A functional stylistics interpretation of Amathila’s Making a Difference and Ekandjo’s The Jungle Fighter
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Date
2020-02
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Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST)
Abstract
The study explored the meaning conveyed by the use of different metafunctions of language in Amathila’s Making a Difference and Ekandjo’s The Jungle Fighter. The study, through the Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) theory, describes the different functions of the three metafunctions of language as used in the two selected autobiographies. The study investigated how the authors of the selected autobiographies implement the ideational functions of language in line with modification, apposition and coordination. It explored the use of interpersonal functions of language in line with mood, modality and person. It has also examined how coherence is built by making use of the textual function of language in the two autobiographies. The study identified the use of specified elements of different metafunctions from the two texts and examines how these elements give multiple meanings on the basis of the readers’ judgments and interpretations. The study is a qualitative research because the researcher was interested in understanding the meaning that the authors constructed. The analysis of the two texts was done by using a content analysis method. The study found that both Amathila and Ekandjo make use of the specified elements of the three metafunctions of language to express their intents through their stories. It revealed that ideational elements are mainly used to provide extra information and to create connections in these stories. The authors use interpersonal elements to express their own view point of things and they use textual elements to create logic and build coherence in the autobiographies. The study concluded that to understand written stories, meaning should be explored and basically understood to the full examination of the different elements of the three metafunctions used by authors. The study recommends that the implementation of the three metafunctions of language in Namibian texts should be widely explored.
Description
THESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENGLISH AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS AT THE NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Supervisor: Prof Haileleul Zeleke Woldemariam
Co-Supervisor: Dr Niklaas Frederick
21 February 2020
Keywords
Metafunctions of language, ideational functions, interpersonal functions, textual functions, Systemic Functional Linguistic, interpretation, autobiographies and functional stylistics
Citation
Ntinda, L. P. (2020). A functional stylistics interpretation of Amathila’s Making a Difference and Ekandjo’s The Jungle Fighter [Masters thesis, Namibia University of Science and Technology].