i LINGUO-LITERARY REFLECTIONS OF FEMINISM IN THE WORKS OF IFEOMA OKOYE MADU AMUCHE UZOAMAKA B.A. (Calabar), M.A. (Nsukka), (PGA/UJ/00197/10) A thesis in the Department of ENGLISH Faculty of Arts Submitted to the school of Postgraduate Studies, University of Jos, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D) in English Language of the UNIVERSITY OF JOS. FEBRUARY, 2014. ii DECLARATION I hereby declare that this work is the product of my research efforts, undertaken under the supervision of Professor Macpherson Nkem Azuike and that it has not been presented elsewhere for the award of a degree or certificate. All sources have been duly distinguished and appropriately acknowledged. ___________ Madu Amuche Uzoamaka. (PGA/UJ/00197/10) Date: 27th February, 2014. iii CERTIFICATION This is to certify that the research work for this thesis and the subsequent preparations of it were carried out by Madu Amuche Uzoamaka. (Mat. No. PGA/UJ/00197/10) under the supervision of Professor M. N. Azuike. _____________________________________ Prof. Macpherson N. Azuike SUPERVISOR _____________________________________ Assoc. Prof. I. B. Lar HEAD OF DEPARTMENT, ENGLISH _____________________________________ Prof. Umar H.D. Danfulani DEAN, FACULTY OF ARTS _____________________________________ Prof. W.O Alli DEAN, SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am most grateful to the Almighty God for making this dream come true as I never knew this would still be possible. Two days after I came into Jos to settle into an accommodation in a safe and secure area for this research, I got a distress call from home. Jide my son who came with me to help me clean the house and put a few things in place, picked the call and screamed. His dad had suffered a stroke. The next day both of us left Jos for Abuja. That was how I left my tentative proposal in that house for over a year. The rent expired while I went places with my husband and we finally ended up in India. He got better, and we came back but precious time had rolled by. I lost the zeal and determination to continue as a result of this. But my Supervisor, Professor M.N. Azuike did not give up. He kept encouraging me to continue as every Ph.D had its own history. I obeyed him and got back to the work. Today, it has paid off. I cannot thank him enough. May God grant me the opportunity to be able to appreciate the dedication, patience and understanding with which he has supervised this thesis. To all the Lecturers of the department of English, University of Jos who attended my first presentation, I say a big “thank you”. The contributions and suggestions of Professor D. Jowitt, Professor K. Ugbabe, Prof. I.B Lar, Prof. (Mrs) U.E. Iwoketok and others to this work, will forever be appreciated. My special thanks go to my parents Chief and Mrs Humphrey Okeke for being there for me all the time assisting me with their moral support and prayers. My gratitude also goes to my siblings, Azubuike, Ken, Chichi and Ogoo who supported me with their goodwill and prayers. I will always remember and appreciate the efforts of Victor Ohiole Paul, Obinna Okoli and Peter Attah who kept awake with me most of the nights typing and searching for information on the Internet for this research. v My children, Jide, Nne and Somto always wished they could do this work for me while it lasted “so that mummy will not suffer”. You are such a wonderful gift from God. I love you. And finally to Jekwu, my husband, I appreciate all your advice and encouragement. To God be the glory that you are alive today to witness successful completion of this thesis. Madu, Amuche Uzoamaka. (2014). vi DEDICATION To My children, Jideofor, Nwanne and Somto for their innocent moral support and love which gave me the encouragement to finish this study. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE …………….……………………………………………………… PAGE DECLARATION………………………………………………………… I CERTIFICATION………………………………………………………… II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………. III DEDICATION…………………………………………………………….. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………….. V ABSTRACT………..………………………………………………………. VII CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY……………………………..... 1 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM…………………………….... 15 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY………………………………….. 16 1.4 PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY…............................... 16 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY……………………………….. 17 1.6 RESEARCH QUESTION…………………………….…………... 19 1.7 METHODOLOGY………………….…………………………….. 19 1.8 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY…………………………….. 19 1.9 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY………………………………….. 20 1.10 PROFILE OF THE AUTHOR UNDER STUDY…………………. 20 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 BRIEF HISTORY OF STYLISTICS……………………………… 25 2.2 BRIEF EXPLORATION IN NON- LITERARAY STYLISTICS… 30 2.3 THE CONCEPT OF STYLE………………………………………… 31 2.4 BASIC CONCERNS OF STYLISTICS……………………………… 39 2.5 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF STYLE…………………….. 43 2.5.1 Style as an Abstraction……………………………………………… 48 2.5.2 Style as a deviation from a norm……………………………………… 50 2.5.3 Style as an individual……………………………………………… . 55 2.5.4 Style as content and/or form………………………………………….. 57 2.5.5 Style As choice……………………………………………………….. 65 viii 2.5.6 Style as Product of Context……………………………………………. 68 2.5.7 Style as Good Writing………………………………………………….. 70 2.6 FEMINISM: A HISTORICAL PREAMBLE………………………… 72 2.7 FEMINIST MODELS OF TEXTS…………………………………….. 78 2.8 REVIEW OF SELECTED AFRICAN FEMINIST WRITERS……….. 84 2.9 FEMINIST STYLISTICS AS A PROTEST…………………………….. 101 2.10 THE BENEFITS OF A REVOLUTIONARY DISCOURSE…………. 103 CHAPTER THREE SYNOPSIS OF TEXTS AND FOREGROUNDING 3.1 THE SYNOPSIS OF OKOYE’S NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES….. 107 3.1.1 Synopsis of Behind the Clouds………………………………………... 107 3.1.2 Synopsis of Men Without Ear……………………………………………… 108 3.1.3 Synopsis of Chimere…………………………………………………… 109 3.1.4 Synopsis of The Power of a Plate of Rice (short story)………………….. 111 3.1.5 Synopsis of The Pay Packet……………………………………………………... 113 3.1.6 Synopsis of The Trial…………………………………………………….. 113 3.2 FOREGROUNDING: A PREAMBLE....……………………………….. 114 3.2.1 Foregrounding in the Texts.......................………………………………. 116 3.2.2 Repetition and Parallelism……………………………………………….. 122 3.2.3 Parallelism………………………………………………………………… 123 3.2.3.1 Set A: Repetition and Parallelism in the Texts……………………………. 126 i Excerpts from The Trail (2005).................................................................. 126 ii Excerpts from Chimere (1992).................................................................. 129 iii Excerpts from Behind the Clouds (1982).................................................. 129 iv Excerpts from Men Without Ears (1984)................................................. 130 v Excerpts from The Pay Packet (1993)...................................................... 130 vi Analysis of the Excerpts............................................................................ 131 3.2.3.2 Set B: Alliteration in the Texts.................................................................. 137 i Excerpts from The Trial and other stories (2005)...................................... 137 ii Excerpts from Chimere (1992).................................................................. 138 iii Excerpts from Behind the Clouds (1982).................................................. 139 iv Excerpts from Men Without Ears (1984)................................................... 139 v Excerpts from The Pay-Packet (1993)........................................................ 140 vi Analysis of the Excerpts in Set B.............................................................. 140 3.2.4 Scheme of Balance in the Texts................................................................ 143 i Excerpts from The Trial and other Stories................................................. 144 ii Excerpts from Chimere............................................................................. 144 iii Excerpts from Men Without Ears........................................................ 145 iv Excerpts from The Pay- Packet............................................................... 145 v Analysis of Scheme of Balance................................................................ 145 3.3 WOMAN ON WOMAN IN THE TEXTS……………………………… 147 3.3.1 Woman on woman………………………………………………………… 150 ix 3.4 Humour as Stylistic Device in the texts……………….………………. 162 CHAPTER FOUR LINGUO-LITERARY ANALYSIS OF OKOYE’S TEXTS 4.1 DICTION/UTTERANCES FOR PURPOSE DELIVERY IN IFEOMA OKOYE’S TEXTS……………………………………………………… 172 4.1.1 Preamble………………………………………………………………… 172 4.2 Diction/Authorial Voice and Utterance in the texts ….………………… 173 4.2.1 Diction Defined…………………………………………………………. 173 4.2.2 Authorial Voice………………………………………………………….. 175 4.3 Diction in Behind the Clouds…………………………………………….. 175 4.3.1 Authorial Voice for the Purpose Delivery in Behind the Clouds………… 176 4.3.2 The issue of Mother-in-law in some utterance in the Text………………. 180 4.3.3 Violation of Character Code Concordance in Behind the Clouds……….. 198 4.4 Men Without Ears………………………………………………………… 205 4.5 The Trial and other Stories……………………………………………….. 203 4.5.1 Story 1 Soul Healers………………………………………………………. 225 4.5.2 Story 2 Between Women………………………………………………….. 230 4.5.3 Story 3 A Strange Disease…………………………………………………. 235 4.5.4 Story 4 The Voiceless Victim……………………………………………… 238 4.5.5 Story 5 The Trial…………………………………………………………… 241 4.5.6 Story 6 The New Business Woman……………………………………….. 247 4.5.7 Story 7 From Wife to Concubine…………………………………………. 250 4.5.8 Story 8 Second Chance……………………………………………………. 254 4.5.9 Story