CRITICAL STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF ‘PORTAL’ IN CHRIS ABANI’S KALAKUTA REPUBLIC

Abstract

The study, “Critical Stylistic Analysis of ‘Portal’ in Chris Abani’s Kalakuta Republic”, intensely examined linguistic features in the poem while uncovering the ideologies present in the linguistic choices made by the author. The study made use of the purposive sampling technique to collect the primary data for analysis. The primary data consisted of excerpts extracted from the poem. The study adopted Lesley Jeffries Textual-Conceptual Functions as the theory for the analysis. It focused on naming and describing, and the negating textual-conceptual functions. The study confirms that the choices that writers make when they name concepts, people, and things influence the interpretation and meaning of text. The study demonstrates how the linguistic representation of the poem ‘Portal’ explicitly reveals the ideology underlying the author’s action which is to speak against an oppressive government that seeks to silence all opposing voices and to expose the act of any such political repression. Also, the study illustrates how the negative textual-conceptual function has the ability to initiate suggestions which can then lead to the production of opposite effects.