A Linguistic Stylistic Investigation Of Ahmed Ali’s Twilight In Delhi

Abstract

The focus of this study is to analyse the language system and structure of Twilight in Delhi in order to entail identifying the novel's linguistic deviations and explaining how they were used to achieve the desired effects. The framework of foregrounded irregularities at the lexical, syntactic, and semantic levels proposed by Leech and Short (1996) was adopted for the analysis of the data gathered from a sample of irregular words and structures in the novel. The language system of the novel deviated in ways that made words violate the grammar rules, create compounds not seen in the language's lexicon, violate the selectional restrictions and category rules, and give rise to figurative language based on the findings. The lexical level has the most deviant structures, while the syntactic level has the fewest. The choice of words in a literary work is crucial since it has an impact on the readers. The study found different instances of deviant language led to multiple themes. Therefore, prominent features are treated as a way for authors to convey a literary message to their readers. This study aims to advance knowledge of Ali's fiction and act as a guide for academics who wish to conduct research of a similar nature.