A CRITICAL STYLISTIC STUDY OF NAMING IN KAINE AGARY YELLOW-YELLOW

Abstract

This paper, from a Critical Stylistic standpoint, examines Kiane Agary’s Yellow-Yellow in order to describe how the choice of names of characters, states and events impact on the ideologies projected in the text. To achieve this objective, the study uses a qualitative textual analysis coupled with Lesly Jefferies’ (2010) Critical Stylistic Model (with specific reference to naming and describing) in scrutinizing eight (8) extracts purposively extracted from the text. The findings show that naming in the text is configured through noun phrase modification, premodification and nominalization. Conversely, describing in the text is mostly realised through postmodification and appositive nouns. The naming and describing technique serve to package information and uncover the identity of the referent. Through this Critical stylistic tool, ideologies such as socialism and environmentalism are foregrounded in the text. The analysis of the data shows that Critical Stylistic tools such as naming and describing account in no small measure to the meaning of the texts under study and at the same time serve in the linguistic construction of pertinent issues addressed in the text.