Jonathan Swift’s Registers in A Modest Proposal

Folorunso Oladeji Ladapo

doi:10.7176/rhss/11-16-04

Abstract

This paper attempts to make a stylistic analysis of Jonathan Swift’s registers in A Modest Proposal . In literary writing, a writer chooses his words with care, making sure that the words fit properly into the discourse. This proper choice and use of words is ‘diction’. In carrying out the subtle task of ensuring proper diction, most writers often search for relevant technical terms appropriate to their discourse with a view to achieving realism. Thus, a writer becomes a roving camera, delving into other disciplines so as to achieve this realism. Using the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT), it is discovered that Swift achieves profound literary realism in A Modest Proposal through appropriate diction and navigation in various registers to the extent that one is prone to conclude that Swift’s profession is multi-dimensional in nature, a positive chameleon in terms of his calling; indeed a literary rainbow with several appearances. Though a single human being, he is discovered to be a man of many diverse parts through his diction that cuts across nine professions/disciplines. He is a literary writer who delves into various professions simultaneously to have an organic unity which natural novels have in common. This paper therefore submits that A Modest Proposal is a literary work that exemplifies convergence adjustment aspect of the Communication Accommodating Theory of Howard Giles as a means of effective communication in literary writing. Keywords: Communication Accommodation Theory, Register, Profession, Diction DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-16-04 Publication date: August 31 st 2021

Highlights

The linguistic theory upon which this paper is anchored is Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) which is a “comprehensive conceptual framework describing the ways in which people adjust their communication behaviours during social interactions, their motivations for doing so and the social consequences” (Kate Muir, Adam Joinson, Rachel Cotterill & Nigal Dawdney, alluding to Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991)
Swift was known as a literary man highly reputed in the field of literature but a stylistic study of the registers of A Modest Proposal reveals that, in terms of his calling, he was a positive chameleon; a literary rainbow with at least nine different callings to the extent that one is impressed about the sterling stuff he was made of
An economist should be interested in mathematics, agriculture, politics, catering, sociology and pamphleteering

Summary

Introduction

The linguistic theory upon which this paper is anchored is Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) which is a “comprehensive conceptual framework describing the ways in which people adjust their communication behaviours during social interactions, their motivations for doing so and the social consequences” (Kate Muir, Adam Joinson, Rachel Cotterill & Nigal Dawdney, alluding to Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991). According to Dent (1967) and www.poetryfoundation.org>poets, Swift was a great English satirist, born in Dublin, Ireland, into a poor English family He never knew his father because the father died before he was born. There is enough evidence that Swift disliked Irish culture and considered residence in Ireland as banishment He was interested in Irish affairs and gained extraordinary popularity there with his ‘Drapier’s Letters’ (1724) which was directed against English policy in Ireland. It is pertinent to note that his poor parentage, dislike for Irishand English policies in Ireland greatly influenced his style of writing in A Modest Proposal His other literary works included A Tale of a Tub, The Battle of the Books and Gulliver’s Travels

Jonathan Swift as a Positive Literary Chameleon in a Modest Proposal

Analysis of Registers in A Modest Proposal

Creative Writing

Farming ready to farrow

Conclusion