FEATURES OF DISCOURSE IN THE INTERACTION AMONG MARKET WOMEN IN OBA MARKET, BENIN

This research investigates the features of discourse in the interaction among market women and their customers in Oba Market, Benin in Edo state. The study is restricted to the. spoken language as used by market women. This was done through the method of participant observation. The researcher was highly involved by tape-recording their voices during their business dealings. The raw data were collected in pidgin English but rendered in correct English and analyzed using Sinclair and Coulthard model of analysis developed in 1975. It was discovered that interactional
talk is the bedrock behind every successful business transaction. Sales are made possible by these women through various techniques which they employed in form of clues, prompts, bids which, according to Sinclair and Coulthard, are means through which buyers are convinced to patronize their goods. Sales are eventually made possible as the end product of business transaction.

BY Virginia N. Azotam, Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Arts NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY, AWKA