Performing Poetry - A Linguistic Study of Benjamin Zephaniah’s "Propa Propaganda"

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the extent and type of non-standard language use in Benjamin Zephaniah’s poetry collection Propa Propaganda. It also investigates variables such as identity, situation and style by comparing the poet’s artistic language use with his speech in other contexts such as a debate and a speech. The method was a quantitative as well as qualitative analysis of the non-standard language use comparing spelling ( reflecting pronunciation), grammar and words in the different situations. This study shows that Benjamin Zephaniah’s artistic language use contained a higher degree of non-standard forms than could be found in other speech contexts such as a debate and a speech. The influence of the non-standard forms was also different in these contexts. The artistic language use was more influenced by his Jamaican background than his speech in which more of a regional British accent could be detected.