RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
Literature is the work of art which uses language creatively to portray social realities. Language is a system of communication used by human beings to convey messages.
Not only that but also during its presentation to the audience literature use language in conveying the intended message, this makes people grasp the message and adopt changes in their life.
That is to say, literature cannot be separated from man’s life as human being need fascination, enjoyment and education for comfortable and better life.
Therefore, one can define literature as a work of art which use language creatively to represent people’s daily social realities.
OR. Is a product of man’s creation through language in representing his social realities.
Literature cannot be separated from language in many ways as follows.
FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE IN LITERATURE.
1. Language is used to communicate messages in literature. Every message conveyed in literature involves the use of language spoken by a character or expressed by a figure of speech.
2. Language creates beauty. A work of art becomes aesthetic due to the use of language creatively. The use of imagery and symbolism makes a literary work to be beautiful. Also, in Poetry the use of poetic devices creates beauty.
3. Language is used to determine characters. One among the ways of determining characters is what they say, their use of language. If a character speaks a non- standard or ungrammatical language, He or she is considered to be uneducated.
4. Language determines uniqueness of writers. Writers differ from each other due to the use of language. For example, Wole Soyinka uses more complex language which is difficult to comprehend as compared to Chinua Achebe and other writers.
5. Language distinguishes literary genres. Language becomes a major factor to differentiate Poetry from prose or poetry from other genres.
6. Language expresses culture. Writers use certain language techniques to express culture of a particular society in literature. This is done by the use of phrases, idioms, proverbs and figures of speech that help to identify the culture of a certain society.
7. Language is the medium through which literature is carried. Literature cannot be presented without language. Hence language acts as the vessel in which literature is carried
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
1. Language is one among the elements of literature. One among forms of literature is language, which is referred to as diction or language use.
4. Language beautifies literature through the use of figurative language. In literature figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, ironies, suspense and others are used to make literature beautiful and aesthetic.
5. Literature acts as a content or material to be communicated through language. It involves social, political and cultural issues to be communicated through language.
6. Language determines characters in literature. One among the ways of determining characters is what they say, their use of language. If a character speaks a non- standard or ungrammatical language he/she is considered to be uneducated
DIFFERENCES BTN LITERARY LANGUAGE AND ORDINARY LANGUAGE
There is a deviation of literary language from the ordinary language in a number of ways including the following.
| LITERARY LANGUAGE | ORDINARY LANGUAGE |
| (i) It is characterized by figures of speech. The language used in literature uses various figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, ironies and hyperboles | (i) It may or may not have figure of speech. It is not necessarily for an ordinary language to have figures of speech, they may appear but it is only by chance. |
| (ii) It is ungrammatical. Language used in literature sometimes does not follow the rules of grammar. A writer may violate the rules of grammar to convey certain intention. This is always done through ellipsis and poetic license | (ii) It is grammatical. It follows the normal word order. |
| (iii) It is symbolic. Language used in literature is not straight forward, it can mean something else. Thus, it may be difficult to understand | (iii) It is straightforward. This makes it easy to understand the meaning that was intended. |
| (iv) It is imaginative in nature. This means it involves the use of imagery to create mental pictures in the readers mind. | (iv) It is not imaginative. There is no intention of creating imagery in the ordinary use of a language. |
| (v) It is connotative in nature. In literature, words acquire new meanings. A literary work can be read under multiple interpretations | (v) It is denotative in nature. Words do not acquire new meanings and they have only a single interpretation |
| (vi) It is aesthetic. To be aesthetic means to appeal to the emotional senses. The language used in literature is usually beautiful because it is created by the writers to entertain the reader by appealing to the emotional senses | (vi) It is not aesthetic. The ordinary language is primarily used to inform and not to appeal to the readers emotional senses |
WHY DO LITERARY ARTISTS USE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN THEIR WORKS?
1. For explanatory purposes. This is done through personifications, exaggerations, metaphors, similes etc.
2. To give emphasis over the message being communicated. e.g. the use of hyperboles repetitions being communicated. e.g. the use of hyperboles repetitions, refrains, anaphora etc.
3. For challenging the minds of the readers. This is done through satire, irony, paradox and oxymoron.
4. For aesthetic beauty of the work. To make a literary work beautiful, figures of speech must be used, figures of speech make the reader see the life in a new light, that’s why literature plays an entertainment role.
5. To arouse readers feelings and imagination. E.g. Imagery and symbolism as in poetry.
6. For communicating the messages. This is also done through symbolism and imagery.
