Language, Style, and Identity: A Comparative Analysis of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah

Dr. Theodore Iyere and Dr. Zuhura Liloka Athumani Adamu
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Dr. Theodore Iyere: Department of English and Literary Studies, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Abuja, Nigeria
Dr. Zuhura Liloka Athumani Adamu: Department of Linguistics, Foreign & Nigerian Languages, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Abuja, Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 2025, vol. 9, issue 9, 67-73

Abstract: This paper examines the intersections of language, style, and identity in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah. It explores how Adichie’s linguistic choices, ranging from code-switching and stylistic hybridity to rhetorical strategies, serve not only as literary devices but also as identity markers in both local and global contexts. The study adopts a comparative discourse-analytical approach, situating the novels within sociolinguistic and stylistic theories. A close reading of selected excerpts reveals how Adichie constructs multiple identities - national, diasporic, gendered, and racial through language and narrative form. Findings indicate that Half of a Yellow Sun foregrounds national identity and postcolonial struggles through stylistic representations of war, memory, and Igbo cultural registers, while Americanah foregrounds diasporic and racialized identities through irony, blog discourse, and transatlantic linguistic hybridity. The paper argues that Adichie’s stylistic strategies create a dialogic space where global Englishes, African vernaculars, and identity politics converge, contributing significantly to African literature and world Englishes scholarship. It concludes that her work exemplifies the role of literature in negotiating cultural belonging, identity politics, and global intelligibility, while offering implications for literary stylistics, sociolinguistics, and pedagogy.

Date: 2025
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