Graphology as style in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck

Abstract

This paper “Graphology as Style in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‟s The Thing Around Your Neck”, critically examines of the language of Adichie with the aim of exploring the stylistic devices through graphology assembled by the author in the encoding of the message of the text. Based on the Systemic Functional Grammar of M. A. K. Halliday, as well as on the general principles of stylistics, the study is undertaken at the level of graphology, to account for certain features in the author‟s language and why they have been utilised. The study discovers that the author makes choices of graphological variables such as italicisation, capitalisation, text incorporation, paragraphing and breakage of points and punctuations from the vast resources of language in order to relay her message in the most appropriate manner and to create an impression on her readers. The major thrust and finding is that the author makes some deliberate deviations from the conventions of language in order to vividly portray the experiences of her characters who are mainly Africans. Also, the author utilises her language configuration to give prominence to the cultural and linguistic background of the Igbo people and Africa in general.