Abstract
This study examines and explicates the lexico-semantic parameters, which Joseph Edoki deploys to convey his themes in The Upward Path, his second novel. Edoki is a contemporary Nigerian novelist who is preoccupied with the socio-political problems in Africa with the hope of a brighter future. The novel is the story of Mr. Gaga, a Rhwandan American PhD student, on a fact finding mission in Savannah, an African country, for his Thesis entitled ‘’ Why Africa is Underdeveloped’’. For failing to portray Africa in line with the negative views about the continent in his proposal, Gaga’s supervisor recalls him back to America in anger. But in defense of his conviction and research findings about Africa, Gaga remains in Savannah to complete his Thesis. This study is of significance because as a linguistic study, it will serve as a springboard to future researches in the language of African literature. Moreover, the good governance, which Edoki presents in Savannah, the fictional country, in which the novel under study is set, is a blue print for the development of Africa.
Highlights
The language of a literary text is studied at various levels, one of which is the lexico-semantic level
This study examines and explicates the lexico-semantic parameters, which Joseph Edoki deploys to convey his themes in The Upward Path, his second novel
This paper examines and expounds the lexico-semantic features deployed by Edoki to convey his artistic visions in his novel
Summary
The language of a literary text is studied at various levels, one of which is the lexico-semantic level. Unlike other African writers who are pessimistic in their treatment of socio-political issues in their works, Edoki displays optimism in addressing the socio-political problems in Africa, with the hope of a brighter future He is an African contemporary literary artist, whose literature creates visionary ideas geared towards the solution of the problems responsible for underdevelopment in Africa. Ugwu asserts that the implication of this is that some measures of the local contents and the syntax of the indigenous languages are transferred into the English translations of the expressions, thereby creating new forms of English expressions She further stresses that the conditioning effects of translations on the use of English in Nigerian prose affects all types of verbal literary forms used in the novels. We commence this study with the examination and explication of how Edoki utilizes the verbal literary forms to create meanings and messages in the text under study
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