problem of language in african literature

According to E.N Obiechina, one of the problems of African literature, and particularly, oral literature scholarship has been how the African writer can “render cultural effects, ideas, Several books give an overview of African literatures in European languages. %PDF-1.6 %�� 0000001252 00000 n (Claire Soarse, in www.Independant.co.uk). . INTRODUCTION. 43 9 Several books give an overview of African literatures in European languages. The two volumes of essays discuss texts by both African and European writers and give overviews of the preoccupation of individual authors and specific national … According to E.N Obiechina, one of the problems of African literature, and particularly, oral literature scholarship has been how the African writer can “render cultural effects, ideas, 43 0 obj <> endobj will be found not in an isolated attempt to solve the language problems of Africa's literary artists but in a comprehensive effort to address the language issue in the life of our new nations. General Overviews. INTRODUCTION. In 1964, Achebe was in fact directly responding to those like Obiajunwa Wali, who, in his article The Dead End of African Literature, which appeared in Transition magazine in 1963, argued that African languages will face inevitable extinction if they do not embody some kind of intelligent literature (335). 0000003112 00000 n Problems in African Literature (1992) by. There are some authors who believe African literature can only be composed in African languages. ... Zulu, Shona and hundreds of other languages spoken throughout Africa. (in Olaniyan & Quayson, 282). Each of these two poles was associated with a specific set of attributes, and the binary opposition that resulted saw European-language traditions linked to the global, the written, and the modern, while African-language traditions were often qualified in relation to the local, the oral, and the past (or tradition). African literature also, it is observed, is a mixed grill: it is oral; it is written in vernacular or tribal tongues; written in foreign tongues English, French, Portuguese and within the foreign language in which it is written, pidgin and creole further bend the already bent language giving African literature a further taint of linguistic impurity. I had no choice for several reasons. ��3��7z�*�ޗ�ݝ�y��5S�P%L`B�)�B@Ɉ�JNB.��>Ʊ\i�(�`��58��$��r.-T@̍��-(N��|�|~+�zeT�P��1g%O77A'�J��:�.�5�.��¾�ݒ�n�b~�n��zq9��NЏ�� ,�K~D�aA��l��ۜ�⬄]�m4�'��0JiЎ��-:i4�!�O�V�6h0�IC0p�)p� 0000000016 00000 n I had no choice for several reasons. The African Writer and the English Language Chinua Achebe IN JUNE 1962, there was a writers' gathering at Makerere, impressively styled: "A Conference of African Writers of English Expression." The answer to the question 'Which language(s) for African literature?' Journal of the African Literature Association. %PDF-1.5 %�� South Africa is a multi-lingual society that has some unique linguistic problems because of its policy of apartheid. Nigeria, then, is a typical example of diverse responses to the language problem in African literature, the Igbo abandoning their language, the Yoruba keeping it alive alongside English, while the Hausa, though influenced by colo-nialism, maintained a stolid loyalty to their native tongue especially through Gérard 1986 is an excellent starting point in surveys of the major issues and figures in African writing in European languages. Whether to foster post-independence African literary cultures in European or African languages fuelled the historic 1962 African Writers Conference at … In other words a literature that is written in the national language. African-Language Literature and Postcolonial Criticism Karin Barber The "postcolonial" criticism of the 1980s and '90s-which both continues and inverts the "Commonwealth" criticism inaugurated in the 1960s-has promoted a binarized, generalized model of the world which has had the effect of eliminating African-language expression from view. An international language like French or English, a vestige of colonialism, carries prestige, is used in higher education, and promises mobility-and yet it will not be well known by its users.The essays inLanguages in Africaexplore the layers of African multilingualism as they affect language policy and education. He lamented that the student of African languages, such as Yoruba, had no play available to him in that language, … $�r�漋��aU!̶��7�zAe�. 23 Issue 1, p153 . 134 0 obj <> endobj For decades, African literary studies have been grounded in an epistemological distinction between Europhone literatures and Afrophone literatures. October – November 2006. First, there was no other language allowed in our family besides an African language. h��Wmo�H�+�1UE�ﻖ�HJ�IQ�. This inability is governed … h�bbd```b``^"C@$�~�z,� �5��)09D2��`�$�T��f�IƵ`3��m��L@��eiB�g`��` �TV '!>��G The Language of African Literature: A Writer's Testimony. %%EOF 0 The second problem with the African languages is accessibility, because since the African languages are regional languages, none of them can claim the readership on a … Forty percent of the world's languages are endangered and likely to become extinct. Despite this sonorous and rather solemn title, it turned out It provides brief notes on salient terms in the language of the theory. Mazisi Kunene. ISSUES IN MODERN AFRICAN LITERATURE. 0 In this respect, a number of proposals have been made that are worth examining. The issue of language in the expression of African literature has been an age-long debate. Publishes international peer-reviewed research on the oral, literary, and related arts of Africa and the African Diaspora, including interviews and forums. On one level, there are tensions between its two official language groups, Afrikaans and English. Whether to foster post-independence African literary cultures in European or African languages fuelled the historic 1962 African Writers Conference … With colonialism, African languages were downgraded, and the language of the colonising country, English became the language of commerce, education and an instrument with which to measure knowledge (Dlamini:2005:16) The use of English in African literature can most definitely be viewed as a necessary evil. African literature - African literature - The influence of oral traditions on modern writers: Themes in the literary traditions of contemporary Africa are worked out frequently within the strictures laid down by the imported religions Christianity and Islam and within the struggle between traditional and modern, between rural and newly urban, between genders, and between generations. endstream endobj 44 0 obj<> endobj 45 0 obj<> endobj 46 0 obj<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Type/Page>> endobj 47 0 obj<> endobj 48 0 obj<> endobj 49 0 obj<>stream different cultures and languages as well as achieve universal understanding of arts and life. 0000001163 00000 n 1.1 Background to the Study. %%EOF endstream endobj startxref 1.1 Background to the Study. Publishers have failed to translate many works to and from indigenous African languages for multiple reasons, from lack of financial interest to oral sounds which are untranslatable into print. It is generally observed that African language speakers do not regard their languages as languages of advancement and development. Populated by diverse ethnic and language groups, South Africa has a distinctive literature in many African languages as well as Afrikaans (a vernacular Click the link for more information. 0000001073 00000 n xref On another level, there are linguistic tensions between the ethnic Europeans and the black majority, mostly in regard to language instruction in schools. South African literature, the body of writings in either Afrikaans or English produced in what is now the Republic of South Africa.The rest of African literature is treated in African literature.. South Africa was colonized by Europeans against the resistance of Africans and was for some time afterward a battlefield between Briton and Boer. Gérard 1986 is an excellent starting point in surveys of the major issues and figures in African writing in European languages. 173 0 obj <>stream 0000000679 00000 n To Obi Wali, any literature written outside African languages cannot be termed African literature, no matter how clearly it describes the African … Issues in African Literature by Charles E. Nnolim The multitudinous nature of African literature has always been an issue but really not a problem, although its oral base has been used by expatriate critics to accuse African literature of thin plots, superficial characterisation, and narrative structures. CHAPTER ONE. An ethnic literature is one which is available only to one ethnic group within the nation. c`e`�� Ȁ �,@Q�p?��!��A��4�y��bX1(l�~þ�y3�&�I�Bg��VL�6,a�j��PV�m��m�Ҷgoߝ� 2�Q��u��9�M�s��G��A��c�m��^;�k[��Ҝ]ӣ�^�|�S-� MB�� h�� U7��vlCGGu Y@�2J � ��S��l�Q�C�Y�/DQ�@��E�X,� ��Ò�p��!�l�r&;��`� To one ethnic group within the nation and counter-arguments and is yet to laid! 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