A Stylistic Analysis of Some Covid-19 Awareness Banners

Abstract

This study is a stylistic analysis of covid 19-related public awareness banners. It is an attempt to explicate how the structure of language in Covid-19 banner advertisement is structured to effectively persuade people to adhere to Covid-19 protocols meant to curtail the pandemic. The data for this study were taken from five covid-19 banners from Nigerian commercial banks and tertiary institutions. Approaching the study from a linguistic stylistic perspective, this study adopts a qualitative method of data analysis. The findings reveal that there are enormous stylistic markers in the Covid-19 awareness creation banners. The data for the analysis contain deviant graphological representations of linguistic codes as well as imperative clauses. Added to these are ellipsis, used to avoid insignificant linguistic features that could bore the readers, parallelism to enhance the memorability of expressions, and naming which re-echoes the designation of the disease to intensify the consciousness of its existence. Similarly, the use of imperatives depicts strict instruction to ensure compliance. The study concludes that the stylistic patterning and representation of the linguistic items as deployed in the discourse of Covid-19 awareness creation banners help in effective communication of the intention of the promoters which is to ensure strict compliance to Covid-19 protocols by the public to curtail further spread of the virus.