DECONSTRUCTING “THE LAND IS GREEN”: AN EXAMINATION OFECOLOGICAL DISCOURSES IN PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The relationship between language and the environment has received prominence in recent times across the globe for obvious reason of the threat to mankind caused by the activities of man on the ecology. The environment is threatened because of the quest to industrialize and harmful practices in the environment which destabilize the ecology. The clear and present danger has raised awareness on the need for nations
and peoples in the whole wide world by environmental campaigning organizations to beware of the looming threats to our planet.

Ecolinguists have joined in raising awareness over the threats to ecology, thereby raising the bar for a global action in order to save planet earth. This study attempts to appraise the ecological awareness campaigns put in place by the Plateau State government in conserving the environment. News reports, campaigns, and public discourses can influence the
thinking of citizens and thereby serve to correct harmful practices. This study uses Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to highlight the relationship that exists between language and ecology and as language use can affect the ecology.
Moreover, SFL contains tools for Marxist practical and analytical tools to explore ecological discourses. Therefore, using Marxist ecological concept as the ecosophy, we adopt the analytical tools of cohesion and appraisal of SFL to analyze the language features in some news reports selected from The Nigeria Standard newspaper on the environment in Plateau State. The analysis will show how the Marxist ecological concept is publicized and how it influences citizens’ ecological awareness through language.