Analysis of Gender and Language Use by Triads in Family Matters in Selected Contemporary Nollywood Movies

Abstract

Gender linguistics provides insights on how men and women approach their social worlds as in the case of family matters. This paper examines the strategies used, the diction, the silences and alliances crafted/formed when third parties intervene in dyadic conflicts. Two films from Nollywood are sampled: Under fire by Chidi Chikere (2003) and Living with my mother in-Law (2016) by Theodore Anyanji. The questions developed are how do Nollywood movies portray third party interventions in crisis between husband and wife? How is language use vital in communication in crisis situations? What linguistic aspects reveal gender-based ideologies in such situations? It was hypothesised that the involvement of third parties in family related crisis helps in fuelling the crisis; tearing the parties apart. Through the use of linguistic intensification strategies, women and men are represented as sharing distinct functions in relation to family matters. Three theories were used to analyse the movies:  Multimodality Kress (2009), the Family System Theory by Bowen (2018) and Social Conflict Theory of the Family by Karl Max (1818-1883). The results show that third parties are seen as home breakers, to the cause of family conflicts, pretentious people, trouble makers and people with bad influences. We concluded that triads use language differently to intensify conflicts rather than solving them and they should be avoided.