How to Cite:
Ezekoma, Ngozi Marygrace, Okafor, Salome Amara, Udoye, Ifeoma, "Illocutionary Aspects of Charactonym in Achebe’s Selected Novels" International Journal of Humanities Science Innovations and Management Studies, Vol. 2, No. 6, pp. 34-42, 2025.

Abstract:
The aim of this study is to explore illocutionary acts in the names of characters in Chinua Achebe’s selected works. Specifically, it identifies the illocutionary acts performed with the names of the major characters in Achebe’s selected novels and further identifies the pragmatic-linguistic implications of the acts. Data are collected from three novels written by Achebe. The selected novels are Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, and Arrow of God. The data comprises the names of the major characters in the novels. The selected names are analysed qualitatively to identify the illocutionary acts performed with them and the cultural, contextual, and significant backgrounds that inform the names. The analysis is anchored on Searle’s (1969) Illocutionary Act Theory, which identifies five types of illocutions in utterances – commissives, directives, assertives, expressives, and declaratives. However, this study only identifies the use of three illocutionary acts in the selected names. The identified illocutionary acts are assertives, directives, declaratives, and expressives, but assertives are used the most. It is also observed that the selected names adhere to Igbo cosmology, indicating that Achebe adapts the names of his characters to align with the culture of the setting of his novels, which happen to be the Igbo culture in the three selected literary works. On this, recommendations were made that more studies be done on the pragmatics of names and the naming significance in relation to the background knowledge in other African literary works to expose the assumed hidden technique in African literary works.

Keywords: Names, Speech Act, Illocutionary Act, Charactonym.

References:
[1] Chinua Achebe, The African Trilogy: Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, and A Man of the People, Heinemann, 2010.
[2] Fatimah Ainun, and Kamsinah, “A Pragma-Stylistic Study of Illocutionary Act in Buginese Drama Texts,” Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, vol. 622, pp. 41-44, 2021.
[3] John Langshaw Austin, How to do Things with Words, Harvard University Press, pp. 1-168, 1962.
[4] Richard Coates, “A Concise Theory of Meaningfulness in Literary Naming within the Framework of the Pragmatic Theory of Properhood,” Journal of Literary Onomastics, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 31 – 34, 2015.
[5] M. Debrah, P. Nyamekye, and F. Dominic, “Achebe’s Literature, a Mirror of the Continent’s Social Struggles,” International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature, vol. 4, no. 10, pp. 41-54, 2016.
[6] Cahya Wati Dewi, “An Analysis of Illocutionary and Perlocutionary Speech Acts of an Instagram Online Shopping Account,” PROJECT: Professional Journal of English Education, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 353-359, 2021.
[7] Cajetan E. Ebuziem, Doing Ministry in Igbo Context: Towards an Emerging Model and Method for the Church in Africa, Newyork: Peter Lang Publishing INC, pp. 1-269, 2011.
[8] S. Emenanjo, “Organisational Change and Management Strategies: Lessons for Industry in Developing Countries, in Creating Global Competitive Economies: 2020 Vision Planning and Implementation,” Proceedings of the 22nd International Business Information Management Association Conference (IBIMA), pp. 2274–2283, 2001.
[9] M. Herman, “Illocutionary Acts Analysis of Chinese in Pematangsiantar,” International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, vol. 4, no. 12, pp. 41-48, 2015.
[10] M. Kissine, “Illocutionary Forces and What is Said,” Mind & Language, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 122-138, 2009.
[11] L. Lawal, Pragmatics in Stylistics: A Speech Act Analysis of Soyinka’s Telephone Conversation, In L. Lawal Ed., Stylistics in Theory and Practice, Ilorin: Paragon Books, 1997.
[12] Jacob L. Mey, Pragmatics: An Introduction, 2nd ed., Blackwell, pp. 1-409, 2001.
[13] Abdulrahman Mokbel Mahyoub Hezam, “Character as a Symbol of Culture: A Study of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart,” A Refereed Journal of Northern Europe Academy for Studies & Research Denmark, vol. 22, pp. 3-14, 2024.
[14] Akin Odebunmi, “Names in Chinua Achebe’s Nthills of the Avannah,” Marang: Journal of Language and Literature, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 49-67, 2008.
[15] L. Olaluwoye, “Discourse Values of Names in Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah,” Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, vol. 23, pp. 25-30, 2016.
[16] V. C. Onumajuru, “Affixation and Auxiliaries in Igbo,” M & J Grand Orbit Communications,” pp. 1-166, 2016.
[17] R.A. Putri, N.W. Sartini, and M.S. Fajiri, “The Analysis of Illocutionary Acts of Judges’ Comments America’s Next Top Model and Asia’s Next Top Model Competition: A Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Study,” Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 1885-1898, 2020.
[18] F.N. Rahayu, M.B. Arifin, and S.Ariani, “Illocutionary Act in the Main Characters’ Utterances in Mirror Mirror Movie,” Jurnal Ilmu Budaya, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 175-187, 2018.
[19] Abdolreza Rostami, “Gender-Specific Charactonyms in Persian Translation of John Bunyan’s the Pilgrim’s Progress Part 2,” Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Translation Studies, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 91-106, 2022.
[20] Fibiyola Widya Sari, and N. Saptaningsih, “Analysis of Translation Techniques and Quality of Charactonyms in the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien,” Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, dan Studi Amerika, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 244-251, 2023.
[21] M. Sbisa, “Uptake and Conventionality in Illocution,” Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 33-52, 2009.
[22] J. R. Searle, “Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language,” Cambridge University Press, 1969.
[23] R. Sperber, and G. Wilson, 15 Years After Independence, Whatever Happened to East Timor, Asia Pacific, 1986.
[24] W. Tuti, et al., “The Translation of English Children Literature’s Charactonyms into Indonesian,” International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, vol. 6, no. 9, pp. 340-362, 2019.
[25] M. Umamah, “Charactonym Analysis of First Name Characters in Rowling’s Harry Potter and The Philospher’s Stone novel,” Journal of Electrical Systems, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 1602-1615, 2024.
[26] M.S. Yong, and N. Kris-Ogbodo, “The Pragmatics of Anthroponomastics and Implications for Translation in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus,” Nsukka Journal of Humanities, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 1-13, 2024.