The Role of Stylistics in the Identification of Participants’ Relationship in Poems: An Analysis of Wole Soyinka’s Abiku
Keywords:
stylistics, criticism, synergy, participants’ relationshipAbstract
This synergises literary and linguistics methodologies to show that this combination promises better results as far as the interpretation of literature is concerned. It is motivated by the existing disagreement between literary critics and linguistics analysts who create the impression of being different sets of professionals instead of partners in language scholarship. The aim is to show that literary and linguistics analyses are two complementary approaches that can be used for the study of Soyinka’s “Abiku” specifically and literature generally. The objective is to generate stylistic evidence for the interpretation of Soyinka’s “Abiku” in such a way that the participants in the poem are identified and their roles interpreted for the poem’s better understanding. Because stylistics is conceived here as the point at which literary and linguistics methodologies meet for better understanding of texts generally and literature in particular, the methodology is a blend of literary criticism and linguistics analysis guided by M.A.K. Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) in such a way that the literary statements made about the poem are supported by linguistic evidence. The key finding is that two thematic paths identify two participants in the poem: Abiku on one hand and Abiku’s mother or the community on the other. In terms of participants’ relationship, verifiable evidence proves that between Abiku and its mother or the community, Abiku operates from the position of strength. It is therefore recommended that since the building block of literature is language, integrating the science of language (linguistics) into literary analysis offers higher yields than where either of the two is adopted independently.
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