Pragmatic Analysis of Deixis in Zikora by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Abstract

This paper examines the use of deixis in Chimamanda Adichie’s short story Zikora. The study employed the qualitative method of data analysis to analyse the deictic expressions used by the characters in the text. The data used were obtained by reading the text, identifying the different types of deixis, contextual instances and interpretations within the framework of Halliday’s Systemic Functional theory. Fifteen (15) excerpts were selected from the short story and analysed to identify different types of deixis: person deixis, place or spatial deixis, time deixis, discourse deixis and social deixis. The findings revealed that out of the five types of deixis identified, person deixis was the most dominant in the story indicating the narrator’s point of view. This was followed by time deixis, place deixis, social deixis and discourse deixis. Also, deixis is not only used skilfully with a dedicated act to point but built into the gesticulation itself which reflects the relationship between the structure of language and the context which enable readers to understand the elements that indicate situational context in a literary piece.