QUANTIFYING SEXUAL AND NYARSH DISCOURSE IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S A MAN OF THE PEOPLE: A STATISTICAL AND SOCIO DISCURSIVE ANALYSIS
Abstrak
This study examines how sexual and nyarsh or nyash discourse are distributed and function in Chinua Achebe’s "A Man of the People." It analyses 49 coded references from the novel, organized by chapter, discourse type, character or narrator, gender, explicitness, and relation to nyash. (Cham, 1985, pp. 243-265) Nyash specifically refers to language emphasizing female buttocks, hips, or hip movement, distinguishing it from general references to female body or sexuality. (Nyash, 2026) The analysis combines frequency analysis with interpretation to reveal how sexual language and bodily depiction influence ideas of gender, desire, rivalry, power, political privilege, and social identity. Results show that Chapter Six contains the most coded references (12, or 24.49%). The most common category is sexual insinuation and objectification (12 references, 24.49%). Odili accounts for 28 references (57.14%), and male-coded references comprise 42 of the 48 gender-specific references (87.50%). Veiled sexual discourse appears more frequently than explicit references among male-coded cases. Only three references (6.12%) explicitly relate to nyash: two are purely nyash references, and one overlaps with sexual discourse. (Lynn, 2023, pp. 215-234) Overall, the study indicates that sexual discourse is extensive and significant in the novel, while nyash discourse is less frequent but culturally and socially salient. Sexuality is used to portray and critique masculine agency, political authority, social privilege, rivalry, objectification, and moral contradictions.
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