Contextual Dynamics and Language Choice in Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman and Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame

This study undertakes a sociolinguistic exploration of the intricate relationship between context and language choice within two seminal works of Nigerian drama: Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman and Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame. The mastery of a language is not merely a function of grammatical competence but is profoundly demonstrated by the ability to select linguistic forms appropriate to a given context. This research investigates the contextual factors that govern language choice in these plays, which serve as rich repositories of sociolinguistic phenomena. Employing a qualitative methodology grounded in discourse analysis, specifically the SPEAKING model associated with the ethnography of communication, the study analyzes 115 exchanges from 16 purposively sampled excerpts. The findings reveal that the contexts influencing language choice are multifaceted, primarily delineated along the formal and informal axes. These contexts are shaped by a confluence of factors including the physical setting, the social and hierarchical status of the participants, the cultural worldview embedded in the speech community, and the overall atmosphere of the communicative event. The study concludes that context exerts a determinative influence on the linguistic choices made by the characters. The participants in the plays adeptly navigate their linguistic repertoires, deploying language in a manner that is congruent with the situational and cultural exigencies they face. This research contributes to the understanding of sociolinguistic dynamics in literary texts, highlighting the interplay between language, culture, and society as portrayed in Nigerian dramatic literature.