LEXICAL PATTERNS IN AFRICAN NOVEL: A CASE STUDY OF FESTUS IYAYI’S VIOLENCE AND NGUGI WA THIONGO’S PETALS OF BLOOD

LEXICAL PATTERNS IN AFRICAN NOVEL: A CASE STUDY OF FESTUS IYAYI’S VIOLENCE AND NGUGI WA THIONGO’S PETALS OF BLOOD 

Abstract

The study was carried out to examine the Lexical pattern in Festus Iyayi’s ‘Violence’ and Ngugi Wa Thiong's ‘Petals of blood’, these were the primary sources. The study was critically reviewed to really understand the styles and structures of the language used as acceptable forms in Africa and Nigeria in particular. Moreover, the effect of the lexical pattern and usages of language were also shown. After the two novels were analyzed, conclusion and recommendations were made.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

The two African writers Ngugi Wa Thiong and Festus Iyayi portray in their novels some lexical patterns which create humorous effect and certain interlinks of the literary creation of the modern times obviously apparent in a number of novelist the Kenyan author Ngugi leading from the front. Kenya is a country that has seen its’ fathers shot dead, mothers, imprisoned, sons assaulted and daughters raped for getting itself free from the colonial clutches but it was not over with the end of maumau revolt. The new dawn saw the transition of Kenyan from the colony with the British interest being dominant to a neo-colony with the doors wide open to the imperialist interest from Japan and American.

The voices of resistance were still dominant in the well-known writers like Achebe, Soyinka and others, but some-where they failed to chat out the two major channels of dominance by these “Black Skins” That Nguyi and Iyayi identified Religion (Christianity) and language (English) religion was gone with the British but the language was still prevailing as a tool of suppression. The choice of language and the way a language and its patterns are used in the novels, play a pivotal role in a people’s definition of themselves in relation to their natural environment and society and of course in relation to the entire universe. Hence the language question has always been central to the two contending social forces, imperialism in its neo-colonial phase and the struggling African people. Thiongo emphasized that the African language has been paused to the peripheral by the language of the imperialist other, and expressed his angst on the fact that the conference automatically excluded those who wrote in African indigenous languages. He, in fact, puts a challenge to the African writers to abandon writing in colonial languages by proclaiming the literature thus produced as the “Afro-Europeans literature” and instead opt for their native languages to give the African literature its own genealogy and grammar.

The pattern of Iyayi’s violence reflects the modern African society in its diverse forms: the urban society immorality, the problematic of development of newly independent African nations and the attraction of town and cities on country folks.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

It has over the years been observed that the nature and lexical pattern of language used in writing of African novel makes it (The text) either easily or too difficult for the students to understand. Sometimes, the writer dwells a lot on the use of indigenous languages and tone without considering the readers ethnicity. Africa had its own way and pattern of literary view before the early colonizers.

One of the Kenyan writers Ngugi Wa Thiong expresses his mind after the Mau Mau freedom fighter which was as a result of oppression and seizures of land by the white colonizers. It is against this background that the lexical patterns in Festus Iyayi’s violence and Ngugi Wa Thiong  Petals of Blood becomes imperative.

1.3       Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to examine the lexical patterns in Festus Iyayi’s Violence and Ngugi WaThiongo Petals of Blood.

   The two novels will critically analyze the texts and other problems embedded in it. The study will also show the positive and negative effect of the lexical patterns employed by the two African writers.

1.4       Significance of the Study

The study will be of immense benefit in the following ways:

1.         It will reveal the rudiment and patterning of different structure in English language.

2.         It will help other researcher to be acquainted with the knowledge of lexical patterns and other related problem in African novels.

3.         Finally, the study will help to reveal some of the causes of the aforementioned problem as it will make Africans to refrain from these acts.

1.5       Scope of the Study

The scope of this study will be limited to lexical patterns in the two text Iyayi’s violence and Nguyi WaThiongo “Petals of Blood.” It will not be extended to other areas; this means the limitation will not affect the result of the findings.

1.6       Research Questions

The following questions will be raised and answered in the course of revealing the study:

1.   What are the patterns of language in African literature?

2.   What are the characteristics of African literature?

3.   What are the feature and use of languages in African literary novels?