Linguistic stylistics reappraisal of the language of wole soyinka’s the man died: a systemic functional analysis

Abstract

This article is devoted to the linguistic stylistic analysis of two selected extracts from The Man Died (1988) by the Nigerian well-known writer Wole Soyinka. Delivering this objective leads to putting forth the theoretical framework that underlines the conduction of this study. In fact, this paper has for theoretical basis the cohesive and coherent features as advocated by Halliday & Hasan 1976, Halliday 1978, and Eggins, 1994. Such features have been identified, described, and analysed in these extracts from the novel. This aims at unveiling how cohesive and coherent the language used by the writer in the novel sounds, and consequently valuing its originality taking into account the context of situation and that of culture. From the foregoing, this article comes to the conclusion that the use of these linguistic features have a communicative purpose, the one of restoring the Nigerians’ true life-story of the Biafra War, the social tensions, the relationships among people facing such terrible and unbearable sufferings of mistrust, threat, torture, slaughter, and alike.