DISCOURSE STYLISTIC PERSPECTIVE ON TIV NUPTIAL POETRY IN BENUE STATE

Abstract

This paper studies Tiv nuptial poetry from a Discourse Stylistic perspective. On the one hand, Discourse is used in this paper in the sense of an interconnected stretch of text that can be subjected to meaning making. On the other hand, stylistics refers to the use of linguistic methods and insights to understand the artistic effect of choice of language in a text. The data for this paper are the pan-Tiv nuptial antiphonies usually used to celebrate a new bride in a traditional way in Tiv land known as “Kwase Kuhan” (new bride celebration). The songs are transcribed and translated into English using free translation that tries to capture the original meaning as much as possible. The methodology used in this paper is both quantitative and qualitative. Stylostatistics as a quantitative method that involves the use of rough percentages of textual features to draw analytical conclusions is used alongside determinate deviation which is a qualitative method of analysis where textual features that are linguistically salient in the context of a text are analysed descriptively without numerical considerations. In the course of analysis, only relevant extracts from the songs are cited in-text. Tabular presentation of textual features is done for analytical convenience where necessary. The paper concludes that, Tiv nuptial songs studied in this paper are crafted as discourse between the bride, the bridegroom and the general society to welcome the bride to her new home and the general society, to intimate her on the dos and don’ts in marriage, to celebrate marriage as the nucleus of the society, to encourage eligible bachelors to get married, celebrate the primacy of sexuality in marriage and vent out pent sexual emotions, among others. This is achieved in the songs through representative, directive and expressive speech acts.