A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF SELECTED REPORTED CASES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN ELECTRONIC NEWSPAPERS

Abstract

Discourse analysis is a polymorphous concept that investigates all forms of discourses such as domestic violence. Domestic violence is very rampant today; and one of the major causes is the misuse of verbal and non-verbal discourses among the couples. This study analyses selected reported cases of domestic violence among the couples in Nigeria. The Simple Random Sampling Technique was used to gather data from Nigeria’s online newspapers, The Guardian, Punch, Nigerian Tribune and Daily Trust. This is a qualitative descriptive research that adopts an ex post facto design because data are not manipulated at all. The theoretical frameworks were Family System Theory and Symbolic Interactionalism. One of the major findings was that domestic violence among the couples in Nigeria is a product of seemingly enduring and unexposed verbal abuses or batteries of either couple (in abused marriages). The resultant effects of domestic violence are enormous. They range from physical assaults to battery; and sometimes, untimely death. The study therefore, recommends that appropriate communication strategies, love speeches and tolerance should be expressed often by couples. And if it is difficult to get these, separation is therefore recommended. This may minimize or curtail incessant domestic violence among couples.