A STYLISTIC STUDY OF ADICHIE'S THE THINGS AROUND YOUR NECK AND PURPLE HIBISCUS.
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Background to the Study
A lot of similarities exist in the definitions of language. From another angle, there are highly technical usages of the word “language” reflecting the way the term has been applied figuratively to all forms of human behaviour such as language of writing, media, politics, music, law and advertisement. Halliday (1971) also succinctly puts the function of language thus:
Language serves for the expression of content. The speaker or writer embodies language, his experiences of the internal world of his Consciousness, his reaction, cognition, and perception and also his Linguistic acts of speaking and understanding.
The major challenge about defining language is that of trying to summarise its contents in single sentences. According to Sapir (1921:8), language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, thoughts and emotions by means of voluntarily produced symbols. This definition presents language as a primarily human characteristic for the purpose of communication. To Chomsky (1957:13), language is a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length as set of physical patterns that are arbitrarily combined to make the communication process effective. From Chomsky‟s definition, it‟s obvious that language consists of several elements each with a different way of operation but combined together to produce unlimited constructions. Therefore to Chomsky, language is a functional element used by humans for the purpose of communication. From the perspective of the above definition of language by Sapir (1921:8) language communicates ideas, emotions, thoughts, and desires which, when put down in a literary text, is referred to as literature.
Stylistic analysis which this research focuses on is the end product of two modes of analysis. That is, the literary and linguistic approaches to the analysis of literary texts. While the
role of the literary analyst is to bring out the style that is the literary elements used by the writer to interpret themes, the linguist on his part takes the codes as his domain, and the meaning of the work becomes relevant as far as it illustrates the use of language. Widdowson (1975) explains the function of literary stylistics as the interpretation and evaluation of literary text as works of art, and that the primary concern of the analysis is to explicate the individual message of the writer. Widdowson also clarifies the function of the linguistic stylistic analyst as the decoder of messages and exemplifiers of how the codes are constructed. This study is also aware of the difficulties and limitations of the linguistic stylistic analysis of a literary text such as properly describing the themes and methods developed in linguistics. Therefore, Halliday (1971:25) cautions for example that:
Linguistics is not and will never be the whole of literary analysis, and only the literary analysis not the linguistic analysis can determine the place of linguistics in literary studies. But if a text is to be described at all, then it should be described properly and this means by the themes and methods developed in linguistics. The subject, which precisely shows how language works.
Considering the interrelationship between linguistics and language, and specifically the fact that linguistics is an illustration of the use of language and how language works, one can conclude by agreeing with Leech and Short (1981:74) that:
Every analysis of style is an attempt to find the artistic principles underlying a writer‟s choice of language. All writers and for that matter, all texts, have their individual qualities. Therefore the features which recommend themselves to the attention in one text will not be important in another text by the same or different authors.
This makes it possible for us to study the stylistic choices made by Chimamanda Adichie in her texts Purple Hibiscus (2005) and thing around your neck (2009), where she used the novel to explore the aspects of the challenging realities in the Nigerian society and reflections of important events in Nigeria‟s history and culture, especially that of the „Biafra literature‟. In these texts, Nigeria‟s culture and history are presented with details which illustrate local variations and socio-cultural factors that inspire creativity. According to Nnolim (2001:290), the Nigerian novel is perceived as “the sum total of literary conventions and narrative habits that have been put together to assume what may now be referred to as indigenous ingredients that wear a peculiar Nigerian face in the corpus of the African Novel.”
Therefore, Adichie illuminates the complexities of human experience in her texts, inspired by events in her native Nigeria. In her novels Purple Hibiscus (2005) and Thing around your neck (2009), she is able to reveal a level of creativity with her display of stylistic variations peculiar just to her style of writing. This creates the background on which this research will be carried out.
The Contemporary Nigerian Novel
The Nigerian novel from its inception explores all the aspects of the challenging realities in the Nigerian society. Thus, it has always engaged itself with the reflections of important events in the Nigerian history and culture. In this regard, it is not surprising therefore that that events in the life of a society provide the writer with the materials in the process of artistic products (Nnolim, 2001:190).
The Nigerian novel has its roots in what may be called the Regional perspective. Most of the early novels have shown evidence of reflecting specific regional concerns, for example, many of the novels from the eastern parts of Nigeria such as Achebe‟ Things Fall Apart (1958), and Arrow of God (1964) employ themes which have significant bearing upon real life and naturalistic inclinations of the Igbo society; M. Aluko‟s One Man, One Wife (1968) depicts many of the aspects of Yoruba culture while Tafawa Balewa‟s Shaihu Umar (1968) offers a vivid
description of traditional life of the Hausa community. In these novels, Nigerian culture and origin is presented with details which illustrate local variations. Taken as a whole however, most of what is contained in these texts is valid for other parts of Nigeria. To a great extent, the Nigerian novel is influenced by socio-cultural factors which inspire creativity.
Nnolim (2001:290) argues that the novel is that which represents copies from and makes use of our folk literature, and creatively makes use of our local proverb, legends, customs, rituals, institutions and mythology in giving imaginative expression to our national culture. This argument in essence, attempts to link the Nigerian novel with the oral tradition thus formally establishing the innate bond between writers and their societies. The Nigerian experience here becomes unique because it enhances its social function and durability
It can be argued therefore, that the Nigerian novel offers in the process, an imaginative recreation of an identity through arts which cuts across ethnic and cultural boundaries sharing in the process some historical experiences both in terms of internal social dynamics and extended pressures. Thus, the Nigerian novel deals with and explores the entire Nigerian experience. It is in this regard that the civil war offered another experience, which the novel tapped from. One of the most predominant themes of the war literature has been the need for constant adjustment to a rapidly changing situation (Achebe, 1976:212).
Furthermore, the Nigerian civil war known as the “Biafran war” was fought between the 6th of July, 1967 and 15th of January, 1970 between the Eastern region and Nigeria. At the end of the war, was the emergence of a vibrant war literature in Nigeria. This history about the civil war is what inspired Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a young writer who presents the complexities of human experience in works inspired by events in her native Nigeria. The features used to present these experiences or themes are what this study attempts to explore.
The Author
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born on the 15th of September, 1977 in Enugu Nigeria, the 5th of 6 children to Igbo parents Grace and James Nwoye Adiche. While the family‟s ancestral home is in Abba in Anambra State. She grew up in Nsukka, in the house formerly occupied by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. She completed her secondary education at the university‟s secondary school, receiving several academic prizes. She went on to study Medicine and Pharmacy at the University of Nigeria for a year and half. During this period, she edited the compass a magazine by the university‟s Catholic medical students.
At the age of 19, she left for the United States of America, where she gained scholarship to study communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia for 2years, and she pursued a degree in Communication and Political Science at Eastern Connecticut State University. She graduated from the same University in 2001 and completed a Master‟s degree in creative writing at John Hopkins University Baltimore. It was during her second year in Eastern Connecticut State University that she started working on first novel, “Purple Hibiscus”, which was released in October 2003. The book has received worldwide acclaim. It was shortlisted for the Orange Fiction Prize 2004 and awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first book in 2005.
Her second novel, Thing around your neck is set before and during the “Biafran war”. It was published in August, 2006 in the United Kingdom and September 2006 in the United States of America. Like Purple Hibiscus, it has also been released in Nigeria.
She was a Hodder fellow at Princeton University during the 2005-2006 academic years and earned a Master of Arts in Africa Studies from Yale University in 2008. Her collection of short stories, The Things around My Neck was published in 2009 and her latest literary project Ammericanah focuses on the Nigerian immigrant‟s experiences in the United States of America. Ngozi Adichie is presently married and is based abroad.
Synopsis of the Novels
Purple Hibiscus
Purple Hibiscus is the first novel by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It was first published by Algonquin book in 2003. The novel is set in post-colonial Nigeria, a country beset by political instability and economic difficulties. The central character is Kambili Achike, aged fifteen for much of the period covered by the book, a member of a wealthy family dominated by her devoutly catholic father, Eugene. Eugene is both a religious zealot and a violent figure in the Achike household, who subjects his wife Beatrice, Kambili and her brother Jaja to beatings and psychological cruelty.
The story is told through Kambili‟s eyes and is essentially about the disintegration of her family unit and her struggle to grow to maturity. A key period is the time Kambili and Jaja spend at the house of their Aunty, Ifeoma and her children. This household offers a marked contrast to what Kambili and Jaja are used to. Though catholic, Ifeoma‟s household practices a completely different form of Catholicism. Creating a happy and liberal place that encourages people to speak their minds. In this nurturing environment both Kambili and her brother become more open, and are able to voice their opinions. Importantly, also, while at Aunty Ifeoma‟s house, Kambili falls in love with a young priest, Father Amadi, who awakens her sense of passion. At the peak of the story, the family is unable to cope with their father‟s continual violence, Beatrice poisons him. Jaja takes the blame for the crime and is sent to prison. The novel ends almost three years after these events, on a cautiously optimistic note. Kambili has become a young woman of eighteen, more confident than before, while her brother Jaja is about to be released from prison, hardened but not broken by his experiences in prison. Their mother, Beatrice is deteriorated psychologically to a great degree.
Synopsis of thing around the neck
The Thing Around Your Neck is arranged as a series of short stories. In the first story, "Cell One," the Cell One narrator tells the story of her brother's time in prison. Nnamabia is a handsome and charming teenager who steals and pawns his mother's jewelry when he's 17. Three years later, the Nsukka university campus where the siblings’ Mother and Father teach is embroiled in cult wars. The cults began as fraternities, but soon became exceptionally violent. Nnamabia is arrested after three boys are shot on campus. When Mother, Father, and the narrator visit him in jail, he seems to enjoy dramatizing what he's going through in jail. Mother maintains that Nnamabia is innocent. Nnamabia is in jail for several weeks and his defenses begin to break down, particularly as he's threatened with transfer to the dangerous Cell One. Eventually, an innocent old man joins his cell. Nnamabia watches the police taunt the old man for being poor and sick. Finally, on the day that the superintendent calls for Nnamabia's release, Nnamabia stands up for the old man. He's transferred to Cell One and then another prison, where he's beaten. When his parents and the narrator come to get him, he doesn't dramatize his retelling of what happened.
In "Imitation," Nkem studies the Benin mask on her mantel and listens to her friend say that Nkem's husband, Obiora, has a girlfriend in Lagos, Nigeria. (Nkem is living in Philadelphia.) When Nkem first came to America, Obiora stayed in Philadelphia for a few months, but soon returned to Nigeria. Nkem had two children and now Obiora only visits once per year. Nkem goes upstairs and cuts her hair short. She thinks about how her relationship with Obiora began. Later, Nkem watches her housegirl Amaechi makes dinner. Nkem brings up Obiora's girlfriend, and Amaechi says all men "are like that" and counsels Nkem that it's best to not know things like that. Nkem calls Nigeria later, and the houseboy won't tell her if anyone is at home. The next week Obiora visits. Obiora asks Nkem to shower with him, and she agrees. In the shower, she says she'd like to move back to Lagos.
In "A Private Experience," Chika hides from the violence of a riot in an abandoned shop with a Hausa Muslim woman. Chika fears that her sister Nnedi is lost in the riot, and the woman tells Chika about her eldest daughter, who also went missing in the fray. Chika says that she's a medical student, and the woman asks Chika to examine her burning nipples, which are cracked and dry from nursing her baby. Chika and the woman spend the night in the store and part ways in the morning, each telling the other to greet their loved ones. Chika knows that she won't find Nnedi.
In "Ghosts," Professor James Nwoye runs into Ikenna Okaro on the Nsukka campus. He had previously believed that Ikenna died when the Nigerian army invaded Nsukka in 1967. Ikenna explains that he moved to Sweden and organized pro-Biafra rallies all over Europe. When Ikenna asks about Ebere, James' wife, James explains that Ebere has been dead for three years but that she "visits." James explains to the reader that Ebere's ghost visits regularly and massages lotion into his skin. James invites Ikenna to come to his house, but Ikenna refuses. When James gets home, he waits for his daughter to call and for Ebere to visit later that night.
In "On Monday of Last Week," Kamara comes to Philadelphia after five years apart from her husband Tobechi. Upon her arrival in America, Kamara becomes depressed and extremely disillusioned with Tobechi, who has adopted a troubling American accent. Kamara takes a job as a nanny for Josh, a seven-year-old biracial boy. Josh's father, Neil, worries constantly about trans fats and high fructose corn syrup in his son's diet, and pushes Josh to be as successful as possible. When Kamara meets Tracy, Josh's African-American artist mother, Tracy asks Kamara to model for her. Kamara begins to come out of her depression and experience attraction to Tracy. She learns after a week, though, that Tracy habitually asks women to model for her, and Tracy's request didn't come from sexual attraction.
In “Jumping Monkey Hill,” Ujunwa, a young Nigerian writer, attends a writers' workshop at the Jumping Monkey Hill resort. From the outset she doesn't like Edward, the British organizer of the workshop. He stares at Ujunwa's body and makes suggestive comments to her. Ujunwa writes a story about a woman who gets a job at a bank. Her job is to bring in new clients, which she soon learns means using sexual means to bring in the clients. As the writers at the workshop begin the process of reading and critiquing each others' stories, Edward says that many of them aren't representations of the "real Africa," including the Senegalese woman's true story about coming out to her parents. When Ujunwa reads her own story, Edward deems it implausible. Ujunwa says that every word of it is true; it happened to her.
In "The Thing Around Your Neck, Akunna wins the "American visa lottery" and travels to live with her uncle in America. When her uncle tries to abuse her sexually, Akunna takes a bus to a small town in Connecticut and gets a job in a restaurant. A white boy begins visiting and tries to talk to Akunna about Africa. They soon begin a relationship, but the boy is rich and condescending. He doesn't understand why Akunna is upset that he doesn't correct waiters who assume that she's not his girlfriend. Akunna finally writes home and learns that her father has died. She flies home alone.
In "The American Embassy," the embassy narrator stands in line to get an asylum visa. The man behind her tries to engage her in conversation, but the narrator can only think of her son, Ugonna, who was killed the day before. After the narrator's husband, a reporter, published an article that angered the head of state, he'd received a call that he was going to be arrested and killed. The narrator smuggled her husband out of the country, but three men came looking for him and shot Ugonna. The woman and the man behind her are let into the embassy for their interviews. As she sits, the narrator thinks that she'd rather stay in Nigeria and plant flowers on Ugonna's grave than use his death to get a visa. She leaves the embassy. “The Shivering” takes place in Princeton, New Jersey. Ukamaka refreshes web pages, checking Nigerian news sources for news of a plane crash in Nigeria. She worries that her ex-boyfriend, Udenna, was on the plane. Chinedu, another Nigerian man from her building, knocks on her door and asks to pray with her for Nigeria. Ukamaka learns that Udenna wasn't on the flight. Over the next several weeks, Chinedu and Ukamaka become friends and Ukamaka talks at length about her relationship with Udenna. They shop together and she drives him to his Pentecostal church on Sundays before attending her own Catholic church. They argue one day when Chinedu shares that he dated a controlling man and Ukamaka says that Chinedu's partner sounds like Udenna. The next Sunday Chinedu admits that he's not a student; he's hiding from the government to avoid a deportation notice, as his visa expired three years ago. Chinedu accompanies Ukamaka to Mass.
In “The Arrangers of Marriage,” Chinaza arrives in New York with her new husband, Ofodile. Her aunt and uncle arranged the marriage and thought it was a good thing: Ofodile is a doctor. Chinaza is immediately disillusioned, as Ofodile's "house" is a sparsely furnished apartment. Ofodile shows her around New York and corrects her every time she uses an Igbo or British English word instead of its American counterpart. He tells her that in America, he goes by “Dave Bell” instead of his Nigerian name. He fills out her application for a social security card with the name “Agatha Bell,” and buys Chinaza an American cookbook so she can learn to cook American food. Chinaza later meets Nia, a young woman who lives in the apartment building. Chinaza thinks that Nia looks like a prostitute, but she likes listening to Nia talk. One night, Ofodile admits that he married an American woman to get his green card and the woman is refusing to divorce him. Chinaza goes to Nia's apartment, where Nia admits that she slept with Ofodile two years ago. She encourages Chinaza to stick with Ofodile until her papers come through, and Chinaza goes back to her husband the next night.
In “Tomorrow is Too Far,” the tomorrow narrator returns to Nigeria for the first time in 18 years. She remembers her childhood summers in Nigeria when her Grandmama only praised the narrator's brother, Nonso, and ignored the narrator and her cousin, Dozie. Dozie was the "wrong grandson" and the narrator was female. One day Nonso fell out of the avocado tree and died. Three months after Nonso's funeral, the narrator told her mother that Grandmama played a trick on Nonso and he fell out of the tree. The narrator then explains what really happened: the narrator felt that something had to happen to Nonso so that the narrator could get some of her mother's love. She tricked Nonso into climbing the tree, and yelled that a poisonous snake was near him when he reached the top. He died instantly. The narrator's mother never gave the narrator the love she hoped for after Nonso's death, however.
In the present, the narrator asks Dozie what he wanted that summer, and he says he only cared about what the narrator wanted. In "The Headstrong Historian," Nwambga marries Obierika and has one son, Anikwenwa, after several miscarriages. Following Obierika's murder by his two cousins, Nwambga decides to put Anikwenwa in a Catholic mission school so he can learn English and take his father's cousins to court. Anikwenwa hates school at first, but soon becomes very devout. He becomes a teacher and refuses to eat his mother's food, though he does win Nwambga's land case for her. He marries a woman named Mgbeke, who cries often and doesn't stand up for herself. They have two children and Nwambga sees that their second child, Grace, possesses the soul of Obierika. Though Grace attends Catholic school and receives a Western education, she remains fascinated by her grandmother's culture. She returns from school to sit with her grandmother on her deathbed. Later, as she matures, Grace begins to question her own education. She attends college, writes books about Nigerian history, and divorces her husband because he doesn't think her interests in the native peoples of Nigeria are worthy. In her old age, Grace changes her name to Afemefuna, the name given to her by Nwambga.
Statement of the Research Problem
The linguistic stylistic analysis of a given text is usually an attempt at evaluating the use of language in order to unravel the synthesis of the thought in the text. This is necessary with particular reference to this study because in the study of African Literature as a whole, relatively little attention has been given to Linguistic Stylistics (and more to Literary Stylistics). Put simply, an analysis seeks to unveil the meaning the text conveys, and interestingly too, those strands of meaning not obviously presented, those subtle nuances a writer tries to pass across. Most readers do not find it easy to understand the literary text they read, especially because they belong to an overlapping speech community, which may be differentiated by lexis, pronunciation, forms of address or any other distinguishing stylistic feature, such as that of code switching and mixing which Chimamanda used in her texts Purple Hibiscus (2005) and thing around your neck (2009).
The problem this study seeks to investigate therefore is the assumption that Adichie‟s use of code mixing and switching as a style tends to create solidarity with some readers while alienating other readers. Toolan (1992) tries to explain that the mixing and switching of codes or the use of dialects in fiction may be unfamiliar to the readers and seem counter-intuitive, particularly if readers are struggling to come to terms with a dialect they are not familiar with. For example, non–Igbo native speaker reading the following statement will not understand it like a native speaker will understand the language: “You sit there and watch her desecrate the Eucharistic host maka gini?” (Adichie, Purple Hibiscus 102). This means, you sit there and watch her desecrate the Eucharistic host, for what reason?
Research Questions
The study seeks to answer the following research questions:
- What are the linguistic features used by Adichie in her texts Purple Hibiscus (2005) and Thing around your neck (2009)?
- How does Adichie‟s style enable her to pass across intended meanings?
- To what extent does the writer‟s cultural and linguistic background contribute to the way she code switches and code mixes?
Aim and Objectives of the Study
This research therefore aims at linguistic stylistic analysis of those features used by Chimamanda Adichie in expressing her thoughts, emotions and ideas in the texts; Purple Hibiscus (2005) and thing around your neck (2009). The study explores the author‟s use of several ideologies, experiences, histories, analysis, and how she communicates them via language. Thus the specific objectives of the study are to:
- highlight the stylistic features used by Adichie in her texts: Purple Hibiscus (2005) and thing around your neck (2009).
- identify and explain the various stylistic features Adichie uses to pass across her intended message.
- highlight the extent to which Adichie‟s cultural and linguistic background affect her style of writing.
Justification of the Study
Style is studied in order to explain something, and in general, literary stylistics has the goal of explaining the relation between language and artistic function. However, stylistics is also a dialogue between a literary reader and linguistic observer, in which insight and not mere objectivity, is the goal. Linguistic analysis does not replace the readers intuition, what Spitzer (1948) calls the „click‟ in the mind, but it may prompt ,direct, and shape it into an understanding. Leo Spitzer insists that the smallest detail of language can unlock the „soul‟ of a literary work; and by explaining how a particular effect or meaning is achieved, one understands better than not just how it is achieved (which in itself is essential to the critical task of explanation) but also gains a greater appreciation of what the writer has created.
Therefore this study will help English language users appreciate a writer‟s style of writing from another. It will inform language users on how to express what they want to communicate, including the understanding of the workings of a language and can situate the verbal technique of a particular text among the range of available repertoires for writing and speaking, as Adichie has revealed how language can be creatively used to present culture and the variety of language use that exist. It hopes also to expose them to the creative use of language by the author so as to guide their writing skills creatively. Toolan (1992:9) asserts that:
One of the crucial things attempted by stylistics is to put the discussion of textual effects and techniques on a public, shared, footing- a footing as shared and established and inspectable as is available to informed language users, who agree that „she‟ is a pronoun, „herself‟ is a reflective pronoun. „Clarissa‟ is a proper name, and the „vivacious white-haired woman‟ a definite description.
In the same line, since stylistics tries to lay bare what occurs in the process of textual understanding and interpretation, it is obvious that the findings of the study will enable students and other language users to be more precise and analytical in their thinking about the linguistic structure of texts and in understanding them. The findings will not only be important for enhancing the academic performance of students but can also be easily seen as a resource for the development of valuable transferable creative stylistic writing skills for future use. Again, Yankson (1987:3) affirms that the analysis of the language of a text is essential and relevant so as to elicit appropriate response from the reader and increase the understanding of the text:
There is no other way through which the African student can respond fully to any work of art except through an understanding of literary language use; that is; how the creative artist patterns language at all levels of linguistic organisation – phonetic, semantic and syntactic-to create his unique visions of life.
Finally, the fact that stylistic analysis is of potential benefit in the integration of language and literary studies, this work will be a useful reference material for linguists to study the style of Adichie and other writers as distinct from that of another. It hopes to also broaden the readers mind on various ways of selecting styles and marrying them with themes, as style results from the propensity on the part of the writer to consistently choose certain structures over others that are available in language. Obviously, Adichie has creatively patterned language using the syntactic, grammatical, and lexical features in a context to create a unique style in presenting her work. This work will expand the frontiers of knowledge by helping upcoming researchers to understand how Adichie‟s style is unique.
Significance of the Study
Language is an immensely complex, rich and variable instrument. It is virtually the medium by which human beings, as „speaking animals‟ exist, defining for them their relation to their fellow human beings, their culture and even their identity. The literary artist cannot cut himself adrift from the role that language plays in our everyday lives. So, literary expression is an enhancement, or a creative liberation of resources of language.
However, examining the language of a literary text can be a means to a fuller understanding and appreciation of the writer‟s artistic achievement. Literature employs language as an artistic medium not simply for communication. In any analysis of literature, there is need to have a sound understanding of the phenomenon called language, its nature and function. In Adichie novels Purple Hibiscus (2005) and thing around your neck (2009), language is intricatelyused and designated to achieve stylistic effects. The works of art consists of various elements such as content, theme, point of view, tone, plot characterisation and other literary ideas but without language, these elements would not be what they are. In other words, they are realised and given form through the medium of language.
Stylistics is concerned with the appreciation of the application of these elements within the context of a literary piece. Literary style is not something to be described by a few salient characteristics, but a careful study of literary texts will show that literary stylistics is a viable study; hence the stylistic study of the two novels under study will explicate the role that these features play in a text, for example the role that types of sentences, lexis and context play in building a text. Also, Halliday‟s functional model sees language as a „social semiotic‟ and directs attention particularly to the communicative socially expressive functions of language. There is also the need to explore the surface forms of language; to search for principles of meaning and language use which activate and control the (linguistic) code. Leech and Short (1981:4) argue that, “If a text is regarded in objective simplicity as a sequence of symbols on paper, then the modern linguistic scrutiny is not just a matter of looking at the text, but of looking through the text to its significance.”
Therefore this study is important as it analyses, linguistically, the use of style in Adichie‟s novels Purple Hibiscus (2005) and thing around your neck (2009). It will also make it easy for linguists to be able to study and appreciate the style of one writer from that of another, as style results from the propensity on the part of the writer to consistently choose certain structures over others available in language .The novels are analysed separately to show readers and students ways of carrying out a stylistic study of texts. This study can also help in the understanding of some aspects of the author‟s style. Literary stylistics sets out to analyse literary texts in seemingly scientific way, drawing on linguistics. However, the method is used as a means to two ends: to sensitise readers and students alike to language: and to demonstrate stylistic features and functions examining the linguistic particularities of the texts in order to understand the anatomy and functions of the language used. Significantly, this stylistic analysis hopes to clarify the full meaning and potential of language in use in Adichie‟s selected texts. This study is as well concerned with excellence of technique and the author‟s craft in relating theme and style in the novels under study.
Scope and Delimitation of the Study
Linguists use the term stylistics in a variety of ways (as it is known to cover a wide range of linguistic studies) and the concept can also be divided into literary and linguistic stylistics. The focus of this study is on the linguistic stylistic analysis of the said texts. The research also examines features as code – mixing, where she mixes languages (code) in the same utterance or expression and code- switching, where she switches her use of language to suit specific situations. The use of register will also be analysed. Grammatical structures will also be analysed at the level of simple sentences, complex sentences and complex-compound sentences. Finally, the socio- semantic variables of field, tenor and mode will be analysed. The field refers to the total event of the text, which includes the subject matter of the texts: the tenor refers to the role and relationships taken up by the participants, which controls the use of language between interlocutors.
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