Isocolon in EDM Sibiya’s novels: A stylo-syntactic evaluation

Abstract

There seems to be no study so far that has interpreted isocolon from a descriptive linguistic point of view. Studies conducted on isocolon have considered this aspect as merely a poetic tool and have focused solely on its artistic function. It is for this reason that this aspect has been examined mainly in the genre of poetry. The main aim of this paper was therefore to provide a different perspective on isocolon by considering its syntactic patterns with reference to the genre of novels. Such an approach was an attempt to uncover not only the artistic function, but also the form (linguistic description) of this aspect. The discourse is presented through the lens of linguistic stylistics, which advocates a linguistic approach to style in literature. This approach seeks to objectify a literary text in a scientific manner through descriptive linguistics. Discourse analysis theory was also employed, since an investigation was made into Sibiya’s literary works and the influence of context. As novels served as primary sources, the study adopted textual analysis as a qualitative research technique.