A PRAGMA-STYLISTIC AND REGISTER VARIATION ANALYSIS OF SOCIETAL DYSFUNCTION IN WOLE SOYINKA’S CHRONICLES AND CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S DREAM COUNT

This comparative study explores how Wole Soyinka’s Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth (2021) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count (2025) deploy language to portray societal dysfunction in Nigeria. Drawing on theoretical frameworks of Leo Hickey’s pragma-stylistics and Biber and Conrad’s register variation, this paper applies a content analysis method to systematically investigate narrative episodes, dialogue, and descriptive passages, revealing the authors’ stylistic choices. Key findings show how both authors reflect and critique issues of corruption, gender norms, and diaspora challenges through their linguistic choices. This study contributes to sociolinguistic stylistics by offering a comparative model for analysing postcolonial texts, and enriches postcolonial literature studies by highlighting how language is a fundamental tool for articulating and critiquing power structures and social disorder.