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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | A rhetorical study of Kiswahili classical poetry: an investigation into the nature and role of repetition |
Author: | Wamitila, Kyallo Wadi |
Year: | 1999 |
Periodical: | Research in African Literatures |
Volume: | 30 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 58-73 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | East Africa |
Subjects: | Swahili language poetry |
External link: | http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/research_in_african_literatures/v030/30.1wamitila.pdf |
Abstract: | One feature that is distinctly marked in Kiswahili poetry is repetition. Particularly in Kiswahili classical poetry repetition in various forms - metrical patterns, rhythm, alliteration, internal echos, refrains, words, phrases, strophes, or syntactuc structure - is central to its structure. Most of the available works on this poetry lack a detailed look into its structural features. This paper attempts an in-depth analysis of repetition as a structural element of Kiswahili poetry. One of the most noticeable cases of repetition is a recurrence of certain lexical items or lexical reiteration: repetition in the form of synonyms, through conduplicatio or ploke, through polyptoton or adnominatio, and through epanalepsis. He further describes repetition in the form of anadiplosis or duplicatio; inversion and antimetabole; morphological, phonological and syntactical reduplication; and, finally, syntactic parallelism and semiosis as forms of repetition. Bibliogr., note. |