Address Terms as Linguistic Markers of Social Integration in Bisi Akande’s My Participations

Abstract

The article examines how Bisi Akande, a foremost Nigerian politician of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in his autobiography, My Participations, deploys address forms as linguistic markers to ideologically negotiate identities for some political actors across party affiliations while mapping their roles and (in)action in national development processes. Representative excerpts from the autobiography were purposively selected and analysed, while insights from critical stylistics and social integration theory. The narrator uses three stylistic techniques: naming conventions, modifying nouns, and depicting actions/events as ongoing processes. The strategies highlight the political actors’ qualities, experiences, and relationships with narrator. The stylistic choices are motivated by the narrator’s need to offer precise narratives while fostering cohesion in a nation marked by ethnopolitical conflicts. As a result, each choice subtly shapes the reader’s (and consequently, society’s) interpretation of the overall scenario, encompassing the actors involved, their roles, and the narrator’s perspective.