Language and Meaning: A Syntactic Study of Wale Okediran’s Strange Encounters

Abstract

Literary writers convey their personal experiences in the society through literature, deploying the recourses of language, the scientific study of which is referred to as linguistics. In linguistics, language is studied at the phonological, syntactic and lexico-semantic levels. The goal of stylistics which has style as its object of study is to explain the relationship between language and artistic function. In a literary text, the stylistician is primarily concerned with the features that are stylistically significant in creating meanings. This study, which focuses mainly on textual investigation of Strange Encounters, a satirical novel, examines the significant syntactic features in the novel, and explicates how Wale Okediran, a Nigerian novelist, utilizes them to convey the themes of corruption and injustice in the Nigerian society. He also condemns such vices and their perpetuators in totality, suggesting ways of correcting them for the growth and development of the society. 

Key words: Language, meaning, stylistics, Wale Okediran, Nigeria.