Naudé, J. A.Lake, J.Amaechi, Celestine Emeka2025-04-282025-05-052011http://hdl.handle.net/11660/13049Dissertation (M.A.(Language Practice))--University of the Free State, 2011𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗲 Many young (21–50 years) Nigerians are located across the length and breadth of the South African Republic. The cities of Gauteng are home to the bulk of these people from all walks of life. Unofficially, there are approximately 50 000 Nigerians living in limbo as refugees (Tromp, 2006:8). Indeed, the Nigerian community in diaspora has become part and parcel of the great nation of South Africa. In the South African community, there is a stereotyping of Nigerians with regard to issues relating to justice, crime, security and home affairs. The South African media has severely ‘accused’ Nigerians, especially those in the private sector of the economy, of causing certain suburban problems and with the mayhem often found in the city centres. That a gigantic number of 50 000 undocumented Nigerians are said to reside in South Africa, clearly supports the allegation that “foreigners are unacceptably encroaching on the informal sector and therefore on the livelihoods of our huge numbers of unemployed people” (Danso & McDonald, 2001:124). In the words of Fowler (1991:121): “It stands to reason that a newspaper is likely to project such beliefs as are conducive to the commercial success of its proprietors generally”. The South African media, i.e. television, radio and print media play a role in the entrenchment of this stereotyping. It is therefore of value to launch an investigation into how Nigerians are portrayed by the South African media, and by newspapers in particular. The project will serve as a relevant contribution to the field of Critical Linguistics (CL) and it is hoped that it will provide study material for aspiring critical linguists and teachers of language. Furthermore, as the South African print media has published widely on the activities and attitudes of Nigerian nationals residing here, it has become necessary to conduct research on this phenomenon thereby, thus setting the stage for other researchers to delve further into this domain. 𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗗 𝗗𝗢𝗖𝗨𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗔 𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗟 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗬! ___________________________________________________________________enDissertationUniversity of the Free State