A SYSTEMIC TEXT LINGUISTIC STUDY OF SELECTED NIGERIAN NOVELS

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Date
2012-08
Authors
JIBRIN, MUHAMMED-BADAR SALIHU
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Abstract
The aim of this research was to do an in-depth study of the variations in language as used by the various novelists in the novels selected for this study. The objectives of the study were to investigate the divergent ways in which these writers have creatively used English to perform the functional role of communication in a non-native environment, show the extent to which their various choices succeed in the supposed semantic function, show how systemic text linguistic approach is a departure from other stylistic approaches and to show how the features of these “Englishes” contribute to the development of the concept of global English. The novels studied are Chukwuemeka Ike’s Our Children Are Coming, Festus Iyayi’s The Contract and Abubakar Gimba’s Witnesses to Tears. The study is a text linguistic one based on the Systemic Functional model. The two text linguistic concepts of “projection” and “procedure” were used in the selection of data from the chosen texts for analysis. The data gathered were analyzed according to the three meta-levels of Primitive, Second order and Prime order developed from the three levels of thesis, immediate situation and wider situation in text linguistics. The study revealed that all the three novels studied project a central message each. This is contrary to the age long belief and tradition of multiple messages in a second order text. The study also revealed that each author projects the message of his text using the three aforementioned levels of meaning. However, each author uses these levels in a manner that is peculiarly functional. The study as well revealed that the messages projected by the novels are interrelated, as they all bring human nature under scrutiny based on the philosophical and linguistic idiosyncrasies of these authors.
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A Thesis Submitted to the Postgraduate School in Partial Fulfilment of The Requirements for the Award of Doctoral Degree [Ph.D] in English Language Department of English and Literary Studies, Faculty of Arts Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Keywords
SYSTEMIC,, TEXT,, LINGUISTIC,, SELECTED,, NIGERIAN,, NOVELS.
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