Akin Odebunmi is a Yoruba Nigerian Professor of

Pragmatics In linguistics and the philosophy of language, pragmatics is the study of how Context (linguistics), context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship ...

and Discourse Analysis in the Department of English,

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public university located in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Initially founded as the University College Ibadan in 1948, it maintained its affiliation with the University of London. In 1962, it became an independe ...

. Born on December 21, 1967, he is a widely traveled scholar in pragmatics and intercultural studies.

Professional life

As an

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation () is a foundation that promotes international academic cooperation between scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad. Established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, it is funded by t ...

Georg Foster Experienced Research Fellow, he worked with Prof. Dr Peter Auer at the

Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies The Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) is the international research college of the University of Freiburg, Germany. The institute was initially part of the university's proposal for funding in the Excellence Initiative in 2007, an in ...

, an international research centre of excellence of the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

between April 2010 and March 2011.He has also worked and is still working with the Peter Auer Research group at the Hermann Paul Centre of Linguistics, University of Freiburg. He is a member of professional bodies such as the English Scholars Association of Nigeria (ESAN) (formerly Nigerian English Studies Association - NESA), the Reading Association of Nigeria
RAN
and the International Pragmatics Association,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. He had supervised several

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

and

postgraduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

research works while also serving as an external examiner in many universities within and outside Nigeria.

Publications

His papers have appeared in ''Studia Anglica Posnaniensia'', ''Pragmatics'', ''Intercultural Pragmatics'', ''Linguistik Online'', ''California Linguistic Note'', ''Marang'', ''Anglogermanica'', ''Africa: Revista Do Centro De Estudos Africanos'', ''Nordic Journal of African Studies'', ''Review of Cognitive Linguistics'', ''Pragmatics and Society'', ''Pragmatics and Cognition'', ''Multilingua'', ''Iranian Journal of Society, Culture and Language'' and ''Journal of Pragmatics''. He is the co-editor (with Arua E. Arua and Sailal Arimi) of
Language, Gender and Politics: A Festschrift for Yisa Kehinde Yusuf
', ''Language, Grammar and Applied Linguistics: Essays in Honour of Wale Osisanwo'' (with Ayo Osisanwo, Stella Ekpe and Helen Aduke), ''Face and Identity Construction in HIV/AIDS Discourse'' (with Joyce Mathangwane) and ''

Language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

, Context and Society: A Festschrift for Wale Adegbite'' (with Kehinde A. Ayoola). Other co-edited works are; ''Style in Religious Communication in Nigeria'' (with Babajide Adeyemi), ''Perspectives on Media Discourse'' (with Rotimi Taiwo, and Akin Adetunji), ''Studies in Slang and Slogans'' (with Sola Babatunde, Akin Adetunji and Mahfouz Adedimeji), ''Language, Literature and Discourse'' (with Ayo Ogunsiji and Ayo Kehinde), ''The Sociology of English in Nigeria'' (with Akinmade Akande), English in the Theological Context (with Moses Alo), ''Essays on language, Communication and Literature in Africa'' (with Joyce Mathangwane), and ''Analysing Language and Humor in Online Discourse'' (with Rotimi Taiwo, and Akin Adetunji). He is also the author of ''Meaning in English:an introduction''. He has contributed to the chapters of several books and journals while also writing book reviews. Over the years, Odebunmi has become an authority in non-native English usage in hospital interactions.

Refereeing and review services

He has provided refereeing and reviewing services for

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

-based ''Pragmatics and Society'',

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

-based ''Nordic Journal of African Studies'',

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

-based ''Journal of Modern Languages'', US-based '' California Linguistic Notes'' and the International Journal of Society, Culture and Language.

Research interests

His research interests lie in pragmatics, discourse analysis,

semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

and medical discourse.

Academic philosophy

He believes that discourses and texts, in large measure, offer meaning within a global and or local contextual network backgrounded by interactive beliefs, and translate as explicit or implicit communicative cues by the degree of inclusiveness or exclusiveness of participants in discourse situations.

Abbronym

In a book edited by E. Adegbija and A. Ofuya titled ''English and Communication Skills for MESTA Students'' and published in 1996, Odebunmi coined the term 'abbronym'. An abbronym is a combination of

abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening (linguistics), shortening, contraction (grammar), contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened for ...

and

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

. Its lexematic variants are abbronymic, abbronymisation and abbronymically. It has since been widely used in Nigerian academic discourses.

Administrative experience

Odebunmi served as the Sub-Dean (Postgraduate Studies) at the Faculty of Arts,

between August 2011 and 2014. He was in the Faculty's Publication Committee between 2007 and 2010. At the Department of English, UI, he has been Editor of the ''Ibadan Journal of English Studies'' since 2013 prior to which he was Deputy Editor between 2006 and 2010. He was also an ex-Postgraduate Co-coordinator, Member of the Departmental Finance Committee and Member of Local Organising Committee for International Conference on African Literature organised by the department. He served as Deputy Editor of ''Africa: Journal of Contemporary Issues'' between 2003 and 2007 and that of ''International Journal of African Culture and Ideas'' from 2004 to 2006. He also headed the Local Organising Committee for UI Faculty of Arts International Conference held in March, 2017.

Personal life

Beyond academics, Odebunmi finds leisure in

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

and

drumming Drumming may refer to: * the act of playing the drums or other percussion instruments * Drummer, a musician who plays a drum, drum kit, or drums * ''Drumming'' (Reich), a musical composition written by Steve Reich in 1971 for percussion ensemble ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odebunmi, Akin 1967 births Living people Obafemi Awolowo University alumni University of Ilorin alumni Academic staff of the University of Ibadan Yoruba academics Linguists from Nigeria