Proverbs and metaphors as discursive strategies in selected novels by Achebe and Adichie

Abstract

Language is at the heart of literature, and Nigerian creative writers deploy the resources of language in intriguingly compelling ways to express their  sociocultural realities. Among these linguistic strategies are proverbial and metaphorical expressions. However, studies on the novels of two prominent  Nigerian novelists – Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – have paid negligible attention to how these novelists‟ literary characters engage  proverbs and metaphors as discourse strategies. This paper studies the discursive functionality of proverbial and metaphorical expressions as  conversational strategies  which the novelists‟ characters deploy in interactive situations to make their contributions align with the issue being discussed.  The data for this paper were collected from four novels: Achebe‟s Things Fall Apart (henceforth TFA) and Anthills of the Savannah (henceforth  AS) and Adichie‟s Purple Hibiscus (hereafter PH) and Half of a Yellow Sun (hereafter HYS). The analysis undertaken in this paper is guided by Braj Kachru‟s  concentric theory, which delineates the use of English across the world. It is revealed that the novelists utilise proverbial and metaphorical  expressions to articulate Igbo of south-eastern Nigeria cultural ways of interacting with social reality. This study contributes to extant studies on  anthropolinguistics and literary studies. In so doing, the novelists insightfully exemplify how English words heave with the indigenous thoughts of their  Igbo people.