International Journal of English Literature and Culture

Vol. 11(1), pp. 6-17, January 2023

 ISSN: 2360-7831

https://doi.org/10.14662/ijelc2022320

 

Review

 

Abstract

 

This paper examines linguistic boundaries, linguistic insecurity, distanciation, status, identity and various forms of representation in Americanah, a novel written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Any linguistic form that is “hybridized” or “contaminated” by local practices is subject to severe criticism in Americanah. The paper therefore highlights distinction as a symbolic capital deployed by the dominant group to impose their sense of aesthetics, belonging, class and modernity. The colonial sociocultural and linguistic heritage is often perceived as forms of capital to be acquired through mimicry, appropriation and formal education to achieve legitimacy, authenticity and recognition at home and abroad. The foreign is deified as the symbol of success and the local is often discredited and associated with backwardness. The debate about language in the novel is therefore a metaphor to capture multiple forms of identities and representations. It is also about finding new ways beyond binarism towards self-assertion and self-reinvention.

 

Keywords: Accent, Identity, Subjectivity, Representation, Distinction, Authenticity, Self-Denial, Self-Reinvention.  

 

Cite This Article As: Tinguiri, M. (2023). Linguistic Boundaries, Subjectivity and Representations in Americanah, a novel by Chimamanda Adichie Ngozie. Inter. J. Eng. Lit. Cult. 11(1): 6-17