A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF WRITTEN FUNERAL TRIBUTES IN IGBOLAND OF NIGERIA

Abstract

Funeral tributes in Igboland, though central to grief, identity, and communal values, remain underexplored in scholarship despite their presence in programme booklets and memorial publications. This study analyses thirty written tributes from five southeastern Nigerian States, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo, using Relevance Theory and Mutual Contextual Beliefs (MCB). Findings highlight stylistic features such as metaphor, repetition, cultural symbolism, and narrative personalization, showing that tributes serve both as memorials and as vehicles of cultural continuity, collective memory, and ideological reinforcement. Choices like ancestral metaphors, communal references, and rhetorical intensification enhance emotional resonance and situate the deceased within shared cultural contexts. The study recommends further research into oral and digital tributes, especially on social media, to understand how contemporary Igbo mourning practices are evolving.