A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF VACANCY ADVERTISEMENTS IN SELECTED NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS

Abstract

This paper utilized the resources of stylistic to analysis the language of vacancy advertisements in selected Nigerian Newspapers. This study therefore hopes to contribute to the novel use of language of advertising in the media by revealing the style mostly used in advertising job post in the Nigerian newspapers. This study is based on the theoretical framework of Burke’s Functional Stylistics. Burke (2014) remarks that functionalist stylisticians are “concerned with the ways in which the formal properties of language are used pragmatically” (p. 46). Advertising is one of the ways to let the public know about a product or service and the newspaper is considered to be one of the most authentic sources of advertising. From the analysis, it has been found that copywriters use bolder print for a stylistic effect and for easy grasping and understanding of the information by way of providing explicit messages to the candidates. Besides, bulletins are used to give direction to the applicants. It is also a form of attention catching device; while simple, complex and compound sentences are used to enable the readers recognize the importance attached to each piece of information, which is a necessary procedure if the reader is to appreciate the importance of each set of information. This study has therefore shown that vacancy advertisements in the Nigerian newspapers manifest unique stylistic features under the graphological, and grammatical considerations such as capitalization, the use of abbreviation, the unconventional use of capital letters and bold or small prints. The analysis equally demonstrates linguistic peculiarities such as sentence structures like simple, compound, complex sentences as well as catchy words and phrases.