Verb stems as stylistica in D.B.Z. Ntuli's Ucingo

Abstract

The style of a text is the sum of stylistica used to activate the mood of the perfect author, this mood depending on the emotional attitude which the perfect author takes towards his theme. In the short story Ucingo which appears in Amawisa, the perfect author wishes to activate a mood of compassion in connection with his theme identified as ‘do not ever lose hope’. In order to activate this compassion he makes use of, amongst other things, verb stems which might at a first glance seem totally unimportant, but which are in actual fact stylistica.