• No results found

5.2 Devices for grammatical cohesion in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (PH), Half of a

5.2.3 Temporal conjunction

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

sentences [vi], and [vii] creating some sort of inter-sentential tie, and on the other hand, magnifying features attributive to group cohesion by foregrounding perspectives that demonstrate familiality in the narration. The insertion of adversative conjunction ‘but’, in the nominal group, signals a changed in character of Ifemelu’s father, because he has lost his job and sympathy the entire members of his family felt for him. This empathy associated with members in particular social groups has led to Ifemelu’s conclusion that,

‘…if given another chance…’ her father ‘…would call his boss Mummy’; so that he will maintain his job.

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

the figurines on the étagère. We had just returned from church. Mama placed the fresh palm fronds, which were wet with holy water, on the dining table and then went upstairs to change. Later, she would knot the palm fronds into sagging cross shapes... (PH: p.11)

This extract [53] is sub-divided into four sentences [i], [ii], [iii] and [iv]:

[i] Things started to fall apart at home when my brother, Jaja, did not go to communion and Papa flung his heavy missal across the room and broke the figurines on the étagère.

[ii] We had just returned from church.

[iii] Mama placed the fresh palm fronds, which were wet with holy water, on the dining table and then went upstairs to change.

[iv] Later, she would knot the palm fronds into sagging cross shape and hang them on the wall beside our gold-framed family photo.

The temporal conjunctive markers: ‘when my brother, Jaja, did not go to communion…’,

‘we had just returned from…’, and ‘later…’, as illustrated in extract [53] specify the various times and sequence of events in their order of occurrence. For instance, expression of time of occurrence of event in the first sentence [i] in which: ‘Things started to fall apart at home when my brother, Jaja, did not go to communion and Papa flung his missal across the room and broke the figurines on the étagère’, is conveyed in the third sentence [iii]: ‘We had just returned from church’ which housed information as to when the action in the first sentence [i] occurred. Consequently, the second sentence [ii] which acts as a temporal marker provides explicit information about: ‘communion, missal and figurines’; the three most important features in the first sentence [i]. These temporal conjunctions have pull together the various pieces of information into explicit meaningful units in terms of time of occurrence.

The temporal marker: ‘then’ that is inserted after the additive conjunction ‘and’ in the third sentence [iii] indicates the sequential order in which the events occurred: ‘Mama placed the palm fronds …on the dining table’, after which she proceeded to take another action, is marked by temporal conjunctive device: ‘then’. The use of a temporal conjunction at this instance captures the incidences in order of their occurrence.

Furthermore, the placement of time temporal conjunctive marker: ‘later’, in the initial position in the preceding paragraph has enhanced cohesion in the actions expressed in this sentence with the previous information supplied in the third sentence. What this placement indicates is that there is the possibility of future action: ‘Mama placed the palm fronds…on the dining table’ which she would ‘later’ ‘knot into sagging cross shapes and hang them on the wall beside the gold-frame family picture’.

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

Interestingly, radiating within the grammatical circumference of temporal conjunctive devices is amplification of nominal and pronominal choices that foreground group cohesion. Like in the above sample, temporal conjunction, ‘later’ amplifies the nominal ‘she’ and then foreground subsequent actions which the pronoun nominal would execute that elucidate a religious activity (‘…she would not them into sagging cross …’) and the relationships existing in the family (‘… our gold-framed family photo…’) which has foregrounded familial solidarity.

The analysed sentences in extract [53] are the very first sentences in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus. It is worth to note that, with the insertion of temporal conjunctive markers as a discourse strategy, this first sentences point further to a chain of actions that are sequentially recorded in the narration. From the temporal marker: ‘We had just returned from church’ the events then extend and are tied to other events in sequential time relation in terms of occurrence. For instance, with the opening as ‘We had just returned from church’, a temporal conjunctive marker is introduced at a later portion to tie this with other subsequent actions in a preceding order. Thus, at a later part in the narration after a series of events have been reported, Adichie reconnects these upcoming events with the past ones by using temporal conjunctive markers to continue the narration of events on that faithful day when Brother Eugene’s family ‘… had just returned from church’. This she achieved by linking the time when the family ‘… had just returned from church’ with a temporal conjunctive marker: ‘that evening...’ which also amplify Kambili’s activities that faithful evening ... ‘I stayed in bed and did not have dinner with the family…’ (PH: p.22). Apparently, the placing of the temporal conjunctive marker:

‘That evening’, links the upcoming events as taking place on the same day which is marked as the day: ‘We had just returned from church’. Though the day is not explicitly named, ‘…returned from church’ serves as an opening of the description of events that goes on in the church, especially on a Sunday. So, the temporal conjunctive marker: ‘We had just returned from church’ suggests that the events took place on a Sunday. The plural personal pronoun, ‘we’, is a discursive style that has foregrounded familial and religious solidarity.

Adichie seems to be in love with the use of conjunctions to build up the various episodes of her narration. At every instance in her narration, she uses these linguistic resources to build up series of related events that occurred at separate instances and then linked them together by using, most especially the temporal conjunctive marker. For

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

instance, in the following illustration [extract 54], demonstrates the textual efficacy arrived at from the insertion of temporal conjunctive markers which connect the various incidences in the narration into a single narrative unit and inadvertently foreground discursive features that magnify social solidarity.

Extract [54]: [i] In the following weeks, the newspaper we read during family time sounded different, more subdued. Even the different (PH: p.35)

[ii] The first week after the coup…(PH: p.35)

[iii] In the later weeks, when Kevin drove past Ogoni Road, there were soldiers at the road block near the market, walking around caressing their long guns. They stopped cars and searched them… (PH: p.35)

[iv] But nothing changed at home…the only change was Mama’s belly: it started to bulge, softly and subtly. At first it looked like a deflated football, but by Pentecost Sunday, it had elevated her red and gold-embroidered church wrapper just enough to hint that it was not just the layer of cloth underneath or the knotted end of the wrapper. The altar was decorated in the same shade of red as Mama’s wrapper. Red was the colour of Pentecost. The visiting priest said mass in red robe... (PH: p.36)

[v] Lunch was jollof rice, fist-size chunks of azu fried until the bones were crisp, and ngwo-ngwo… (PH: p.40)

[vi] I was in my room after lunch, reading James chapter five because I would talk about the biblical roots of the anointing of the sick during family time, when I heard the sounds… (PH: p.41)

[vii] Mama did not come that night, and Jaja and I had dinner alone…

(PH: p.41)

[viii] After dinner, Jaja said grace, and at the end he added a short prayer for Mama… (PH: p.42)

[ix] Mama came home the next afternoon… (PH: p.46)

These Extracts in [54] marked as: [i],[ii],[iii],[iv],[v],[vi],[vii],[viii] and [ix] are selected from the second section of the second part of Adichie’s PH titled: ‘SPEAKING WITH OUR SPIRITS’ (‘Before Palm Sunday’, PH: p.35-44). The extracts are selected to illustrate how the textual cohesive quality derived from the selection and use of temporal conjunctive makers by Adichie has built and united the various strands of events in her narration into coherent meaningful unit of expressions.

The first temporal conjunctive marker in these series of extracts [54i]: ‘In the following weeks’ (PH: p.35), is the first sentence that opens the narration in the second part of this segment of narration. This temporal maker ‘in the following weeks’ aside from linking the oncoming events with the ones in the preceding parts, it has again facilitated deeper understanding of events that are about to occur. The attention of this is finally nailed in the fourth sentence [54iv] which begins with another temporal conjunctive maker: ‘The first week after the coup…’ (PH: p.35); the insertion of this

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

temporal conjunction at this point indicates the sequence of occurrence of these events and have invariably carved a narrative progression which has not only compressed textual information but has provided additional source of information in-between the significations that intensify the textual implications for some aspects of social solidarity in the lexico-grammatical networks in the discourse. For instance, because of the import attached to familiality, the use of temporal conjunctions has enhance the re-occurrence of

‘‘family time’’ which is reiterated severally in the selected texts.

Furthermore, the third temporal signifier in Extract [54iii]; ‘In later weeks…’

(PH: p.35) sited in the seventh sentence of this section: ‘SPEAKING WITH OUR SPIRITS’ (Before Palm Sunday), coheres with the temporal conjunctive marker: ‘in the following weeks’ in sentence [i] and the subsequent one: ‘the first week after the coup’;

which occurs in sentence[ii] to further differentiate the events in these: ‘later weeks’ from the ‘…following weeks…’ and ‘…after the first week after the coup’. This further confirms the fact that apart from joining two events, temporal conjunctive makers in the narration provide sequential time-frame for interpretation of the events in the main clause.

The next temporal signifier in the extract is introduced by adversative conjunction [but] in the fourth extract of [54iv]: ‘But nothing changed at home’. This implies therefore that, the placing of contrastive information in this segment (‘the only change was Mama’s belly…’) which is in the fourth sentence [54iv], is a narrative strategy to infuse a new piece of information in the structure. Similarly, the inclusion of a temporal marker, (‘...but by Pentecost Sunday…’) as a subordinate clause in the fourth sentence does not only join the preceding events with the upcoming ones but has also expanded the scope in the narration to embrace activities in and outside the church on the

‘Pentecost Sunday morning’; a discursive strategy that has inadvertently foregrounded the religion in the structure and by implication draws attention to religious solidarity undertone in the narration.

Furthermore, usual of the textual qualities which characterise Adichie’s style of narration; the signifier ‘lunch’ in [54v]: ‘Lunch was jollof rice, fist-size chunks of azu fried until the bones were crisp…’ is the temporal maker that introduces the time of the day on that faithful ‘Pentecost Sunday’. The family had been in the church in the morning, they had come back, had siesta and now is lunch time, an indication that time has changed; it is no longer in the morning; therefore not breakfast but lunch time. The

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

use of the lexical item ‘Lunch’, as a temporal maker to set the pace for the various trends of events is again contained in the first sentence of the succeeding paragraph. Apparently, the sentence: ‘I finished lunch first’, aside from being a temporal conjunctive maker, it complements the preceding one, ‘Lunch was jollof rice…’, and signals that the actions and events in the narration happen after ‘lunch.’ Consequently, it is after lunch that ‘…

swift, heavy thuds…’ (PH: p.41) were heard coming from the ‘…carved bedroom door…’ (PH: p.41) of Jaja and Kambili’s parents.

Apparently, the insertion of temporal conjunctive makers in Adichie’s narration set the time of the various episodes in a sequential order of their occurrence. An activity may commence in the morning, coordinated with temporal conjunction to include events that occurred that afternoon and then progresses into night hours of the same day and sometimes extend to the following day, week(s), months or years; resulting into a unfired texture. Therefore, this independent clause: ‘Mama did not come home that night…’ (PH:

p.41) in the next sentence, functions as a time marker which signals that the events that started in the ‘morning’ (marked as ‘Pentecost Sunday morning Mass’) continued through afternoon of the same day (which is signified by ‘Lunch’, as a temporal conjunctive marker) and have now reached the night in the phase of narration. With this signals, Adichie enriches her narration with activities associated with this time of the night by introducing simple conclusive time relations, ‘after dinner…’, in: ‘After dinner, Jaja said the grace, and at the end he added a very short prayer for Mama’ (PH: p.42).

Therefore, the temporal conjunctive marker: ‘After dinner’, in extract [54] above, signifies conclusive time relations, which marks the end of a phase of actions to give room for the next round of events that occurred the following day after Pentecost Sunday morning mass. Interestingly, ‘Mama did not come home that night’ is a discourse strategy that echoes the concern of members’ for one another ...’ possible interpretation could be that of all the other nights, this one is most significant possibly because ‘Mama did not come home that night’ (PH: p.42).

As a discourse strategy to keep tract and as a follow-up of events in the narration, Adichie introduces the activities of the following day with another temporal conjunctive marker that signifies a different time in which the events occurred: ‘Mama came home the next afternoon…’ (PH: p.42). In this regard, ‘…next afternoon’ signifies another time, and another day in the course of the actions in the narration. The various episodes of the day have come to a close, and with a temporal conjunctive marker ‘later’ Adichie

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

signals the end of the day’s activities in this narrative phase thus: ‘Later, at dinner, Papa said we would recite sixteen different novenas’ (PH: p.43). The insertion of two temporal conjunctive markers: ‘later’, which is reinforced with ‘at dinner’ has indeed magnified:

‘...we would recite sixteen different novenas’; a religious undercurrent in the narration.

The next temporal conjunctive marker signals entry into another day and its activities: ‘And on Sunday, the First Sunday of Trinity, we stayed back after Mass and started the novenas’ (PH: p.44). The insertion of an appositive phrase; ‘the First Sunday of Trinity’, differentiates the time frame of this particular Sunday from the previous ones mentioned in this segment in the narration. This is another near perfect mitigation discourse strategy to earmark religious sentiment and familiality in the narration.

Furthermore, aside from establishing textual cohesion by signalling of activities in time frame from a day to days of the week into weeks and then months, Adichie has also managed time in the sense of the actual time frame of actions in her narration. This extract demonstrates how the use of temporal conjunctions has elucidated time in its explicit and exact manner:

Extract 55: [i] I looked out of the window as we drove, counting the blackened hulks of cars on the roadside, some left for so long they were covered with reddish rust. [ii]I wondered about the people who had been inside, how they had felt just before the accident, before the smashing glass and crunched metal and leaping flames. [iii] I did not concentrate on any of the glorious Mysteries, and knew that Jaja did not, either, because he kept forgetting when it was his turn to start a decade of the rosary. [iv] About forty minutes into the drive, I saw a sign on the roadside that read UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA, and I asked Kevin if we were almost there (PH: p.118).

The time frame expended on the journey by Jaja and his sister, Kambili, from their house to Nsukka is simply captured in: ‘About forty minutes.’ Therefore, whatever might have transpired Adichie quantifies in a time frame of ‘forty minutes’ duration.

A more concrete expression of time in the sequence of actions is demonstrated in extract [56] below.

Extract [56]: Aunty Ifeoma came the next day, in the evening, when the orange trees started to cast long wavy shadows across the water fountain in the front yard (PH: p.79).

The time of action expressed here is the ‘next day’ and to be more precise in the sequence of the action; ‘in the evening’, has been added to indicate the exact time the action

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

occurred, the ‘next day.’ And as the build-up of events in the narration continues, from

‘the evening’ into the night, the inclusion of a temporal conjunctive device, ‘that night’, signals the progression of events into specific time of occurrence; which is no longer in the evening but specifically in the night:

Extract [57]: That night, I dreamed that I was laughing, but did not sound like my laughter, although I was not sure what my laughter sounded like. It was cackling and throaty and enthusiastic, like Aunty Ifeoma’s (PH:

p.96).

Apparently, from the simple expression of time in sequence of actions: ‘next day, in the evening’ to a more specific complex time relations: ‘that night’, there is unification of the various strands of incidences into a cohesive related unit that explicate group cohesion in the narration. With the use of temporal conjunctive markers, Adichie manages the various strands of incidences in her narration and knit them together into meaningful coherent units which at some point foreground discursive flashes that amplify some aspects of solidarity in the narration.

A similar patronage of temporal conjunctive markers to unite and build the story from various strands of incidences into cohesive units is also noticed in Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun. And just like in the previous uses, the temporal conjunctive markers are also deployed in HOAYS to express the simple, specific and conclusive time in which the events took place meanwhile highlighting perspectives that illuminate solidarity. The following extract [57] drawn from HOAYS illustrates a combined use of the three brands: the simple, specific and conclusive temporal relations to tie the various strands of events in the narration into meaningful unit:

Extract [58]: Olanna chose not fly to Kano. She liked to sit by the train window and watch the thick woods sliding past, the grassy plains unfurling, the cattle swinging their tails as they were herded by bare-chested nomads.

When she got to Kano, it struck her once again how different it was from Lagos, from Nsukka, from her hometown Umunnachi, how different the North as a whole was from the South. Here, the sand was fine, grey, and sun-seared, nothing like the clumpy, red earth back home; the tress were tame, unlike the bursting greenness that sprang up and cast shadows on the road to Umunnachi …(HOAYS: p.38).

Extract [59]: Whenever she visited, Uncle Mbaezi would sit her in the yard after supper and tell her the latest family news… or he would tell her about politics: what the Igbo Union was organizing, protesting, discussing. They held meetings in his yard. She had sat in a few times… (HOAYS: p.38).

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

Extract [60]: Yet, now, only a few years later, her taxi was on Airport Road, driving past the Igbo Union Grammar School. It was break time and the schoolyard was full of children…before the taxi parked outside the communal compound in Sabon Gari, Olanna saw Aunty Ifeke sitting by her kiosk on the roadside. Aunty Ifeka wiped her hands on her faded wrapper and hugged Olanna, pulled back to look at her, and hugged her again… (HOAYS: p.38).

Extract [61]: Arinze came home moments later and Olanna braced herself to stand firmly, so Arinze excited hug would not knock he down…(HOAYS:

P.39)

Extract [62]: That night, as Olanna lay on her uncle and aunt’s bed, she watched Arinze through the curtain that hung on a rope attached to nails on the wall… (HOAYS: p.43).

Extract [63]: Olanna moved to Nsukka on a windy Saturday, and the next day Odenigbo left for a mathematics conference at the University of Ibadan… (HOAYS: p.47).

Extract [64]: The following weeks, when she started teaching a course in introductory sociology, when she joined the staff club and played tennis with other lecturers, when she drove Ugwu to the market and took walks with Odenigbo and joined St Vincent de Paul Society at St Peter’s Church, she began to get used to Odenigbo’s friends…

(HOAYS: p.51)

The above Extracts [58-64] demonstrate that Adichie uses temporal conjunctive marker to weave the various episodes in her narration into a meaningful whole, which facilitates grammatical cohesion in the narration. The first temporal conjunctive marker marked for analysis: ‘Whenever she visited’ (HOAYS: p.38) in Extract [59] demonstrates the simple time relations in the sequence of the actions. The next one [in 60]: ‘Yet, now, only a few years later’ (HOAYS: p.38) that follows the first signifier, represents an indication of time relations in sequence of actions to a much more specific time frame which is signalled by ‘now’. Adichie draws our attention to the fact that time has elapsed after series of such ‘visits’ by Olanna; the focus is now on the present visit, and she intends to make comparison of the present situation to that of the past. This contrast is drawn with the signalling of yet another specific temporal conjunctive time marker to show the exact time Olanna visited or is at that moment in the narration. This pace in the narration is introduced by: ‘It was break time…’ Therefore, ‘it was break time’ signals specific temporal time relation; a strategy, Adichie employs to, probably, link the past previous actions to the specific time in the present as she indicates in the previous time marker in Extract [59]: ‘whenever she visited’. This temporal signifier narrows the time of action to a more specific time relation: ‘now’ (‘break time’). With this marker Adichie uses the temporal conjunction, ‘now’, to narrow and be more specific about the time the event