Intergender communication as intralingual translation in Ubang, Southeastern Nigeria

Abstract

The Ubang language in Obudu, Southeastern Nigeria, is asymmetric because communication among males and females or between them flows through two distinct linguistic codes. This phenomenon tends to challenge the nature of occurrence and use of language(s) in any given community. Is it a natural or a societal phenomenon? How does such intergender communication occur? To seek responses to these questions, this study sets out to interrogate the nature of male-female discourse in Ubang by observing 18 Ubang language speakers (nine males and nine females) in naturally occurring communication in their physical environment and analyzing their conversations using Peircean semiotics, the interpretative theory of translation and Susan Petrilli’s (2003) tripod of intralingual translation. It was discovered that male-female communication in Ubang is more a function of intralingual translation.