A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE SYNTACTIC FEATURES AND COHESIVE DEVICES IN THE COLUMNISTS’ USE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS

A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE SYNTACTIC FEATURES AND COHESIVE DEVICES IN THE COLUMNISTS’ USE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS

ABSTRACT

The study was a stylistic analysis of the syntactic features and cohesive devices in the columnists‟ use of language in Nigerian Newspapers. The corpus for the study consisted of five texts selected from different Nigerian Newspapers. The result of the study revealed that dependent clauses are prevalent which serve as extension of the ideas in the independent clauses. There also abound simple sentences which are used by the writers to achieve logical and step by step presentation of ideas. The reader finds them easy to understand since they convey only single idea. Complex sentences were as well noted as common syntactic features in the columnists‟ use of language. Through the use of complex sentences, columnists supply additional information to what obtains in the main clause either by serving subordinate clause before the main clause or after it. Similarly, compound sentences were employed by the columnists as a means of conveying more than a single idea in a stretch of language. Coordinating conjunctions therefore were used as joining or linking devices. The analysis of the cohesive device showed that substitution and reference cohesions were the predominant cohesive devices used. Both the cataphoric and anaphoric references were predominant. The columnists based on the outcome of the study used intermixed styles to convey their message to the audience.