A Lexico-Semantic Analysis of Eyoh Etim’s Don’t Marry Angelica

Abstract

This work attempts a lexico-semantic analysis of ‘Don’t Marry Angelica’ in order to reveal the author’s creative deployment of language to foreground his pre-determined intentions in the text. The study, which adopts Halliday’s Context of Situation as a theoretical framework, shows how the author uses his vast knowledge of linguistic techniques and fecundity of his mental construct to expose the ills of the African society through the use of figures of speech, connotations, direct translations and creative coinages among others in the text to develop the themes of poverty, under-development and his criticism against stigmatization of adoption, abortion and other social practices against women and children in the society, among others.

A Lexico-Semantic Analysis of Helon Habila’s Oil on Water

“…Lexical items help the writer to crystallize his thoughts, express certain emotions and create images all of which give literature its peculiar expressive beauty. This unique quality of a writer is best captured by Edem (2023) when he said, The author, through the fecundity of his mental construct, uses some lexical and semantic features to create meaning and cohesive elements in the text. The author achieves this through his effective deployment of words which create a heightened effect and originality in the text among his readera.…”