STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE'S DEAR IJEAWELE

Abstract

This study is a stylistic analysis of Chimamanda Adichie's Dear
Ijeawele. The study examines how stylistics connects language and
literature. It investigates how language is used as a tool for the
creation of a literary work. In this study, it has been pointed out
how Adichie uses her linguistic choices in the text to portray the
socio-cultural issues relating to gender roles in the Nigerian society
and the world at large. The study adopts Systemic Functional
Linguistics as its theoretical framework. Excerpts from
Chimamanda Adichie's Dear Ijeawele constitute the data which are
subjected to qualitative analysis at the morphological, graphological,
syntactic and lexico-semantic levels. Findings reveal that these levels
of language have salient contributions they make in the structural
relevance of the text and delivery of the writer’s intention from
revealing the beauty of language use to the intensity of the meaning
got from the usage.