Experiential Meaning in Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie

Abstract

The present lexico-grammatical investigation is an exploration of language management in Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie. The objective of the paper is to describe the transitivity patterns of the novel through an extract to show how the author’s choices reflect beyond the characters’, her own experience and vision of life in post-independence Africa in general via the Nigerian case. Eggins (2004) went through Halliday’s theory of systemic functional linguistics and the paper takes into account her work in the analysis of the clauses in the selected extract. The analysis has been conducted on the basis of the process type distribution in an extract selected in the context of the study and led to the conclusion that Adichie’s handling of the language, though full of subtlety, helps the reader to decode the Nigerian post-colonial realities through the actions, events, happenings and doings by the protagonists of the extract.A particular stress is put on the expression of violence through the character of Papa Achike.