Linguistic Foregrounding and Thematic Projection in Gabriel Okara’s The Voice: A Study in Stylistic Criticism

Abstract

The paper explores the deployment of linguistic foregrounding in Okara’s The Voice at the levels of lexis, syntax and semiotics and within the framework of stylistic criticism. Its findings identify category rule violation, selection restriction and collocation rules violation, creative transliteration, doubling of subject and verb to BE, and use of metaphors, symbols, and irony as some of the foregrounded aspects of the language of The Voice, which constitute part of Okara’s idiolect in the novel. The findings also show a correlation between the message in the novel and these stylistic devices. The paper recommends further research in the areas of phonostylistics, clause structure, graphology and message in The Voice.

LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 9(1), 158-170, 2012