Select a one page extract from any literary text and analyse it using the linguistic structural approach. NANTONGO JULIET, NAGGAYI AISHA, NAKAYIMA SUSAN RUTH, NASASIRA ENID AND WENWA JOSEPH KEVIN

The structural linguistic approach is an approach to linguistics originating from the work of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. He stressed the idea of examining language as a static system of interconnected units (De Saussure, 1916). By units, De Saussure refers to words which are focal points and the structure of language is analyzed by looking at words from the perspectives which are; a) their parts should be meaningful. b) their sounds of syllabus that make them up. c) The principle that organize them into phases and sentences and d) the semantic relationships that link them in sets (Singh, 2005). In particular, syntax, which is the structure to words, phrases clauses and sentence is one of the structural linguistic approach. Syntactic choice in literacy texts are thematized and therefore participate centrally in articulating a literacy text’s defining metaphysical, psychological and historical commitments as illustrated in “Song of Chickens” by Jack Mapanje.“Beyond Decoration” by P.J Kavanagh (1979), “Tired” by Opal Palmer Adisa (2009), “Beasts of No Nation” by Uzodinma Iweala (2005) and “Betrayal in the City” by Francis Imbuga. The poem “Song of Chickens” by Jack Mapanje (2004) is about a man who had authority over the people he lived with and in return respected him a lot but with time, he changes in his behavior treating them with contempt. The use of declarative statements as an aspect of syntax is employed by Mapanje in the poem and it’s these stated facts such as’ “master, you talked with bows, arrows and catapults once” and “to protect your chicken” which helps a reader derive meaning like main ideas of betrayal for this matter. In addition, interrogative statements are also employed by the writer to help his readers understand the meaning of the poem. We get to find out that there is hypocrisy and violence as themes, he uses questions that is, ‘why do you talk with knives now, you hands teaming with eggshells and hot blood from your own chicken? Is it to impress your visitors?” in stanza two and these seek for information and show uncertainty thus drawing the reader to realize that there is violence, hypocrisy, oppression among others as main ideas in the poem. Furthermore, in line three and four of stanza two, ‘your hands teaming with egg shells and hot blood from your own chicken?’ “arise lines have a possessive pronoun ”your” which confirms possession but the actions done by this person helps the reader understand that there is exploitation and hypocrisy as these are his own people. The poem ‘beyond Decoration by P.J Kavanagh (1979) is about a memory of the hard time the person went through when he lost a loved one. Kavanagh uses the following syntactic devices to expound on his memories as analysed below, Syntactic deviation is used where there is changes in the ideal word order and omission of words required by grammar. For example “Go out I cannot” to convey the inability to go out. Therefore Kavanagh does not rely on merely stating a prosaic’ I cannot go out’. Rather he shifts the syntax and says, ‘Go out, I cannot’ which lays a much stronger emphasis on the inability to go out conveyed by the word “cannot”. Syntax is used in unexpected and deviant ways to highlight the concerns of the poet and this is qualified as poetic license. Excess of patterning where repeated sound patterns and syntactic parallelism are applied to express rhythm and contrast in the poem. Jackobson’s project principle (1987) treats poetic syntax primarily as an instrument of parallelism and therefore of textual divisioning and semantic coupling. Kavanagh highlights his trivia using parallelism for example ‘but am stalled, and sad is not the word”. The end rhyme is applied to show co-ordination in his state of mind where he is in a standstill but, ironically he is not sad about the situation. The use of alliterative phrases like “rented room” locks the person into a helpless moment, until the relief of what is not exactly salvation but-again, ‘plainly shown a moment of grace in the wake of loss. (The one I wanted there was dead’). The poem “Tired” by Opal Palmer Adisa is basically a long poem without punctuation this therefore illustrates the daily routine the woman goes through from the time she wakes up, taking her children to school, going to work and other various activities. The poem has simple declarative sentences for example, “I go to bed” this sentence has a subject ‘I’, a verb ‘Go’ and an object ‘Bed’. Therefore this sentence illustrates how a woman is tried. A sentence has to have a subject, a verb and an object to make meaning. It also has compound sentences composed of atleast two clauses or sentences joined together by a conjunction, that is to say words like: and, but, for, or, so. For example i. Tied is the real name for working mother (last lines) ii. I tell you I am sick and tired… Therefore compound sentences in this poem illustrate that the speaker does more than one action, she does a lot of work and activities at the same time. There are also intransitive verbs. Intransitive verbs are verbs that do not require an object after it, it can therefore stand on it’s own to make meaning for example “I am tired”. In this sentence we definitely know the state of mind the speaker is in, she is tormented and frustrated of the daily routine and activities which leave her without a peace of mind. There are also modifiers in the poem. A modifier is a word that provide you with more information about a word or a noun is a sentence. They can be adjectives, adverbs or phases for example. i) I go bed very tired (The sentence is analyzed below with a syntactic tree) The sentences, ‘I go to be very tired’ has an adverb “very” and an adjective ‘Tired’ as modifiers of the whole sentences. This gives the exactness and accuracy of the information in the poem. The parallel structure of the poem expresses the same sentiment of the speaker being tired and exhausted physiologically in the brain and the body without even anyone to help or complain to because everyone is TIRED of hearing her say shes tired. In the play we are introduced to a character Mulili, a distant character of Boss. Mulili is an arrogant, selfish and illiterate person. In analysizing the syntax of Mulili’s languages and sentences, we choose one of his phrases when talking to Boss about Kabito; he tells him that Kabito is :) “A green grass in the green snake’’. The sentence is syntactically correct but semantically wrong because it does not bring out the sentence meaning. In other word Francis Imbuga used Mulili with his poor grammar and English to show the readers how illiterate he is and the incompetence of the Kafira government because people who are not educated enough and lack skills are put in higher places because they are brother’s and cousins of those who are in power, therefore he effectively brought out the nepotism and the corruption in the government using Mulili. Uzodinma Iweala’s “Beasts of No Naton” is a drama based on experience of a young boy Agu who is forced to join a group of soldiers in an unnamed West African country. Beasts of No Naton is about a young boy’s world which is suddenly transformed when the flames of war soon erupt at his doorstep forcing him to separate from his mother and sister. The Syntax used in the novel follows certain rules to make sense. For example page one of the novel, Agu opens with saying certain sentence structures which depict his age and language content. He says, “Iam feeling itch like insect is crawing on my skins”, “I am hearing so many thing”, just touching my body like knife. The syntax that Iweala uses intends to bring out the character analysis in the novel, characters like Agu, striker who are all young children. Their grammar is not so proper because they are still children. B.F Skinner says that the more a child makes an utterance the easier it becomes for a child to acquire that language. This implies that the more Agu and striker utter out some words, the more they get more acquitted with them. The unconventional diction and syntax used through the novel contributes to the experiences in the novel. For example “I am thinking, if I am killing killing, then I am going to hell….’’ The brutal tale of experiences of Agu, therefore, the novel is written in a highly stylized prose meant to mimic the syntax of several African languages as well as the mindset of a confused child having to deal with concepts of death and being forced to do evil things to survive. In conclusion, Cureton Richard highlights the importance of sensitization, sound, intonation, archetypal imagery, visual form, metor and rhythm in analyzing syntax of a literature text. REFERENCES Adisa Opal. P. (2009), “TIRED”. Cureton, R. D. (1997) ‘Linguistics, stylistics, and poetics’ Languages and literature 22. Ferdinand de Sausure (1916), Course in General Linguistics, Open Courthouse. Imbuga .F. (1976), Betrayal in the city, Jakobson, R. (1987) Languages in Literature Ed Kiystna Pomoiska and Stephen Rudy. Cambridge, Mass; Harvard up. Kavanagh, P.J (1990) ‘Beyond Decoration’ introduced by Micheal caines, The Times, Literary supplement limited, London, England. Mapanje. J (2004), Song of Chicken, 2004, The last of the sweet Bananas; New and selected poems (Bloodaxe Books in association with the Words worth Trust.) Uzodinma. I. (2005) Beast of No Nation, Harper perennial, United states