The text under consideration is entitled ‘How Africa is creating welfare

states’. The article was published in the journal ‘The Economist’ dating back to the
2019. It is a piece of a publicistic writing, namely a feature article. There are a
number of factors enabling me to say so. The article contains the objective
information about the events which have recently taken place in Africa. It also
gives the information of human interest because it involves the reader emotionally.

Written by an expert this article provides background information on the

newsworthy topics as well as the writer’s experience. These features of a given
piece of writing highlight the main function of feature articles and the newspaper
style in general.

Analyzing the layout of this text, it should be mentioned that the piece of
writing conveys the information in the most readable and readily interesting way.
There is an important feature of clear and attractive topography that is common for
printed newspaper item. The layout of the reading matter is adopted, the whole text
is divided into 2 columns. Different sizes of type for the main headline and the
whole text are also used.

The information is divided into a large number of short but exact 16 physical
paragraphs. The connection between paragraphs is made as smooth as possible due
to various adverbial connectives, such as conjunctions and connective words (for,
and, but, as, rather, however, then, so, if, although, after, yet, when, because). All
these factors help to attract the casual reader’s attention and guide it rapidly
through the matter on the page. There is also a short introductory part at the
beginning of the article beneath the headline that is typed in italics (“Africa is
stitching together social safety-nets even though it is still poor”). The title of the
newspaper, which contains this article, and the publishing period are pointed out at
the beginning of the text.

The article deals with welfare in poor regions of Africa. People started so-
called welfare programme that helps the citizens of the continent. The main
problem with such a project is the lack of money in poor countries compared to
other ones that have also launched such assistance in their own poor regions. The
second problem is that poor people are considered to be unaccustomed to work.
This statement is completely false, but such problems are indeed certain obstacles
in alms giving.

Analyzing the grammatical peculiarities, it should be mentioned that a feature

article is characterized by a peculiar composition and by a certain syntactic
structure of the sentences. This text has following grammatical parameters that are
typical of a feature article. We can find complex sentences (Its main welfare
scheme is already beginning to feel permanent, because it has created a
constituency in favour of its perpetuation. Although many of the bureaucratic costs
associated with Senegal’s cash-welfare programme are paid by aid agencies,
almost all the money distributed to paupers comes from the government.). Passive
voice (welfare can be targeted, recipients are paid, some schemes are abolished,
he was penalized, it was created in 2013, it was found, a home that ought to be
pulled down). Gerund (some money simply for being poor, such as buying
packets, he was penalized for having a house, to reduce poverty by promoting
economic growth). Infinitive constructions (but the best way to tackle deep
poverty is to start at the bottom, which tend to go to middle-class people).

In further analysis of a given feature article we proceed to the analysis of the

lexical peculiarities of the text. This piece of article includes abbreviation
(PSSN, GDP, Mr., Ms.). Also, this article includes examples of stylistic devices
such as metonymy (Africa is stitching together, Africa is creating welfare states, a
government relies on local people), epithets (an extraordinary development, an
efficient form), metaphor (money dries up), simile (the result sometimes looks
like patronage or even nepotism).

Now let’s have a closer look at those means of the lexical cohesion which
contribute to the logico-semantic and artistic wholeness of the text under analysis.
One of the means through which the lexical cohesion finds its expression in a
given piece of writing is the recurrence of the keywords. In the present text the
following keywords can be distinguished: poor people, social safety-nets,
government, money, welfare. The keywords “welfare” and “poor” that are
mentioned 19 times in the given article. The thematic group is formed by the
following words: poor people, a support, welfare, aims-giving; names of the
countries: Brazil, Mexico, Mozambique, Tanzania, Britain, Sweden, Botswana
and Kenya; names of the continents: Europe, Asia, Latin America, America, and
Africa; peoples’ names: Ms Saidi, Pape Malick Gningue, Macky Sall, Mr Sall, Mr
Sefu. Also, we should come to the semantic group: to create, to form, to develop,
to build, to found. A very important role in the lexical cohesion of the text is
played by the synonyms: under – below, cash – money, earn – receive. Alongside,
there are a number of antonyms in the text under analysis: same – different, more
– less, poorer – richer, generous – stingy, hardly – much.

Now let’s have a look at the word-building means, namely affixation and
compounding, that also reinforce the lexical cohesion of the text. The examples of
affixation are the following words: government, quickly, payment, simply,
development, increasingly, wisely, fully, inevitably, disposable, dishonestly, re-
election. The examples of compounding are drought-stricken, cash-welfare,
households, middle-class, social-safety.

In such a way the lexical cohesion of the text is created. (stylistic devices)

Summing up, I can say that this piece of writing belongs to the feature article.
Here we have an exploring of a topic of current importance about setting welfare in
Africa’s countries. It follows narratorial conventions. In addition, it is written in
short paragraphs, what makes this article very readable. Also, it provides us a
perspective about the issue. The last but not the least, what makes this article look
amazing, interesting, and catchy – the usage of different stylistic devices such as
epithets, metaphors, and similes.