, frames

represent an emphasis on different aspects of a topic; they are meant to simplify complex issues

by lending more weight to certain considerations and activate schemas that encourage the

audience to think in a particular way. An analysis of issues can offer insight in the choices and

interpretations writers make when framing a story, which can ultimately define the nature of

the discourse and suggest to the audience how an issue can be interpreted. It also involves the

writers’ manner of delivering their message, highlighting their ideology by selecting certain

frames. To Reese (2007) frames are organised by providing identifiable patterns or structures

which can vary in their complexity. According to Pan and Kosicki (1993, p.53) framing

highlights certain parts of an issue allowing the selected elements to become important in

influencing individuals’ judgments. They later categorise rhetorical devices into syntactic

structures, script structures, thematic structures and rhetorical devices as a whole which

describe the stylistic choices made by the writer in relation to the intended effects. Neuman et

al. (1992, p.74) argue that there are five frames utilised amongst which are the human impact

frame that focuses on descriptions of individuals and groups affected by an issue; the

powerlessness frame which is the dominance of forces over weak individuals or groups; the

economics frame that reflects the preoccupation with profit and loss; the moral values frame

that refers to morality and social preoccupations; and the conflict frame which deals with an

on-going series of contests each with a set of winners and losers.

According to Wood (2004, p.65) there are operational definitions of frames that are precise

descriptions that specify the phenomena of interest. This allows different researchers to use

concepts in the same ways and thus their findings can be compared and related. Capella and

Jamieson (1997) suggest the following criteria for a frame amongst which are: a frame must

have identifiable conceptual and linguistic characteristics, it must be possible to distinguish the

frame reliably from other frames, and a frame must be recognized by others and not be a

figment of a researcher’s imagination. According to Fomukong (1997, p 124) frames are

linguistic patterns that create pictures in the minds of the readers, helping them interpret the

world. Linstrom and Marais (2012, p.31) define framing devices, as divided into two categories:

rhetorical devices and technical devices. The focus here is on rhetorical devices which include

word choice, metaphors, exemplars, catch-phrases and depictions. Authors view the world

through frames into which they fit new information. Frames are powerful because they can

easily evoke and can be reinforced, create positivity or negativity and can cause the audience

to deflect responsibility for solving a social problem. The mental filters or frames that are used

in a literary text can come through many devices, such as metaphors, similes, proverbs and

collocations. Discussing proverbs, Kudadjie (1996, p. 8) states that African proverbs contain

observations gathered from common experiences concerning nature, life and behaviour of

human beings as well as animals, birds, plants and other natural objects, and even supernatural

objects and beings. Proverbs explain so much in a simple statement and are universal in their

meanings in that everyone can relate them in some way at any level. They are one of the most

valuable manifestations of culture, linguistically loaded with metaphor, brief and function in

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 1, January-2023

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giving truths, advice, comments and warnings that are drawn from human experiences. Mieder

(1993, p.11) argues that by employing proverbs in our speeches we wish to strengthen our

arguments, express generalisations, influence or manipulate other people, rationalise our

shortcomings, question certain behavioural patterns, satirise social ills, poke fun at ridiculous

situations.

This study examines the meaningful linguistic patterns in proverbs, idioms, metaphors,

synecdoche and the ideological implications in The Lock on My Lips. According to Hasan (2005a)

as quoted by Lukin (2017), an ideology forms through repeated manifestations of a pattern of

meaning. In this process, a culture or community adopts and privileges some kind of semantic

configuration rather than others. While registers are the environments for the manifestation of

ideology, the wellspring of ideology is the social structure. Hasan (2009e) opines that

ideological patterns are distributed across lexical and grammatical selections. The Lock on My

Lips makes readers to understand the context of Kibaaka through the ideological patterns of the

ecolinguistic discursive choices in the text. In this text, Lola uses a pattern of cultural frames as

barriers in the woman’s way of being equal to the man.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Perpetua Nkamanyang Lola is a Cameroonian born literary critic, writer and lecturer of African

literature and is presently a ‘Cultural Attaché’ at the Cameroon High Commission in Abuja,

Nigeria. She studied in the University of Yaounde 1 in Cameroon, and in the University of Justus

Liebig, Giessen in Germany. Her works include: Healing Stings (2016), Fictions of Memory: An

Intercultural Study, The Lock on My Lips (2014), Rustles on Naked Trees (2015), Desperate

Journeys (2019), Representing Fictional Minds and Consciousness: An Introduction to the Study

of Some Cameroonian (African) and English Novels and Narratives (2019).

Her work, The Lock on My Lips is a drama that portrays the struggles of women in possession of

land in the rural arena of Cameroon. The drama tells of a woman, Mrs Ghamogha, who rallies

women of Kibaaka to stand against cultural barriers to the woman’s independence, especially

in owning land, meanwhile, portraying a patriarchal ideology of male superiority. There is an

abundant use of imagery especially to rate the woman as a lower creature in a society where

only the men are supposed to have land titles. Women in this play stand up against the men and

fight to the end by exploiting the state laws to fight traditional suppressions.

The issue of women owning land in Sub-Saharan Africa in general and Cameroon in particular

is a difficult task, and usually possible only through family bond. Fombe et al. (2013, p.75) quote

Ngwafor (1993) who says that a customary wife is regarded as a property of her husband once

bride-price has been paid. Fombe et al.(2013) argue that in Anglophone Cameroon the majority

of women do not own land or even have the right to inherit land and other property where

statutory laws and customary practices co-exist. It becomes even more difficult because land is

a limited resource in terms of supply, quality and access due to the nature of its acquisition,

exploitation and ownership in Anglophone Cameroon (Fombe et al., 2013, p.74). In their article,

they examine the benefits of women owning land asserting that this will secured land rights

and increase crop production. Women will have better access to credit, develop self-esteem,

and will be able to develop their own skills.

The issue of land ownership by women is reiterated by Pemunta (2017, p. 69) in which he