AN ECOLINGUISTIC APPROACH TO FRAMING AND IDEOLOGY IN KAINE AGARY’S YELLOW YELLOW

Abstract

This article investigates the connection between language and its
environment, with a focus on the function language plays in relation
to ecological degradation and the social ills that accompany it. Using
insights from Arran Stibbe’s (2015) ecolinguistics framework, the
article examines purposively sampled extracts from Kaine Agary’s
Yellow Yellow to determine how the issue of ecological degradation has
been framed, the frames used to construct it, the ideological stories
present in the text and how they influence the way characters think,
talk and act. Complex sentence constructions, additives, adversatives,
contrasts, pronominal and vocabulary items are among the framing
techniques employed to relate the issue of ecological degradation and
other societal concerns that accompany it. To underline the gravity of
the issue, the writer portrays it in a negative light. This portrayal is
achieved through the coalescing of source and target frames with
evaluative and descriptive lexical phrases that convey negative
connotations. These linguistic resources highlight the various
ideological stories in the text and how they influenced the issue. The
analysis thus exemplifies the fact that language is indeed a means
through environmental concerns can be addressed.