scholarly journals Ìgbélárugẹ Èdè: Akinwumi Isola’s Model for Promoting African Languages

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1.2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Akinloye Ojo
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Language Choices ◽  
Linguistic Justice ◽  
And Performance ◽  
African Writers ◽  
Yoruba Language ◽  
Literary Circles

 The ever-popular discussion in African literary circles is critically about language choices that African writers make in their creative endeavors. This is part of this write-up’s focus plus the plight of African languages with attention to the benefit and challenges for their empowerment. We set out to achieve two goals in this essay; first contributing to the ongoing discussions on African mother tongues, their vital roles in African literatures while characterizing pointers on proficiency and performance. Second, considering the use of Yoruba language in creative works of late Akínwùmí Oròjídé Iṣọ̀lá. Expectedly, the latter goal will exemplify the importance of indigenous languages to African writers. In pursuance of these dual goals, it is critical to highlight areas in which African writers, especially those writing in their native African languages, have endured to play crucial roles in promotion of African languages. These highlighted areas go beyond now fashionable and expressed goal of focusing on literature in African languages (splendor in African languages) onto push for fairness for languages and their speakers (linguistic justice).

scholarly journals The Choice of Language for African Creative Writers

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edadi Ilem Ukam
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Know How ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Creative Writers ◽  
African Writers

Language issue has been considered as a major problem to Africa. The continent has so many distinct languages as well as distinct ethnic groups. It is the introduction of the colonial languages that enable Africans to communicate with each other intelligibly: otherwise, Africa has no one central language. Among the colonial languages are English, French, Arabic and Portuguese which today serve as lingua franca in the mix of multiple African languages. Based on that, there is a serious argument among African critics about which language(s) would be authentic in writing African literature: colonial languages which serve as lingua franca, or the native indigenous languages. While some postcolonial African creative writers like Ngugi have argued for the authenticity and a return in writing in indigenous African languages, avoiding imperialism and subjugation of the colonisers, others like Achebe are in the opinion that the issue of language should not be the main reason in defining African literature: any languagecan be adopted to portray the lifestyles and peculiarities of Africans. The paper is therefore, designed to address the language debate among African creative writers. It concludes that although it is authentic to write in one’s native language so as to meet the target audience, yet many Africans receive their higher education in one of the colonial and/or European languages; and as such, majority do not know how to write in their native languages. Rather, they write in the imposed colonial languages in order tomeet a wider audience. Not until one or two major African languages are standardised, taught in schools, acquired by more than 80 per cent of Africans and used as common languages, the colonial languages would forever continue to have a greater influence in writing African literature. The paper recommendes that Africans should have one or two major African languages standardised, serving as common languages; also African literature should be written in both colonialand African languages in order to avoid the language debate by creative African writers. 

ThePennyles Pilgrimageof John Taylor: Poverty, Mobility and Performance in Seventeenth-Century Literary Circles

Rural History ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIE SANDERS
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Ben Jonson ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Commercial Enterprise ◽  
Everyday Experiences ◽  
John Taylor ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Literary Circles

Abstract:In this article I ask what it means for cartographical, social, economic and political understandings of poverty and mobility when the ‘geography of vagrancy’, as A. L. Beier termed it, is re-staged and reconfigured in specific acts of writing and even specific acts of walking. Invoking a range of public performances as well as print and manuscript publications by recognised literary figures of the day, including work by Ben Jonson and John Taylor, I concentrate on one particular literary remaking of the everyday experiences of the mobile poor in Taylor's 1618 published pamphletThe Pennyles Pilgrimage or The Money-lesse perambulation, of Iohn Taylor, Alias the Kings Majesties Water-Poet. What Taylor understood when engaging with the ‘geography of vagrancy’ in his challenging text was that the act of mapping the spatial world of the itinerant poor required considerable thought not only about the spaces inhabited, albeit temporarily, or travelled through, but also the ways in which the mobile poor performed such spaces. In turn, Taylor's own performance can be understood as a contradictory act of commercial enterprise and self-promotion as well as one that gives literary historians significant access to contemporary imaginings of the specific socioeconomic and spatial conditions of poverty and mobility.

Kenimani-Kenimatoni Organisational Practice : An Africanised Construct of Superordinate-Subordinate Relationships in a University System

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-125
Author(s):  
Bunmi Isaiah Omodan
Keyword(s):  
African Society ◽  
Relationship Dynamics ◽  
Theoretical Formulation ◽  
University System ◽  
Organisational Theory ◽  
African Languages ◽  
The World ◽  
Yoruba Language ◽  
Organisational Practice ◽  
University Community

This theoretical formulation responded to the quest for Africanised epistemic space to construct the hidden indigenous practices into the world of knowledge. Kenimani (that others may not have) and Kenimatoni (that others may not reach up to one’s status), a Yoruba language, one of the African languages was rationalised as an organisational theory of relationships capable of understanding and interpreting people’s actions, and inactions in organisations. The exploration was guided by examining how the underlying meaning and principles of Kenimani-Kenimatoni can be exemplified to the leadership and followership syndrome of organisational relationships. The article was designed using inductive and deductive experiential exploration to present the argument. Yoruba and its beauties were examined to open a linguistic permutation for the analysis. The two Yoruba words ‘kenimani’ and ‘kenimatoni’and their conjunctional framing as peculiar to university community were elucidated to reflect university organisational relationships. The dilemma of positivism and the negativism and the principles embedded in the Kenimani-Kenimatoni organisational practices were uncovered. The Kenimani-Kenimatoni epistemic standpoint was also exemplified with the conclusion that African society is rich in knowledge and practices. Therefore, an Africanised practice like Kenimani- Kenimatoni can explain relationship dynamics in organisations, though this is open to further scholastic discourse.

Digital Communication in Indigenous Languages

2010 ◽  
pp. 564-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fúnmi O. Olúbòdé-Sàwè
Keyword(s):  
Cell Phone ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Information Superhighway ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Loan Words ◽  
Computer Based

This chapter looks at how the demands of modern day discourse behavior may impact upon and/or transform the use of indigenous African languages, as their speakers try to cope with and/or utilize computer-based communication gadgets and access/publish information on the information superhighway. It also presents a critique of one such effort at translating information on one brand of cell phone into major Nigerian languages. Drawing from the Yorùbá option, the authors show that new terminology has been created using the strategies of Terminologization, composition and translingual borrowing, but there are problems of inaccurate translation, use of non-standard orthography and non-indigenization of loan words. The chapter therefore proposes further refinement in subsequent terminology projects, especially the possibility of producing one-key symbols to represent the distinctive graphological symbols of indigenous African languages.

Exploring the Use of Indigenous Languages in Antenatal Care Sessions Among Mothers in Lagos State

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-44
Author(s):  
Oludare Ebenezer Ogunyombo ◽  
Semiu Bello
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Antenatal Care ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Safe Motherhood ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Lagos State ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Yoruba Language

This chapter examines the use of indigenous languages during antenatal care (ANC) sessions among mothers in Lagos state. Authors investigate factors that influence the use of indigenous languages, the most preferred mode of presentation, and how the languages affect reception, participation, and knowledge of mothers on safe motherhood practices. Using in-depth interviews with nurses and observations during the ANC sessions, the study found that indigenous languages engender participation and are effective in building self-esteem, trust, and confidence of mothers. Songs in the indigenous language, particularly Yoruba language, help mothers retain and recall safe motherhood messages easily. Mothers generally demonstrate their understanding during the question and answer sessions, while also serving as agents of information reinforcement among themselves using indigenous languages. In view of the occasional need for interpreters, the study recommends that health workers should be encouraged to take courses in indigenous languages within their region as a second language.

Langage technique et univers technologique africain

Babel ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 193-210
Author(s):  
Priye Iyalla-Amadi
Keyword(s):  
Nous Avons ◽  
Solar Collector ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Active Part ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Technical Translation ◽  
De Se ◽  
Avoir Lieu ◽  
Scientific Phenomena ◽  
Yoruba Language

Résumé Du fait qu'il apparaît lent à participer à la marche technologique de son temps, l'Africain est perçu comme un retardataire dans l'univers technologique actuel. Or, dans cette étude, nous sommes d'avis qu'il est bel et bien possible de se lancer dans la technologie en se créant un langage technique approprié et en adoptant les procédés ponctuels et précis de la traduction technique. Nous avons choisi la langue yoruba comme modèle de ce travail embryonnaire car nous estimons qu'il s'agit d'une langue africaine "auto-suffisante" et capable de subvenir aux besoins de ses locuteurs à tous les niveaux. Nous avons donc imaginé de formuler un langage technique en nous servant de la langue française comme modèle métalinguistique en vue de parvenir à nos fins, à savoir de doter l'esprit de l'Africain d'une pensée dite technique, afin de faire naître en lui une conscience technologique par la voie lexicologique, pour qu'enfin puissent avoir lieu les inventions technologiques. Abstract The need for the African to be an active part of the technological age is felt now more than ever. Efforts need to be made to make the African aware of the technological realities, manifested via scientific phenomena, present in his environment. One way we intend to do this is by evolving an appropriate lexicological framework whereby indigenous African languages, in this case the Yoruba language, can be made to express scientific and technological phenomena using the concise and precise procedures of technical translation. It is our belief that abstract conceptions concretized by linguistic expressions can give impetus to technological inventions. When the Yoruba speaker knows that he can express the term 'solar collector' in his native language as 'akónajo olóòrùn', he will be better able to appreciate and apprehend the phenomenon in his environment. As David Crystal (1987) noted in his comments on the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, people recall things more easily if they correspond to readily available words or phrases. It is our intention to make such words which will convey technological import readily available to Yoruba speakers through this study. We also intend to use the Yoruba language as a model to be emulated by other languages in need of lexicological development, i.e. designed to express scientific and technological realities in such a way as ultimately to give impetus to technological inventions.

scholarly journals Literatura, Linguagem e Descolonização em Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (Quênia) e Chinua Achebe (Nigéria)

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Bruno Ribeiro Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o ◽  
Chinua Achebe ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
African Languages ◽  
African People ◽  
History Of ◽  
African Writers ◽  
The Many

A história de literatura africana contemporânea está repleta de debates que tratam de sua utilidade frente aos povos de África e a natureza dessa literatura. Através das ideias de dois escritores africanos, Chinua Achebe e Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, este artigo revisita a história das ideias desses autores em respeito à literatura africana e sua linguagem de escrita. Tratamos de perceber como dois autores da mesma geração, porém de locais diferentes, Nigéria e Quênia, respectivamente, pensaram a produção literária e sua função em África no período pós-colonial.Palavras-chave: Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938-), Literatura Africana, Línguas Africanas AbstractThe history of African contemporary literature is full of debates that deal with its utility to the many African people and the nature of this literature. Through the ideas of two African writers, Chinua Achebe and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, we revisit the history of the ideas of these authors in relation to African literature and the language in which this literature is written. We try to perceive how authors from the same generation, but from different locals, Nigeria and Kenya, respectively, thought their literary production and its function in Africa in the post-colonial period.Keywords: Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938-), African Literatures, African Languages

scholarly journals Le politiche linguistiche nell’Unione africana

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Siebetcheu
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Countries ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Local Populations ◽  
Language Choices ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Diffusion

This paper illustrates the language policy implemented by the African Union (AU). It highlights the impact of language choices within AU institutions on local populations. Sixty years after the independence of most African countries and despite the fact that over two thousand languages are spoken in this continent, language policy is still highly Eurocentric. Moreover, the exclusive use of these few ex colonial languages, not known by the vast majority of the population, has social and linguistic repercussions on Africans who are unable to participate in the political life of their respective countries. AU has made some interesting proposals for the promotion and diffusion of local African languages, but much remains to be done.

Vernacularization, globalization, and language economics in non-English-speaking countries in Africa

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Preservation ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Symbolic Language ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Successful Case ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Theoretical Developments

Research into language policy in Africa has addressed the impact of colonial language policies on efforts to formulate and implement post-colonial language policies aimed at vernacularization, defined as the use of indigenous African languages in higher domains such as education. What seems to have received very little attention to date, however, is the effect of globalization, through the medium of English, on vernacularization not only in Anglophone but also in non-English-speaking countries in the African continent. Focusing on the latter territories, this paper explores this issue from the perspective of recent theoretical developments in the field of language economics, an area of study whose focus is on the theoretical and empirical ways in which linguistic and economic variables influence one another. It argues that the spread of English to these historically non-English-speaking territories in Africa represents the second challenge to largely symbolic language policies aimed at promoting vernacularization, the first one being other western languages (e.g. French, Portuguese, Spanish). Drawing on language economics, the paper argues that the prospects for the indigenous languages will continue to be bleak, especially in the era of globalization, unless these languages are viewed as a commodity rather than as a token for cultural preservation, and are associated with some of the advantages and material gains that have for decades been the preserve of western languages. Resistance against, and successful case studies of, vernacularization informed by language economics in various parts of the world are presented in support of the proposed argument for the promotion of Africa’s indigenous languages in education.

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