Select a one page extract from any literary text and analyse it using the linguistic structural approach. (semantics) AINEMBABAZI RONET

I. The Linguistic Structural Approach is derived from Structural linguistics which is an approach to linguistics originating from the works of Ferdinand de Saussure. His work stressed examining languages as a static system of inter connected units. It also involves collecting utterances and classifying them at their different linguistic levels. By semantic analysis, we mean the process of mapping a syntactically analysed text of natural language to a representation of its meaning. Semantics is generally the study of meaning. The literary text I chose to analyse using the semantic element of the linguistic structural approach is a poem entitled ‘’Mama Feed Me’’ by Muhumwize Margo Laban. Mama Feed Me – Muhumwize Margo Laban. Mama! Feed me I am hungry, Starving, Worn out. Mama! Look here; Examine me Emanciated as though I have AIDS An empty coal mine, Sub-human Neglected to hungry wolves, What an abuse! Mama! Look! I gave no appetite To by standers. Yet, You are the pearl. Your riches are unequalled; The best mama I know of You feed bastards, As many as countless You cater for strangers, You please my elders, You habour destitutes. But me… A child of your womb, A true son of the land, Citizen for your family; Why abandon me? My potential Lies in total waste. The meaning in the poem is also known as the subject matter and this poem opens with a hungry citizen who is starving and worn out at the hands of his mother. The speaker goes ahead to express his suffering at the hands of his mother who does not care about him, feed him and neglects him at the expense of strangers, elders, bastards, destitutes and many more. We would expect a mother to take care of her children more than she would for a stranger therefore this is ironical. In the poem, she is also presented as rich and therefore one wonders why she does not care and feed her child. Later on in the last stanza, we get to know that the persona is a citizen and is blaming his country having not done anything for him. Therefore the poem brings out hypocrisy and exploitation of the government on its own citizens. The word “mama” in the poem does not mean that the persona is referring to the mother but to his country or mother land. The persona is also not a child but a citizen. In this poem there is both the conceptual and affective meaning. The conceptual meaning is the meaning of a word said in isolation and the affective meaning is the way language reflects the personal feelings of the speaker. The new words in the poem used in isolation are shown below with their meanings; Sub-human- (second stanza, line seven) this means being less human or lacking characters of a human being. By-standers- (third stanza, line four) A bystander is a person who although present at an event does not take part in it. A by stander may also be a spectator or observer. Destitutes –(fourth stanza, line nine) a destitute is someone who lacks something especially money, is poor, impoverished or poverty stricken. The affective meaning which is the way language reflects the feelings of the speaker is brought out by the use of simple language and irony. The language of the poem is easy to understand and the irony is clearly brought out. The use of simple language and irony help in bringing out meaning in the poem. The poem also employs the use of open class words mostly compared to the closed class words . open class words are those that carry the majority of meaning in a language while the closed class words are those that link together the open class words into meaningful arrangements and these may be determiners, prepositions and don’t carry a lot of meaning. The above poem mainly uses open class words that are also in simple language hence making it easy for the reader to reach meaning. The themes in the poem also bring out meaning. A theme is the main idea in a poem.in the above poem, there is a theme of hypocrisy, betrayal, disillusionment, poverty, corruption, among others. The themes in this poem are presented directly. In conclusion, the words in the poem do not exactly mean what they are supposed to mean but they have a deeper meaning as shown above. References Alex, B. Benge, O. (2000) Uganda Poetry Anthology; Fountain Publishers. Ames, Sanford. “Structuralism, Language and Literature.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticisms. Vol 32, no. 1 autum 1973. Web Donato, Eugenio “Of structuralism and Literature.” MLN Vol. 82, no.5, Dec 1987. Web