The Reformed Womanist Ideology: Linguistic Indicators in Seli Atta’s Everything Good Will Come and Ezeigbo’s Trafficked

Gender-based novelists present a miscellany of linguistic indicators used within and outside their respective countries in their literary performance. They depict the sociolinguistic situation of their countries, and implore the pragmatic use of English in explaining their ideas. Despite this, the majority of studies on the use of language in gender-based Nigerian novels, for example, have not paid critical attention to the confluenceoflinguistic indicators und reformed womanist ideology. Therefore, this paper examines how reformed womanist ideologies are represented through linguistic indicators in Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come and AkachiAdimora-Ezeigbo’s Trafficked. Insights from aspects of womanist ideology and critical discourse analysis are deployed in the analysis. Two classes of ideologies are identified activist ideology and modest ideology. These ideologies uphold the confrontational as well as humble attributes of womanism. The study largely reflects the traditional, social and religious roles of men and women in the larger Nigerian society.

Keywords: Linguistic Indicators Reformism Womanism Ideology Gender-Based Novels

Author

• Amaka C. Ezeife
  Department of English and Literature
  Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, Anambra State, Nigeria