(East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 2023) Arineitwe Evaristo
This article attempts to examine the use of morphological deviation as a style
of foregrounding in Timothy Wangusa’s poetry. Besides, the researcher used
the theory of defamiliarization proposed by Viktor Shyklovsky throughout
the study. That the theory emphasizes the use of poetic devices makes it an
apt one as this very study is on morphological deviation (which is used as a
poetic device to achieve emphasis/foregrounding). The researcher used a
qualitative approach in this study. The researcher also employed textual
analysis method in the process of analysing data in form of poems from
Africa’s New Brood. A description of the variable(s) was also given to
explicate and make sense of the subject under study which is morphological
deviation. The results of the findings from the data analysed prove that
Wangusa uses morphological deviation to emphasize his message, shock, or
surprise readers (estrangement) and create mood in his poetry. This study
recommends that studies be carried out on Wangusa’s use of deviation of
register.
