Select a one page extract from any literary text and analyze it using the linguistic structural approach: Ankunda Sincere, Kihembo Joan, Kyohairwe Rebecca, Aribahiro Isaac

Linguist structural approach is based on a notion that the understanding a text depends on the kind of language that the authors uses. Different scholars have put across different views about linguistic structural approach. Linguistic structural approach is an approach to linguistics originating from the work of swiss linguist Ferdinard de Saussure and is part of the overall approach of structuralism Linguistic structural approach involves collecting a corpus of utterances and then attempting to classify all of the elements of the corpus at their different linguistic levels like the phones, morphemes, lexical categories, noun phrases, verb phrases and sentence types. It is also an approach to linguistics which treats language as an interwoven structure, in which item acquires identity and validity only in relation to the other items in the system. All linguistics in the 20th century is structural in the sense, as opposed to much work in the 19th century, when it was common to trace the history of individual words. Lexis is the vocabulary of a language as district from its grammar that is, the total stock of words and idiomatic combination of them in a language. In other words, lexis means all words and phrases of a particular languages. According to Aristotle, lexis from the Greek language is a complete group of words in a language, vocabulary, the total set of all words in a language and all words that have meaning or a function in grammar. According to Plato, lexis is the manner of speaking and he said lexis can be divided into mimesis (imitation properly speaking) and diegesis (simple narrative). Homer concluded that lexis is a larger overview of literature, within lexis there are two areas of differentiation of mimesis (imitation) and diegesis (narrative) and the direct representation of the actors speaking to the public. The literary text we choose is a poem by Ralph, Bitamazire, I love you my Gentle one. I LVOE YOU MY GENTAL ONE I love you, my gentle one My love is the fresh milk in the rubindi Which you drank on the wedding day My love is the butter we were smeared With to seal fidelity into our hearts. You are the cattle-bird’s egg, For those who say you are wealthy; You are the papyrus reed of the lake, Which they pull out with both hands And I sing for you with tears Because you posses my heart. I love you, my gentle one. The person is praising the lover by comparing them to fresh milk which implies the newness of their intimacy and their affection is as smooth as butter. It is a source of overwhelming, joy and happiness to the lovers who hold their love as precious as a rare treasure that is hard to find. Their love is delicate and its handling requires extra care and diligence. And the lover declares that their lives are tied together because one’s heart is possessed by the other. In the poem, the poet uses words like “the cattle-bird’s egg’ portraying the extreme beauty of the lover and more so the purity in the love of the two lovers. Words like “my gentle one” shows the praises, the care, the tenderness of their love, “possess my heart” reveals true love and trust between the two lovers. This indicates that the choice of words the poet uses are appropriate and suitable to the notion of linguistic structural approach. The poet also deploys words like “My love is the fresh milk in the rubindi” depicting the freshness of the lover and how the lovers see themselves as new and fresh every day. “My love is the butter we were smeared” brings out the beauty and how their love shines all the time. “I sing for you with tears” portray the enjoyment of the lovers and how relaxed they are in love. In conclusion, the diction that Ralph Bitamazire uses in his text (poem) “I love you my gentle one” is applicable to the notion of the linguistic structural approach which satisfies lexis as an element of language.