Speaking Beads and Remembering Culture: A Stylistic Study of Parallelism and Semantic Deviation in Ama Ata Aidoo's “Ghana: Where the Bead Speaks”

Abstract

Poetry provides an important medium through which cultural experiences and collective memories are expressed and preserved. This study examines the forms and stylistic functions of parallelism and semantic deviation in Ama Ata Aidoo’s ‘Ghana: Where the Bead Speaks’, with particular attention to their representation of Ghanaian cultural memory. The study adopts an exploratory qualitative design and is guided by Leech and Short’s (2007) Linguistic and Stylistic Categories framework. Through close textual analysis, the study identifies phonological, syntactic and semantic parallelism, as well as semantic deviations realised through personification, metaphor, imagery and hyperbole. The findings show that parallel structures create rhythm, balance, emphasis and oral resonance, while semantic deviation gives beads symbolic and human qualities that foreground identity, emotion, historical experience, indigenous knowledge and communal memory. The study concludes that Aidoo transforms beads from decorative objects into repositories of Ghanaian cultural memory. The findings have implications for stylistic theory, literary research, teaching and the preservation of indigenous cultural knowledge.