Ethnography of Communication in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not To Blame: A Pragmatic Study

Abstract

Ola Rotimi’s The god’s are not to blame has been subjected to various forms of criticisms. However, none, to the best of our knowledge, has delved into analysing the text using Dell Hymes' Ethnography of Communication. It is this gap that this research intends to fill. The study takes a look at eleven selected exchanges in Ola Rotimi’s The gods are not to blame from a pragmatic point of view. It also applies Dell Hymes' theory on utterance meaning i.e. the “ethnography of communication” otherwise known as the SPEAKING Acronym, to the text. The study reveals that the dominant setting in the play is the king’s palace. The act with the highest number of manifestation is the informative act, while the preponderant key in the text is the melancholic key. These, therefore, relate to the themes of death and royalty, praised in the work, among others.