Study of Mind Style in Ibdu by Awgchew Terefe
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2013-05
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Abstract
Mind style is an important aspect of stylistics that studies a particular ‘mental set’ in a fictional work. However, it has not been studied in our context. This study was initiated because no local study has dealt with mind style and the ambition to bring the notion, to the study of Ethiopian narratives. The paper examined mind style in the novel Ibdu by Awgchew Terefe. Textual analysis is the methodology utilized, where extracts from the novel are analyzed based on the parameters of mind style, to identify idiosyncratic world view and mental functioning. In doing so, linguistics, cognitive stylistics and mind-reading approaches have been employed. Organized in five major chapters, the first chapter gives a general background, statement of the problem, objectives, significance and methodology of the study. The second chapter revisited local studies and concepts of style, stylistics and mind style. Theoretical framework is presented in the third chapter. The fourth chapter is analysis, while the fifth concluded the thesis. The study established various linguistic and cognitive habits of the first person narrator that contribute to the projection of mind style in Ibdu. Based on the analysis, unusual mental functioning and odd world viewing have been demonstrated. Lexical and semantic choices have exhibited the narrator’s exaggerated self perception. Incoherence of thoughts and speeches showed his scattered mind style. Altered background knowledge is also depicted through nonconventional metaphors and irrelevant schematic activation. Difficulty in reading his own and others’ minds showed mental illness, the narrator suffers from. Perception of dreams and illogical reasoning are prominent in exposing the ‘unusual’ mind style the narrator owns. Internal voices and delusions are also distinctive features of the narrative. Thus, mind style is a relevant approach to the novel Ibdu, where idiosyncratic ‘world view’ and ‘odd’ mental functioning have been objectively identified.
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Awgchew Terefe