POLITICS OF ORALITY IN THE POST-INDEPENDENCE AFRICAN SOCIETY

POLITICS OF ORALITY IN THE POST INDEPENDENCE AFRICAN SOCIETY

The choice of language and words

 In Arrow of god And Things fall apart. Taking a thorough look or making a literary analysis of Achebe’s books means, for the most part, studying his handling of the language which he used in accordance with the beliefs that prevail in the Igbo land. In so doing we will be amazed to the extreme and even flabbergasted by the extraordinarily marvelous and unprecedented Achebe’s way of conveying beliefs and traditions from the Igbo language into the English with precision, accuracy and professionalism. Words and language had to be picked up with great care for the sake of faithfulness and clarity for people to feel exactly like the Igbo people when they speak their own language. Achebe, as a genius writer has had the knack in both works as far as his choice of language and words is concerned of representing the way of life of the Igbo people in the English language which was a language unknown at the time when the events in both books took place. But what is amazing in the eyes of the common readers like ourselves is that although these events are narrated in English, any English-speaking person will know without striking a blow that the words and the language used though that’s English ones, defer completely from the thinking minds of a native of England or America, because Achebe put forward in his writing the feeling of the Igbo people in so much that every English-speaking Igbo person will feel exactly the same thing when reading both books as he would if these books were written in his own language. All the same he took good care of the understanding 10 of the people that are non-Igbo. That is the reason why everybody who happens to read these books will have a great inside into things concerning this community in question. 

The use of language

 According to most of the linguistic theories, a language is innate and not something that one shapes for one’s purpose. For this matter, language is one of the most precious gifts given to man, a gift through which he conveys his worries, his feelings, and by the same token transforms his environment and even carries out his fights for some causes. As a matter of fact, the decline of any language is not only brought about by the bad influence of this or that writer but it must have political and economic causes. Just as a saying goes, “A man may take a drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fails all the more completely because he drinks.” This proverb can be compared to the happening around the English language. People who write in English have always an intention behind leaving their own language and writing in somebody else’s language, be it emotional or personal meaning or general interest. In so doing, they express their dislikes and their solidarities, but the problem which occurs is that they are not in the real detail of what they are saying. For the sake of clarity and faithfulness in what he tries to represent, a writer may ask himself a certain number of questions in everything he writes. What makes me write? What am I trying to bring to light? Which words, images are influential enough to help me reach my goal? Questions of this type must be the first concern of all writers who want their literary productions to produce the wanted effect. A language is therefore a power which when well managed can turn things positively or negatively around. This is why it is the weapon used by the writers to sing the values of their people, to denounce and protest against the injustice and oppression within the communities they live in. Based on that, we can state that language has different functions and people use it with different intentions because a lot of things in order not to say everything are solved by the power of people through language even though the solver seems to be something else. Let’s the role and power of language in Arrow of God. In this book, problems and adversity are solved by the use of language, and the best user of language is the one who will go home happy. The illustrative example is the verbal fight between Ezeulu and Nwaka. Although most of time Ezeulu is the one who is only interested in telling the truth the 11 way it stands, he is as well most of the time the one who goes home with a heart heavy with resentment, bitterness and unhappiness whenever he begs right to defer from Nwaka over his point of view in the village gatherings. Nwaka’s outstanding way of handling his language, his outstanding way of amazing and convincing his audience gives him his reputation of a great orator. People say of him with envy that : “ He never minces his words”, that “ he is the owner of the word”. Language is what differs the African people from many others in the rest of the world. In Africa it is a common knowledge among people that when an old person dies, it is a whole library that is burned. This is not said of such a person because he is a good writer or a good scientist or else a good researcher but instead it is said of him, for he is a good story teller after having been through and through a lot and has stories to tell to the posterity. In traditional Africa, those who spoke well and had a high command of idioms and proverbs are honored and respected throughout their communities and most of the time they are those who were given the highest responsibilities. Let’s quote a statement from the book entitled African child by CamaraLaye: “In everything I noticed a kind of dignity which was lacking in town Life…..And if their minds seemed to work slower in the country, that Was because they always spoke after due reflection and because Speech itself was a most serious matter.” 1 These well-spoken or written words taken from the different parts of Africa go to show the high position that the language occupies in traditional Africa. It was the tool that made of the social order the prevailing thing in the African communities because everything was said by word of mouth and was comprehended as such. Additionally It was the arm used to reinforce the different beliefs in the different societies. That’s why the westerners knew so very well that the only way for them to conquer was to weaken or put disorder in the social order established by the language. However language is a coded system that one only understands when one belongs to the system itself. In traditional Africa, one language can be spoken differently in accordance with the place it is spoken in. That’s why understanding a language does not suffice for one to understand the meaning of the words spoken in a particular place, but instead one should imperatively know the ways of the users of the language in question. Each community has its own codes which are understood only by people belonging to the given system

English as a foreign language

Western languages such as English and French are used by the African writers in order to reach a wider audience in so doing. Those languages are not used by most of them so as to make a promotion of them but instead they are use them as tools to widespread the African values and traditions which, for them, are worthy of mention and praise. And that should be in the full knowledge of each and every one in the whole world. Some used those languages with the view of criticizing the western long-lasted injustice and oppression on the African people. By the same token, they attempted hard to bring an answer to the racist writers who fabricated lies about Africa denying it any value, wisdom and civilization worthy of any   mention whatsoever. But in spite of the African writers’ relevance, the westerners continued with their criticisms and this time what they put forward is that an African writing in a language that is not his own shows that they have no linguistic value, that’s why they come forward with the idea that the African writers’ works would not reach the world if they were not expressed in their languageswhich are the only ones worthy of the name. So for them, the form of the African writers is problematic and even paradoxical because fighting against a people and using their language is something that excites many doubtful questions. In this effect, let’s quote a British critic in a London newspaper: “We are in for a spate of “quaint” books from Africa Written in what almost amounted to “pidgin English”. This Is the new writing of Africa and the only true way in which The Africa can speak his mind and convey his emotions And environment in the English language.”1 The first question that occurs to the minds is that why precisely English and not another language better known to the target African audience? Because in order to speak English and make it accessible to the African audience, we would speak it the way a native of the language would not because we will feel obliged to use an English deeply rooted in the ways of thinking of the people in question. That kind of English could rightly be called an Africa English. And in so doing the writers will be narrowing his readers because things will become blurred in the minds of the readers that are non_native of the particular African area in question, be it from another part of Africa or from the rest of the world. However that difficulty in understanding brought about by the need of adapting the writing to the realities of the community in question is somehow tantamount to making some of the reading audience lose taste for further reading. For instance in Arrow of god and Things fall apart, a person from somewhere else in the African continent or in another part of the world would find it difficult to understand the sayings and proverbs that are used. Although proverbs and saying are in English, it is English deeply rooted in the thinking mind of the Igbo people. And even in Arrow of god, the difficulty does not limit itself there but an Igbo man may have difficulty in understanding the meaning of some Igbo words in a village that is not his although it will still be in Igbo but the meaning differs from a land to another one. We can pick an example from the words of Akukalia: 1 British critic London news paper P.5 15 “ (…..) I know what they (The people of Okperi) know. If a man come, he means run away with all your strength. If you are not used to their ways, you may sit with them from cock-crow until the roasting-time and join in their talk and their food, but all the while you will be floating on the surface of the water.ofOkperi says to.” 1 Just to draw a comparison between the happening around the Igbo people and that of the English language because in English even though words can differ from a place to another one, for example the Americans say elevator where the British say lift, the words that are universally used mean the same in all the different parts of the world, that’s why today we can talk about standard English. This illustrative sentence of Akukalia is clear enough for us to understand that we only understand the way an African author uses the English language when we are part of the people their writing is meant for. The African people have always given a great importance to the English language. As a matter of fact, at first it was thought that the capacity of speaking this specific white language was almost beyond their abilities. For this matter, those who could speak the white man’s language earned a big respect within their community. Let’s quote these sentences picked up from Arrow of god as a crystal clear illustration: “Meanwhile Moses Unachukwu’s reputation rose to unprecedented heights. It wasone thing to claim to speak the white man’s language and quite another to be seen actually doing it.” This actually goes to showing that the choice to write in English was a very good one on the part of the African writers due to the fact that from time out of mind being able to speak, write and read in English has always been something that one could brag about. Therefore this is far from meaning that the use of English by African writers is free of problems and contradictions. The problem of the English language in Africa can be seen as one of the consequences of colonialism, meaning the presence of the Europeans in the continent. Chinua Achebe himself did not speak differently when given a chance in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) about his choice to write in a foreign language. His words were that he wrote in English language because he is a victim of linguistic colonialism. But fortunately he proceeded by saying that he has made arrangements for the translation of his works, especially poetry, into Igbo while he was still around