CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background to the Study
Over the years, linguists have variously defined language according to their degrees
of experiences and exposures but its basic social and aesthetic functions have remained
unchanged – the communicative function. The elementary or primary function of
language is therefore to facilitate communication among persons.
This research seeks to compare language use in Pita Dumbrok‟s Prison by Ken Saro
Wiwa and Oil on WATERby Helon Habila. It examines the lexico-grammatical options in
the selected texts, using Hallidayan notions of Systemic Functional Linguistics. Text, in
this context, is a multilayered and multi-dimensional semiotic interactionconstructed
through a complex interlocking set of lexicogrammatical options. Meaning is a paramount
process in decoding message of any communicative exchange. It sustains or maintains the
communicative exchange and lubricates the channel of communication (Firth 1957:104).
The functions and uses of language are defined by the specific social context which
varies from domain to domain. However, the language choice of an individual is an index
of social, political, economic and cultural classification. Crystal and Davy (1969:5) posit
that “a particular social situation makes us respond with an appropriate variety of
language”. Lakoff and Johnson (1999:82) say that “language emerges out of the kind of
experiences we have with our bodies and physical environment”. The study of style in
language is rooted in the “use” aspect of language and attention is given to specific social
factors that necessitate the linguistic choices made by language users in specific social
contexts. Eggins (1994:9) summarises the relationship that holds between language and
context thus:
Our ability to deduce context to predict when and how language use
will vary, and the ambiguity of language removed from its context, all provide evidence that in asking functional questions about language
we must focus on not just language, but on language use in context.
This study focuses on the linguistic choices made by the authors (Ken Saro-Wiwa and
Helon Habila) as well as investigating the situations that informed such variety of language
use. It is obvious that the authors (Ken Saro-Wiwa and Helon Habila) have foregrounded
certain linguistic items in order to produce specific effects on the target audience. This is so
because the readability of a text is defined by how effectively a writer‟s linguistic choice
matches with the situational context where the text originates.
In this study, we will pay precise attention to and compare language use and the linguistic
features in Ken Saro-Wiwa‟s Pita Dumbrok‟s Prison and Helon Habila‟s Oil on WATER,
drawing inspirations from the systemic textualinguistic model. The preoccupation of systemic
textualinguistics is based on the assumption that language is structured to perform three
functions simultaneously: ideational, interpersonal and textual functions.
1.1 The Novel and Stylistics
Literature is an imaginative work of art which is a mirror/a reflection of life or
human experience put in writing as prose, drama or poetry (Ahmed & Odiwo, 1999:7). It is
the fictional representation of the world of consciousness. Yet, literary texts are produced
under certain historical, social, cultural and political circumstances and they tend to reflect
these circumstances. Literature is the record of the condition of man as the writer views it.
The source of themes, characters and even the events we find in literary works is about the
society. Creative writers often represent both their individual experiences and the collective
experiences of their societies in their writings.
A literary work can thus provide an in-depth depiction of the cultural, social, religious,
economic and political outlook of a people. There has been a recent growing interest in the
stylistic analysis of the African novel, for instance Ngara, (1982), Uzoma, (2010), Nnadi, (2010), Nweze, (2012), and Lar, (2018). This work explores Ken Saro-Wiwa‟s Pita
Dumbrok‟s Prison and Helon Habila‟s Oil on WATER from a Linguistic Stylistics perspective
and compares the language use in them.
1.8 Statement of the Research Problem
Critical works on Comparative Analysis of Language Use in Helon Habila‟s Oil on WATER
and Ken Saro-Wiwa‟s Pita Dumbrok‟s Prison using linguistic parameters are, to the best of
the researcher‟s knowledge, nonexistent. However, research works on other texts regarding
areas of literary analysis have been the focal points to some researchers. Nnadi (2010),
Adeleh (2011), Agemo (2011), Adane (2012), Nweze (2012) Tahar (2015), Sani (2016),
Abatta (2017) and Lar (2018) have employed literary frameworks to espouse the themes of
economic exploitation, social injustice, tyrannical leadership, environmental degradation and
pollution in Nigeria, particularly in the Niger-Delta area. The literary frameworks and
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approaches employed in the works mentioned above range from the sociological school of
literary criticism, new historicism to archetypal school of literary criticism. Though these
approaches are useful, they do not compare the use of language, particularly between two
texts. This is what informed the researcher to carry out this research work to fill in this gap.
1.9 Research Questions
This study will attempt to answer the following research questions:
(1) How do Ken Saro-Wiwa and Helon Habila use language to attain their thematic
emphasis in the selected texts?
(2) To what extent do the lexico-semantic features used by Ken Saro-Wiwa and Helon
Habila reveal specific meanings in the selected texts?
(3) To what extent have the writers employed language to achieve meaning in the selected
texts?
1.10 Aim and Objectives of the Study
This study aims at comparing the language use in the selected texts (Pita Dumbrok‟s
Prison and Oil on WATER. To achieve this, the study intends to:
(1) analyse how the authors have used language to attain thematic emphasis in the
selected texts;
(2) examine the extent to which the lexico-semantic features reveal the specific meanings
in the selected texts; and
(3) examine the extent to which the writers have employed language to achieve meaning
in the selected texts.
1.11 Significance of the Study
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This study is significant in the sense that it sheds light on the textual linguistic
analysis in Pita Dumbrok‟s Prison (1991) written by Ken Saro-Wiwa and Oil on WATER
(2012) by Helon Habila. Textual analysis focuses on the linguistic elements – such as clauses
and sentences that are present in the selected texts. Through the textual linguistics analysis of
the features in the selected texts, the study gives the reader(s) of these texts an insight and
meaningful understanding of these texts. Using the linguistic stylistics approach, reveal how
Helon Habila and Ken Saro-Wiwa manipulate language to strengthen their ideological stance.
The analytical skills used are empirical in procedure and can be applied in the analysis of any
literary discourse (texts).
1.12 Delimitation