Professor Akinola Odebunmi
About
Akin Odebunmi is a full professor of Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis at the Department of English, University of Ibadan. He is specifically interested in linguistic pragmatics, literary pragmatics, clinical pragmatics, cultural pragmatics and critical discourse analysis. He is a fellow of the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Freiburg, Germany. He was a visiting professor at the Department of Language and Communication, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, and is currently a visiting professor at the Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana.
He is a research collaborator with Professor Dr Karin Birkner of Bayreuth University, Germany on the three-year (2021-2024) German Government-sponsored project, “Interactive Dynamics and Contexts of Nigerian and German Doctor-Patient-Encounters”. He is also the principal investigator in the Nigerian TETFund-sponsored multi-disciplinary project, “Using Memoirs as Antidotes to Nigeria’s Political Quagmire and as Tools for National Integration”. He is equally collaborating with Anne Barron of Leuphana University, Luneburg, Germany and two Alexander von Humboldt fellows on a pilot study on dating discourses in Nigeria and Ireland. He is also developing two theoretical models of pragmatics, namely “the afro-cognition pragmatics theory” and “pragmatics for social interventions”.
Akin Odebunmi is an editor of Contemporary Journal of African Studies, an associate editor of Bibliography of Pragmatics and a consultation board member of Pragmatics and Society.
He was the pioneer national president of the Pragmatics Association of Nigeria between January 2018 and June 2024, and is currently, the president of the African Pragmatics Association. He is also a member of the board of the International Pragmatics Association.
Akin Odebunmi has supervised 27 PhD theses in several aspects of pragmatics, discourse analysis and stylistics.
Education
University of Ilorin, Nigeria – 1988-1992
University of Ilorin, Nigeria – 1995-1997
Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria – 1999-2004
Research Interest
Linguistic pragmatics, Discourse Analysis, Medical Pragmatics and Cultural Discourse
Publications
LIST OF SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Chapters in Books
(1) Odebunmi, Akin. 2015. “Omoluabi”. In Ostman, J. Ola and Verschueren (eds) Handbook of Pragmatics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(2) Odebunmi, Akin. 2022. “Nigerian Hospital Setting Discourse”. In Verschueren, Jef and Jan Ola Ostman (eds) Handbook of Pragmatics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 188-220.
(3) Odebunmi, Akin. 2023. “Conceptualising the Heart in Yorùbá Cultural Contexts”. In Baranyi, Judith and Katalin Sipőcz (eds) Embodiment in Cross Linguistic Studies: The Heart. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 243-266. [ISBN: 978-90-04-54864-0]
Journal Articles
(4) Okunoye, N. and Odebunmi, A. 2003. “Different Story, Different Strategy: A Comparative Study of Achebe’s A Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah”. Studia Anglica Posnaniensia. 39: 289-302.
(5) Odebunmi, A. 2006. “A Pragmatic Reading of Ahmed Yerima’s Proverbs in Yemoja, Attahiru and Dry Leaves on Ukan Trees”. Intercultural Pragmatics 3(2): 153-169.
(6) Odebunmi, A. 2006. “Locutions in Medical Discourse in South-Western Nigeria”. Pragmatics. 16(1): 25-42.
(7) Adegbite, W. and Odebunmi A. 2006. “Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient Interactions: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication”. Nordic Journal of African Studies. 15 (4):499-519.
(8) Odebunmi, A. 2008. “Pragmatic Strategies of Diagnostic News Delivery in South-western Nigerian Hospitals”. Linguistik Online. 36 (4): 21-37.
(9) Odebunmi, A. 2009. “Politeness in Print Media Political Interviews in Nigeria”. California Linguistic Notes. XXXIV (1): 1-26.
(10) Odebunmi, A. 2010. “Ideology and Body Part Metaphors in Nigerian English”. Review of Cognitive Linguistics. 8(2): 272-299.
(11) Odebunmi, A. 2011. “Concealment in Consultative Encounters in Nigerian Hospitals”. Pragmatics. 21 (4): 619-645.
(12) Odebunmi, A. 2012. “The baby dey chuk chuk: Language and Emotions in Doctor-client Interaction”. Pragmatics and Society 3 (2): 120-148. Scopus.
(13) Odebunmi, A. 2012. “Participation Configuration in a Nigerian University Campus”. Pragmatics and Cognition, 20 (1): 186-213.
(14) Odebunmi, A. 2013. “Multiple Codes, Multiple Impressions: An Analysis of Doctor-client encounters in Nigeria”. Multilingua 32 (3): 373-403.
(15) Odebunmi, Akin. 2016. "You didn't give me to go and buy': Negotiating Accountability for Poor Health in Post-recommendation Medical Consultations". Journal of Pragmatics 93: 1-15.
(16) Chiluwa, Innocent and Odebunmi, Akin. 2016. “On terrorist attacks in Nigeria: Stance and engagement in conversations on Nairaland”. Communication and the Public 1/1: 91-109.
(17) Odebunmi, Akin. 2021. “Negotiating Patients’ Therapy Proposals in Paternalistic and Humanistic Clinics”. Pragmatics. 31 (3): 430-454.
(18) Odebunmi, Akin. 2021. “Discursive Repetitions and Voices in Nigerian Clinical Meetings”. Ghana Journal of Linguistics. 10.1: 27–72.
(19) Odebunmi, Akin and Oluwatomi, Adeoti. 2024. “Discursive Management of Patients’ Disagreement with Doctors’ Recommendations in Nigerian Hospital Visits”. Discourse Studies. 26.1: 67-87.
(20) Odebunmi, Akin. 2024. “In my father’s house’: Conceptualising the Pragmatics of Cognitions”. Contemporary Journal of African Studies. 11. 1: 128- 155.