This study employs the Multimodal Discourse Analysis to examine the construction and communication of divine sovereignty in selected songs by Nigerian contemporary gospel artist Dunsin Oyekan. Drawing on Kress and van Leeuwen’s Multimodal Discourse Analysis and Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics, the research analyses how linguistic, visual, rhetorical and performative modes interact to create meaning about God’s supreme authority and control in the songs Imole De, Fragrance to Fire, At All Cost, More Than a Song, I Will Follow, You Are Good, Anthem (Raise a Voice), No Words, God, Breathe, The Glory Experience, and Yahweh. These songs were purposively selected because they made numerous use of the multimodal tools of language from different interesting points of view to portray the notion of divine sovereignty. The songs were subjected to detailed multimodal analysis examining lexical choices, rhetorical elements, metaphorical constructions, visual imagery and gestural communication. Findings reveal that Oyekan employs multiple semiotic resources which includes warfare metaphors, royal imagery, indigenous Yoruba expressions, extended vocalizations, and emphatic gestures to construct a multidimensional representation of divine sovereignty that encompasses transcendence, immanence, and intimate relationship. The selected songs present divine sovereignty not merely as abstract theological doctrine but as experiential reality mediated through affective engagement and embodied worship. This study contributes to the growing scholarship on contemporary African gospel music as a site of theological meaning-making and demonstrates the analytical value of multimodal approaches for understanding religious discourse in digital media contexts.
Febisola Olowolayemo Bright, PhD.
Department of English,
Aminu Saleh College of Education Azare,
Bauchi State, Nigeria
Uchechukwu Ifeoluwa Nnamdi Ph.D
Department of English,
Crawford University, Ogun State, Nigeria