Yoruba films and the problem of toneless orthography

Abstract

Much research attention has been devoted to Yorùbá films, and the prominent position they now occupy in Nigeria (Jeyifo (1972), Opubor and Nwuneli (1979), Ògúndélé (1997), Balógun (2002) and Àlàmú (2010) etc) However, to the best of our knowledge, none of these research works has attempted to take a critical look at the problem associated with the use of tones and diacritics in Yorùbá films. The major issue that engages our attention in this work is the problem of ambiguity occasioned by producers‟ refusal to make adequate use of tones and diacritics in writing the titles of their films. Through the purposive sampling method, fifteen films were carefully selected and watched. In a tabular form, the researcher listed out these titles, their possible interpretations, the intended titles and the procedure of getting the real titles was analysed