Peace Linguistics is a branch of linguistics aimed at helping users of languages to create conditions for communicating peacefully in varied contexts by humanizing the use of language and raising awareness of individuals’ communicative roles to interact in a dignified manner. This field of linguistics is borne out of the need for the use of language to achieve peace in the global context since conflicts are inevitable in linguistic interactions. This paper examines how Peace Linguistics could be harnessed in teaching peace through humanizing the English language in a second language situation as Nigeria. The study presents different teaching pedagogies that could encourage students to use the target language creatively and learn to humanize the language to harmonize disagreements, alleviate communicative aggression, and build communicative dignity to achieve peaceful co-existence. The need to be intentional in creating long lasting states of peace using language is through peace oriented linguistic education; to this end this study explores the use of certain positivizers, word classes, peaceful phraseologies, polite expressions and classroom discourse principles that students could learn to be able to interact in a dignified manner in order to reduce or alleviate communicative tension, as a means of promoting peace and human rights globally for the world to be a better place to live.

Authors:
Cecilia Folasade Ojetunde, Lagos State University of Education, Nigeria

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Cecilia Ojetunde is an Associate Professor of English at Lagos State University of Education, Oto/Ijanikin, Lagos, Nigeria, where she teaches Applied Linguistics and English Syntax

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