A LINGUISTIC - STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF SOME SELECTED POEMS IN NIYI OSUNDARE'S "A CITY WITHOUT PEOPLE"

ABSTRACT This research effort sets out to examine the stylistic features employed by Niyi Osundare in the poems, “the Language of Pain”, “Death Came Calling”, “with the Nib of a Borrowed Pen”, “The weeping Book”, and “The Lake came to my House”, culled from the anthology titled “A City Without People”. It also aims at analyzing the identified stylistic features, with a view to relating them with how they contribute to the messages of the poems and their readability. This study is done using Systemic Functional Grammar as the theoretical basis. The methodology adopted involved a thorough perusal of our primary text, the aforementioned poems to determine how they are employed by the poet to create desired effects. Through this study, we have been able to know that Osundare uses stylistic features at the graphological, phonological, lexico-semantic/morphological and syntactic levels to assert his authorial purpose.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Title pagei Certificationii Dedicationiii Acknowledgementsiv  Abstractvi Table of Contentsvii CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION Introduction1 Statement of the Problem7 Aim and Objectives7 Scope of Study8 Justification of Study9 Research Methodology9 Theoretical Framework10 A short Biography of Niyi Osundare14 Conclusion15
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1Introduction16 2.2The Notion of Style16 2.3Approaches to the Study of Style19 2.3.1Style as Choice19 2.3.2Style as Deviation from the Norm22 2.3.3Style as an Idiosyncratic Phenomenon/Personality24 2.3.4Style as a Temporal Phenomenon26 2.3.5Style as Relationship between Message and Medium27 2.4Stylistics: An Overview27 2.5Levels of Linguistic-Stylistic Analysis32 2.5.1Graphological Level35 2.5.2Phonological Level41 2.5.3Lexical Level/ Morphological 42 2.5.4Syntactic Level43 2.5.5Semantic Level45 2.6Cohesion46 2.6.1Lexical Cohesion51 2.7 Systemic Functional Grammar: A short Appraisal52 2.8Conclusion54 CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS 3.1Introduction56 3.2Graphological Analysis56 3.2.1Foregrounding57 3.2.1.1Fonting57 3.2.1.2Spacing58 3.2.1.3Capitalization58 3.2.1.4Italics59 3.2.2Punctuation59 3.2.2.1Apostrophe60 3.2.2.2Parenthesis60 3.2.2.3Hyphen61 3.2.2.4Full stop61 3.2.2.5Comma63 3.2.2.6Question Mark64 3.3Phonological Analysis64 3.3.1Alliteration65 3.3.2Assonance67 3.3.3Repetition69 3.3.4Enjambment70 3.3.5Onomatopoeia71 3.3.6Pun71 3.4Lexico-Semantic Analysis/ Morphological  Analysis72 3.4.1Figurative Expressions72 3.4.1.1Simile73 3.4.1.2Personification74 3.4.1.3Oxymoron76 3.4.1.4Hyperbole77  3.4.1.5Allusion 77 3.4.1.6Antithesis78 3.4.2Lexical Items suggesting Destruction and Death78 3.4.3Morphological Analysis80 3.4.3.1Affixation81 3.4.3.2Prefixation81 3.4.3.3Suffixation82 3.4.3.4Compounding83 3.4.3.5Conversion84 3.5Syntactic Features84 3.5.1Group Structures and Types85 3.5.1.1The Nominal Group85 3.5.1.2The Verbal Group87 3.5.1.3The Adjectival Group89 3.5.2Sentence Types91 3.5.2.1The Simple Sentence Type91 3.5.2.2The Compound Sentence Type92 3.5.2.3The Complex Sentence Type93 3.6  Cohesive Features96 3.6.1Reference97 3.6.2Conjunction98 3.7Context of Situation100 3.7.1Field of Discourse100 3.7.2Tenor of Discourse101 3.7.3Mode of Discourse103 3.8Conclusion104
CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY, FINDINGS  AND CONCLUSION 4.1Introduction 105 4.2Summary105 4.3Findings106 4.4Conclusion108 References110 Appendix119