Abstract
Previous studies on J.P. Clark-Bekederemo’s poetry have concentrated on literary and some linguistic features, highlighting the relation of theme and figuration in the works. However, such studies have paid little attention to the role lexical relations play in foregrounding stylistic functions, which is very crucial for a comprehensive interpretation and understanding of the poet’s idiolect. This study, therefore, investigates the stylistic value of sense relations, lexis and thematization, and indigenous idioms in the texts.Michael Halliday’s three metafunctions of language (i.e. ideational, interpersonal, and textual), within the broad discourse-stylistic theoretical framework, were used for the analysis, especially as they reflect the interface between form and function. Six volumes, which cut across the three distinctive phases of the poet’s creative career (i.e. early: 1958-1968, A Decade of Tongues; later: 1970-1988, Casualties, State of the Union, Mandela and other Poems; latest: 1999-date, Of Sleep and Old Age, Once Again a Child), were purposively selected for a detailed investigation.The textual metafunction has particularly facilitated the investigation of synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, contradiction, lexis and thematization, and cultural idioms, as elements of signification and cohesion in the texts, in relation to their social and ideological context. The study reveals that, lexical patterns are deliberately deployed to convey aspects of meaning and achieve cohesion in the texts. Specifically, synonymy functions as an element of semantic unity; Antonymy, of semantic contrast; Hyponymy, of inclusive meaning; Contradiction, of paradoxical relations; Lexis, of thematization; and indigenous idioms, of cultural meaning. It also reveals that all these devices function as elements of cohesion and coherence in the texts. The study demonstrates that the choices a particular writer makes from alternative linguistic resources at his disposal, are determined by the subject matter and other social and contextual variables. It, therefore, enhances the understanding and interpretation of J.P. Clark-Bekederemo’s poetic idiolect in particular, and literary discourse in general.
Highlights
This study applies the methods and insights of linguistics to the description and interpretation of J.P
The need for a linguistic study of literary discourse is based on the notion that the literary text is constructed with language
Stylistics, on the other hand, investigates how a writer or speaker deploys the phenomenon of language to communicate. It is the branch of general linguistics that focuses on style, in works of literature
Summary
This study applies the methods and insights of linguistics to the description and interpretation of J.P. Lexis, as a concept, has a distinct identity from other traditional levels of linguistic study or interpretation, as it refers to the word-stock of a language from which writers and speakers make choices for self-expression according to their purpose or intended meaning. The writer must choose the appropriate words to effectively convey the intended meaning and achieve aesthetic beauty This is inevitable because a writer must use linguistic resources imaginatively to have the desired effect on the reader or audience. According to Alo (1998:5), the term function has two meanings: Firstly, it refers to the specific uses to which the writer or speaker puts the language (e.g. description, explanation, argument, persuasion, humour, etc). The critical point is that the specific communicative or social function that a speaker or writer deploys language to perform has the potentials to shape its use. According to Ogunsiji (2000:53), the “social circumstances” of language use are pertinent in determining stylistic meaning because, “... language is not a monolithic entity – it varies according to some factors like geographical location, subject matter, medium (spoken or written), sex, age, role relations etc.”
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