Abstract:
The study investigated the grammatico-pragmatic uses of various forms of adjectives
in Wole Soyinka‟s The Lion and the Jewel. Adopting a textual analysis research
design, the study examined the categories of adjectives employed in the text and the
implications of their use on the characters and events in the text. The text was
processed using the AntConc Software version 3.5.9 which read and marked the word
items in the text for the researcher to identify the adjectives. The analysis was based
on the adjective models of Leech & Short (2007) and Downing & Locke (2006). The
analysis revealed that a variety of adjective forms including simple, compound,
participial and derived adjectives were used by the writer to signal addition,
progression, completeness and newness of qualities and attributes of persons and
events in the text. It was also found that the syntactic positions of the adjectives used
in the text served to focus identity and description in order to expose the character or
characteristics of persons they modified. The findings highlight aspects of the use of
adjectives in creative and literary texts that have implications for the teaching of such
texts. The study therefore recommends that teachers of literature begin to give
particular attention to adjective use in literary texts studied in schools as such scrutiny
may reveal further aspects of meaning and messaging.
Description:
thesis in the Department of English Education, Faculty
of Foreign Languages Education,submitted to the
School of Graduate Studies, in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of
Master of Philosophy
(English Education)
in the University of Education, Winneba
MARCH, 2025
