Abstract
Previous linguistic studies on Gabriel Okara’s The Voice have concentrated on the experimental technique of transliteration which the author adopted in the text, in response to the lingering problem of language in African literature. Such studies have paid little attention to discourse features used by the author, which are critical to the characterization of the language of the text. With Halliday’s systemic functional grammar, within the broad discourse-stylistic theoretical framework, as the analytical model, this study, therefore, examines the text as social discourse, focusing on paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy and collocation, respectively, which help the author not only to convey meaning, but also to achieve cohesion and coherence in the text. The study enhances the understanding and interpretation of the language of Gabriel Okara’s text in particular and literary discourse in general.
Highlights
According to Hornby (2000), Discourse is...the use of language in speech and writing in order to produce meaning; language that is studied, usually in order to see how different parts of a text are connected
Unlike other modern linguistic models, which study invented or isolated aspects of language, Discourse-Stylistics examines the form and function of linguistic constructs which are beyond the sentence, in specific social, cultural or historical contexts, as explored in the given discourse
The Significant point is that none of these works examines the text as social discourse, using the discourse-stylistic theoretical framework
Summary
The use of language in speech and writing in order to produce meaning; language that is studied, usually in order to see how different parts of a text are connected. We shall adopt the functional approach to discourse analysis- analyzing units of language which work in sequence to produce coherent and cohesive meaning, in a given social and pragmatic context. Against this backdrop, Halliday’s systemic functional model, within the broad discourse-stylistic theoretical framework, would be used as the analytical model for our analysis of the text. Unlike other modern linguistic models, which study invented or isolated aspects of language, Discourse-Stylistics examines the form and function of linguistic constructs which are beyond the sentence, in specific social, cultural or historical contexts, as explored in the given discourse. The Significant point is that none of these works examines the text as social discourse, using the discourse-stylistic theoretical framework
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