The Application of Stylistics in the Identification of Participants’ Relationships in Wole Soyinka’s “Abiku”

This study was motivated by the disagreement between literary critics and linguistic analysts who create the impression of being different sets of professionals instead of partners in language scholarship. The aim is to show that literary and linguistics analyses are two complementary approaches that can be used for the study of Soyinka’s “Abiku” specifically and literature generally. The objective is to generate stylistic evidence that corroborates literary interpretation of Soyinka’s “Abiku” in such a way that the participants in the poem are identified and their roles interpreted for a better understanding of the poem. Because stylistics is conceived here as the point at which literary and linguistics methodologies meet for deepening illumination of texts generally and literature in particular, the methodology is a blend of literary criticism and linguistic analysis guided by M.A.K. Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) in such a way that the literary statements made about the poem are supported by linguistic evidence. The key finding is that two thematic paths identify two participants in the poem: Abiku on one hand and Abiku’s mother or the community on the other. In terms of participants’ relationship, verifiable evidence proves that between Abiku and its mother or the community, Abiku operates from the position of strength. We recommend that the scientific study of language (linguistics) should be integrated into literary analysis for better results than where either of the two is adopted independently.

Keywords: Stylistic Analysis Literary Criticism Synergy Participants' Relationship Abiku