Deviation and foregrounding in chosen Swahili literary texts

Abstract

In this thesis we will be concerned with the examination of deviation and foregrounding in three literary texts: Asali Chungu, a prose text by Said Ahmed Mohammed, Swifa Ya Nguvumali, a poem by Hassan bin Ismail, and a play, Wakati Ukuta by Ebrahim Hussein. We are defining deviation as the violation of the established rules and conventions of the language. Foregrounding, on the other hand is the deliberate manipulation of the language for the purpose of highlighting and emphasizing a message in a piece of literary text. Ultimately, the two terms are merged with foregrounding being considered as a general term and deviation an important sub-variety of the former. Studies on foregrounding, to quote Mukarovsky (Freeman ed. 1970:40), "have sought to establish what methods a writer of poetry or prose uses to make particularly prominent - more prominent than in ordinary non-literary language - certain aspects of texture in a given literary work." Whereas our approach does not very much deviate from this view, our focus of attention and emphasis will be on the effects produced by the features in question 'and how they enable the reader to understand a particular text. In other words we hypothesize that whenever a writer employs a deviant or foregrounded feature, it enables the reader to g in iv a deeper understanding of the text he is reading, enabling him to perceive it in a better way. Deviant and foregrounded features have, above everything else, a communicative role and are therefore treated as devices through which a writer puts across a literary message to the reader. According to this view, deviation and foregrounding are treated as a bridge between the form and content in a piece of literary writing. The thesis, besides the introduction, has been divided into four chapters as shown below: The introduction discusses the statement of the research problem, aims and objectives, hypothesis, rationale and the scope of study. It also discusses the concepts of deviation, foregrounding and norm. Finally it discusses the theoretical framework and methodology for the thesis. Chapter One discusses the effects of deviation and foregrounding in the prose text Asali Chungu. Chapter Two discusses the effects of deviation and fore grounding in the poem Swifa Ya Nguvumali. Chapter Three discusses the effects of deviation and foregrounding in the play Wakati Ukuta. Chapter Four is the conclusion for the thesis