Igbo endearment terms: In-group identity construction in selected novels by Achebe and Adichie. Issue 2 (4th May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Aboh, Romanus; Igwanyi, Esther
• Is Part Of: South African journal of African languages. Volume 41:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 123
• Page End: 130
• Publication Date: 2021-05-04
• Subjects: African languages -- Periodicals; South African literature -- Periodicals; South Africa -- Languages -- Periodicals; 496
• DOI: 10.1080/02572117.2021.1948211
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0257-2117

Abstract

Abstract : The continuing and increasing interest in the study of identities in the humanities and the social sciences since the turn of the twenty-first century points to the significance of the subject matter in human evolution. Against such a significant backdrop, we scrutinise the symbolic parallel between the use of endearment terms and the construction of identities in the works of two prominent Nigerian novelists – Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Despite studies on their respective novels, extensive studies on how these Nigerian novelists deploy linguistic resources to enunciate in-group identity are still inadequate. Using social constructionism and literary pragmatics as our theoretical point of reference, we contend that these novelists' use of Igbo endearment terms function as a linguistic means by which in-group identities are constructed, drawing our data from four of the authors' novels: Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Anthills of the Savannah and Adichie's Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. Our critical and textual analysis reveals that the use of Igbo endearment terms are strategies for illuminating how literary characters use language in socio-discursive encounters to enact and re-enact as well as maintain their belonging to or membership of a group.