Fighting War With Words: A Lexico-Semantic Analysis of Dasylva's Songs of Odamolugbe

Abstract

In the wake of post-colonialism and the resultant neo-colonialism in some African countries, some wars are not fought with guns but words; one of these is war against corruption: corrupt leaders and corrupt practices. Some of these warriors are journalists, writers, poets, etc. one of whom is Ademola Dasylva in Songs of Odamulogbe. Songs of Odamulogbe is a collection of poems that is preoccupied with combating corrupt leaders and corrupt practices, and inciting other compatriots to arise to the challenges facing the poet’s country, Nigeria. There have been both literary and linguistic-based studies on Ademola Dasylva’s Songs of Odamolugbe; but worthy of note is Dasylva’s use of language, particularly, lexico-semantic features embedded in the text. However, no attention has been paid to this aspect of language use in the text. Therefore, drawing on the resources of Systemic Functional Grammar, this study attempts a lexico-semantic analysis of select poems in Dasylva’s Songs of Odamolugbe. The poems are selected based on their political themes. The lexicosemantic

features are identified and discussed. The study reveals that language use in the text is not arbitrary; rather, it is for specific purposes like correcting, criticizing, inciting, eulogising in nostalgia a once good country etc.