Mbenzi, Petrus A.Ndove, Nathan Eliab Ndinomholo2025-02-172025-02-172024http://hdl.handle.net/11070/3956A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Degree of Masters of Arts in African LanguagesThe purpose of this study was to analyse the stylistic features that are employed in Oshiwambo wedding songs in Oshapapa moonkuluhedhi by Petrus Mbenzi. The data was collected through a desktop research by analysing documented wedding songs in the aforementioned book. No participants were involved in the collection of data in this study. This study used a qualitative research approach that allowed the researcher to stylistically analyse Oshiwambo wedding songs. The study employed the theory of stylistic criticism as presented by Ngara (1985) and the meaning theory of Leech (1981) as the theoretical framework. The theory of stylistic criticism accounted for both linguistic and literary aspects of oral poetry. By employing this theory, the researcher analysed the stylistic features that are employed in Oshiwambo wedding songs in the book titled Oshapapa moonkuluhedhi by Petrus Mbenzi at the different levels of language. The theory of meaning deals with semantics as a branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words in language. The theory assisted the researcher to identify how meaning was conveyed in Oshiwambo wedding songs.The study revealed that the stylistic features are appropriate for the Ovawambo tribe as the stylistic features help Ovawambo to deliver the intended messages effectively. The study identified rhyme, dialects and onomatopoeia as stylistic devices under phonology. The study further revealed the lexical devices such as borrowing, repetition, anaphora and parallelism. Syntax is another language aspects which is discussed in this study; the identified devices that are discussed in this language aspect are: sentence length; types of sentences; questions as stylistic features; rhetorical question, hortative sentences and refrain. At semantic level, the study identified simile, metaphor, euphemism, anti-thesis and enjambment as the stylistic and linguistic features that were analysed in Oshiwambo wedding songs. This study contributes to the study of literature, specifically a stylistic analysis of Oshiwambo. The knowledge acquired through this study could be utilised by other scholars as literature in the same field of specialisation. This study, therefore, recommends that more research should be conducted on Oshiwambo wedding songs, particularly on their functions, performance and paralinguistic featuresenOshiwamboNamibiaUniversity of NamibiaWedding songsStylisticsMarriageThesis