Verbal choice in the ideological construction of romance and migration in Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah

Abstract

A novel is a composite of ideologies about individuals, groups, events or communities. Central to the construction of ideology is a clause, which survives on the existence of a verb, which could reveal an attitude to a particular ideology. This paper focuses on Chimamanda Adichie’s choice of verbs in constructing the two ideologies of romance and migration in Americanah. While data is randomly drawn from the novel, insights from Systemic Functional Grammar are useful in revealing the functions of the verbal items in the construction of romance and migration. The focus on the verb is justified since the choice of verb will take a central place in ideological construction. Findings show that some of the verbs used in depicting the two ideologies have a direct value of the ideology depicted while others rely on their contextual significance in “conjuring up” the intended ideologies. Specifically, the verbs of romance, which are either finite or non-finite (but usually lexically extensive), reveal the phenomenon at physical and psychological levels, but there are also some verbs that have emotive value, depicting a character’s assessment of other character’s perception or judgment of a phenomenon. The verbs of migration, which are either copula or extensive, are inclined towards depicting direction, linguistic competence of immigrants, their hope, disposition and challenges in America. The study concludes that a close examination of the verbs used in constructing romance and migration in the novel is a gateway to a further understanding of the text.