GRAPHOLOGICAL MEANING

This article explores the graphological aspect of literary expressions from a linguistic angle in an attempt to find out how those basic components of written language called graphemes are exploited for meaning making. It seeks to find its place among enquiries within the nexus of semantico-syntactic and pragmastylistic endeavours in language. It examines the two concepts of graphology and meaning in a rather cursory manner and immediately proceeds to bring to the fore the correlation between the two after extensive analysis of graphologically foregrounded data from purposively selected short write-ups including prose and poetry. It found that graphemes are essential for meaning not only from the angle of foregrounding of intention and illocution but also in terms of ability to signal reading pattern and eventual interpretation. The conclusions drawn on the nature of graphological meaning thus points at the extent to which attention should be paid to graphology in the linguistic study of meaning.