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ENYI, PERPETUA UKAMAKA PG/MA/12/62658
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE SOCIOLINGUISTICS OF ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART AND ADICHIE’S HALF OF A YELLOW SUN
ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES
FACULTY OF ARTS
Ebere Omeje Digitally Signed by: Content manager’s Name
DN : CN = Webmaster’s name
O= University of Nigeria, Nsukka
OU = Innovation Centre
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA FACULTY OF ARTS
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE SOCIOLINGUISTICS OF ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART AND ADICHIE’S HALF OF A
YELLOW SUN
A RESEARCH WORK SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE RREQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS (MA) DEGREE IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL)
BY
ENYI, PERPETUA UKAMAKA PG/MA/12/62658
AUGUST, 2015
i
TITLE PAGE
UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
FACULTY OF ARTS
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE
SOCIOLINGUISTICS OF ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART AND ADICHIE’S HALF OF A YELLOW SUN
A RESEARCH WORK SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGL ISH AND LITERARY STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS (MA) D EGREE IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE ( ESL)
BY
ENYI, PERPETUA UKAMAKA PG/MA/12/62658
SUPERVISOR: PROF. SAM ONUIGBO
AUGUST, 2015
ii
APPROVAL PAGE
THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN APPROVED AS HAVING MET THE ST ANDARD REQUIRED FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS (M. A.) DE GREE IN THE
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
BY
…………………………… …………………………… PROF. D. U. OPATA PROF. SAM ONUIGBO HEAD OF DEPARTMENT PROJECT SUPERVISOR
iii
CERTIFICATION
Enyi, Perpetua Ukamaka, a postgraduate student in the Department of English and
Literary Studies with the Registration Number PG/MA/12/62658 has satisfactorily completed the
requirements for the course and research work for the Master of Arts in English as a Second
Language (ESL).
The work embodied in this thesis has not been submitted in part or in full for any other
diploma or degree of this or any other university. The work is, therefore, original.
iv
DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to God who is the source of my strength and success.
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Every work or piece of writing is given birth by the help of many spirited individuals. My
first sincere appreciation goes to my supervisor, Professor Sam Onuigbo, who carefully guided
me in the course of my project writing. I will continue to commend his approachable and fatherly
quality; they are unrivalled and coveted. Professor E. J. Otagburuagu, deserves my thanks. He
really helped me to find my feet at the developmental stage of the project. His books were
readily available any time I demanded them. What is more, the personal lectures he gave me as
regards my topic were of great help to me. Above, his wealth of wisdom will never be
impoverished. I pray that Almighty God should bless him.
To all my lecturers in the department of English and Literary Studies, University of
Nigeria, Nsukka, I commend them for all their efforts in moulding me. May their quest for
academic and spiritual excellence continue to flourish. I cannot forget the immeasurable help of
Samson Odozie Sunday Nnabuchi in a hurry. It is not an overstatement to call him an
encyclopedia. He gave me freedom to use his textbooks and to pick his brains at all the stages of
the project. I cannot pay him for his good deeds, but God can and will. I thank him once again.
My family also has been a fountain of my encouragement throughout this academic
exercise. Their advice and words of encouragement have indeed made me resilient. I love
everyone of them. Above all, the Almighty God has been the architect of my success. He is the
ALL of my being and the source of my wisdom. May He be praised both now and forever more.
Amen.
vi
ABSTRACT
This work has dealt with the comparative study on some aspects of sociolinguistics in the novels: Things Fall Apart and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Adichie respectively. The two authors applied their linguistic, and social backgrounds for creative effects in their literary works. This creative ingenuity involves the English language, which has overwhelmed many languages because of its unifying function in nations with multilingual communities like Nigeria. The creative abilities of the authors have enabled them to manipulate the language to reflect their sociolinguistic environment. The research compared the two works by exploring the extent and the effectiveness in the use of direct translation, semantic extension, code-switching, proverbs, culturally dependent speech style, loan words, coinages, and hybridization. To do justice to this work, Labov’s Variability Theory and Systemic Functional Linguistics Theory by Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday were used because they are functional and contextually-based. In order to do this effectively, the researcher also adopted a descriptive research design to explore the sociolinguistic phenomenon in the two works. It was found that the two works followed the same nativization process in their pattern of exposition and description of their themes and subjects to reflect the Africanization of the English language. Whereas Achebe plunged deeper into the use of these sociolinguistic elements, especially proverbs, Adichie was more encompassing in her exploitation of other language codes apart from the Igbo language. Based on the findings, the researcher suggests more studies into the pragmatic, strategic and discourse analysis in literary works with African backgrounds.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page .......................................................................................................... i
Approval Page ................................................................................................. ii
Certification .................................................................................................... iii
Dedication ...................................................................................................... iv
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................... v
Abstract .......................................................................................................... vi
Table of Contents .......................................................................................... vii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ......................................................... 1
1.1 Background to the Study ...................................................................... 1
1. 2 Statement of the Problem ................................................................... 10
1.3 Purpose of the Study ........................................................................... 11
1.4 Scope of the Study ............................................................................. 11
1.5 Relevance of the Study ...................................................................... 12
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................... 13
2.1 Studies in Sociolinguistics and Sociology of
Language ............................................................................................ 13
2.2 Related Studies ................................................................................... 22
2.3 Summary of the Literature Review .................................................... 26
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................... 28
3.1 Research Design ................................................................................ 28
3.2 Sampling ............................................................................................. 28
3.3 Theoretical Framework ...................................................................... 29
viii
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS .................................................... 35
4.1 INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………..35
4.2 SOCIOLINGUISTICS OF HALF A YELLOW SUN AND THINGS
FALL APART………………………….....………………………………35
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES .............................. 58 5.1 Summary ............................................................................................ 58
5.2 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 60
5.3 Suggestions for Further Studies ......................................................... 62
WORKS CITED ............................................................................................ 6
1
CHAPTER ONE
INTROUDUCTION
1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Language and society are not independent of each other. They always go
together in the development of a people. In other words, language cannot exist and
develop outside the human society. People’s habit of thought regulates and determines
their language use because man is, essentially, a linguistic animal. This notion is
reflected in language use in literary works. For Femi Akindele and Wale Adegbite,
‘Language is the only creative property unique to human beings’ (92). It is also a
means through which human beings socialise among themselves. Besides, it is the
greatest asset to man through which he sustains himself.
In this way, an enduring relationship exists between language and society.
Tarni Prasad (247) affirms that man ‘learns the language in society but ‘the language
structure always follows the social structure and culture.’ He adds that ‘language
expresses not only the thought and feelings of the speaker but also the social culture
and tradition.’ Still on the interplay of language and society, Akindele and Adegbite
remind us that ‘Language does not exist in a vacuum, but it is always contextualized.
That is, it is situated within a socio-cultural setting of community’ (3).
It is a known linguistic fact that in language contact situation, a second
language (L2) is bound to be influenced by its linguistic environment.
To support this, Lewei Gao (73) makes reference to Kachru’s assertion in his
work in 1992:
2
[W]henever English starts to be used by a country or region in which
English is not the native language, be it for science, technology,
literature, or modernization, it undergoes a process of reincarnation that
is linguistic as well as cultural (73).
Gao cites Kachru by stating that most of such changes are ‘Pragmatically
determined, given the fact that a non-localized variety of English is not capable of
adequately expressing what is unique to a certain culture’ (73). Again, Pimyupa
Watkhaolarm also argues that ‘deviation’ in a language could be explained within a
sociolinguistic framework (2). By extension, it implies that several uses of expressions
have to be put into context to be fully appreciated. Similarly, to emphasise the
importance of context in language use, Yamuna Kachru and Larry Smith state:
People in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world often need to express
themselves through the medium of English. Inner Circle Englishes, such
as American and British, are not always adequate for such purposes.
Meanings that need to be expressed in local contexts demand the
nativization of English (106).
Kachru and Smith also affirm that in reality, language is subject to great change
and variation since it is not static or monolithic, and that any discipline whose aim is
to study the phenomenon of language should consider the cultural and social factors
that are involved in human linguistic behaviour (7). Using semantic extension to show
how some words or expressions take on added meaning(s) depending on the context
of use was noted by P. D.Tripathi in 1990 and cited in Yamuna and Smith as follows:
3
In African Englishes, father is not restricted to one’s biological male
parent but may be used for one’s father’s older brother, too. Uncle, aunt,
brother, sister, mother, grandmother and grandfather are used widely as
terms of address to express solidarity or respect… (108).
Against this background, it could be established that everything about man is
subsumed in language. Since the mention of language also entails the study of society,
sociolinguistics embraces the two terms – the study of language and society. For
Ronald Wardhaugh, sociolinguistics has to do with investigating the relationships that
exists between language and society (13). Virtually all sociolinguists agree on the
relationship which exists between language and society. There is also variability of
linguistic behaviour as a result of changes in social conditions such as class, age,
education, gender, region, religion, ethnicity, to mention but seven. Perhaps, because
of the variability nature of languages, Syal and Jindal (23) and Paul Baker (4) state
that ‘language use is in constant flux.’ In some situations, language use may be
determined by changing situations which may be formal or informal. As Anthony Oha
et al indicate, ‘individuals adjust their style to the interlocutor’ sometimes (3). A
middle class member can adjust his language to communicate properly with those at
the upper class. On the other hand, one can condescend to use less formal form of
language in order to communicate effectively with lower class members. Oha et al call
such adjustment ‘convergence’ but when people want to emphasise the social
distance, they make use of the process called ‘divergence’ by purposefully using
idiosyncratic forms (3).
4
In the very words of Hudson, ‘Since speech is (obviously) a social behaviour,
to study it without reference to society would be like studying courtship behaviour
without relating the behaviour of one partner to that of another’(3). He emphasises
that ‘People use their speech in order to identify the particular social groups to which
they belong’ (197). Furthermore, Adekunle Adeniran (1) believes that for meaningful
contextualization of any work, the knowledge of the sociocultural elements is
inevitable.
Another area where sociolinguistic study is of immense significance is in
determining the distinctiveness of language use according to individuals’ nationalities.
This gave rise to what is christened today as Englishes, hence we have British English,
American English, Canadian English, Indian English, Ghanaian English and even
Nigerian English. As enunciated by Anthony Oha et al., ‘The study of language
variation is concerned with social constraints determining language in its contextual
environment.’ Code switching is an aspect of such a variation which they define as
‘the term given to the use of different varieties of language in different social
situations’ (4).
For Joseph Ogbodo, ‘One would appreciate the fact that the English language
in contact with indigenous languages and culture cannot be spoken and written
without being affected at the level of phonology, syntax or semantics’ (106). To
buttress this, Akindele and Adegbite (69) argue that the main reason for Nigerianism
in English is not solely the case of mother tongue interference or the problem of the
acquisition of the English language but it can be accounted for by the sociolinguistic
milieu and condition under which English is used. Akindele and Adegbite assert that
5
this foreign language has ‘been cultivated and re-domesticated as well as indigenized
to accommodate the culture of the people,’ and consequently, it has acquired some
‘local colour which differentiates it from the native English variety used in England or
America’ (62). In addition, Sam Onuigbo and Joy Eyisi also agree with Akindele and
Adegbite by indicating that the English language:
[H]as been effectively domesticated to project the necessary local colour
in creative writing and a number of emerging young artists have
effectively manipulated the language to carry the peculiar socio-cultural,
political and spiritual imperatives of their literary messages (66).
This research, therefore, is set to explore and compare the peculiar linguistic
features which Achebe and Adichie exploit in Things Fall Apart and Half of a Yellow
Sun. A novelist is almost always affected by his native language even when he writes
in a foreign language although foreign language domestication in literary works can
be a style. The restructuring of language, which Yamuna Kachru and Larry Smith call
‘re-tooling’ of language, can sometimes be spontaneous but at some other time
conscious and achieved with efforts (173). In line with this, Kachru and Smith, cite
Okara as follows:
In order to capture the vivid image of African speech, I had to eschew a
habit of expressing my thought first in English. It was difficult at first,
but I had to learn. I had to study each probable Ijaw expression. I used to
discover a situation in which it was used in order to bring out the
nearest meaning in English (173).
6
Sometimes when the language is manipulated in a different cultural setting, it
loses its original meaning and takes on a new one in its new context. This is in
consonance with what Virgy Anohu (10) calls ‘bending the English language without
breaking it.’ Platt et al (171) contend that English should not always be looked at from
the point of view of correctness or wrongness but from the angle of context. In the
same way, Albert Gerard remarks that the context in which a book is published plays a
primary role in the comprehension of the text (19). Furthermore, Kachru Braj equally
sees the terms ‘Igboisation’, ‘Yorubaisation’, ‘Sankritisation’, and ‘Kannadaisation’,
as synonymous with nativization, which is defined as:
The result of those productive linguistic innovations which are
determined by the localization functions of a second language variety,
the ‘culture of conversion’ and communicative strategies in new
situations, and the ‘transfer’ from local languages (160).
Roland Nkwain also adds that the essence of localized words, expressions or
structures is to exploit the native linguistic resources available due to unavailability of
their English equivalents (48). In a similar fashion, Ayo Banjo strongly believes that
the cultural environment puts an indelible stamp on the language in question, and the
process is likely to be reinforced by the deliberate use of transliteration from the
indigenous languages by different creative writers of English expressions (228).
Since every literary text is constructed with language, it becomes important to
examine how a particular writer has utilized the potentials of language to negotiate
meaning(s) for the text in order to carry the local colour and culture of the people.
Most often, as put by Ebi Yeibo (202), ‘Authors manipulate and adapt the rhythm,
7
register, and semantics of the English language to the linguistic and cultural nuances
of the native language.’ Yeibo, citing Brumfit and Carter, emphasise our need to show
‘how what is said and how meanings are made within the psycholinguistic and
sociolinguistic ambience of the text’ (202). This captures the main concern of this
study: to show how what Adichie says in Half of a Yellow Sun functions within the
psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic ambience of the text in comparison with what
Achebe says in Things Fall Apart. Again, the study intends to highlight the relevance
of these sociolinguistic features in projecting the peculiar messages of each text,
especially as the two texts belong to different literary generations. In line with this,
Yeibo outlines some devices used by African writers to reflect local or indigenous
nuances in their styles as below:
Coinages, borrowing, etc. the use of native similes and metaphor, the
transfer of rhetorical devices from native languages, the translation of
native proverbs, idioms, the use of culturally dependent speech styles,
the use of syntactic devices and deviation, code-switching and code-
mixing and transliteration (203).
Nothwithstanding the effective innovative linguistic devices employed by
African writers through the use of English, there have been language controversies as
to whether such manipulation should go on in African literature or whether the
English language is still appropriate in conveying African visions and messages in
African literary endeavours. In the course of the language controversy, there have
been recent studies to illustrate the relevance or otherwise of such linguistic bends or
the manipulations of the English language in African literary studies. In this linguistic
8
‘war’, there are two divides: those that advocate the use of African indigenous
languages undiluted by alien imagery through English linguistic tradition and those
that propose the adoption of the English language and its linguistic manipulation,
since it can produce the communicative linguistic effect demanded. Oluwole Cooker
and Mohammed Ademilokun in “An Appraisal of the Language Question ” note that
in the 1960’s there were two camps: “a camp for indigenous African languages led
particularly by Ngugi Wa Thiong ‘o and a camp largely in favour of adopting
European languages led by Chinua Achebe’’ (np). Those in favour of African literary
works written in African languages include Obi Wali, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and Abiola
Irele, and others who argue from the premise that for African literature to be authentic
and worth the name, it must be rendered in an indigenous African language. The
proponents of the use of African languages further argue that African literature could
only be written in African languages because these are the languages of peasantry and
the working class which are very appropriate and inevitable in the revolution against
neo-colonilization. They further stress that African languages are the languages of the
people the writers want to address. The languages also provide direct access to the
rich traditions of African people and by using them, writers participate in the struggle
against domination by foreign languages and against wider imperialist domination
(Ngugi Wa Thiong’o qtd.in Thaddeus Menang’s “The Language Controversy” np). In
his article “The Language of African Literature” in The Post-Colonial Studies Reader
Wa Thiong’o cites Gabriel Okara’s as follows:
As a writer who believes in the utilization of African ideas, African
folklore and imagery to the fullest extent possible, I am of the opinion
9
that the only way to use them effectively is to translate them almost
literarily from the African language native to the writer into whatever
European language he is using as a medium of expression. I have
endeavoured in my words to keep as close as possible to the vernacular
expressions. For from a word, a group of words, a sentence, and even a
name in any African language, one can glean the social norms, attitudes,
and values of a people (286).
As the argument on the appropriate language for African literature rages,
Achebe, quoted in an article “Language” in The Post-Colonial Studies Reader adds
that the practice not only helps to show the Africanness in African literature; it also
makes the language bear the weight and texture of a different experience, and in doing
so, it becomes a different language by adapting the alien language to the exigencies of
a mother grammar, syntax and vocabulary. He further states that by giving a shape to
the variations of the speaking voice, such writers and speakers construct an ‘english’
which amounts to a different linguistic vehicle from the received standard colonial
English (284).
From the above, the advocates of the use of English in African literature put
forward that such a linguistic process helps to sustain the ways of life of Africans in
their African literary works. Similarly, Akindele and Adegbite (42) in their
explanation of cultural factors that express local colour of socially recognised
phenomena outline the following: ‘semantic contrast’, ‘semantic extension’, semantic
transfer’, and ‘coinages or loan creation as part of the relevant devices which literary
artists use to carry their African features. Against this background, it becomes crucial
10
to situate the language use in the two novels Things Fall Apart and Half of a Yellow
Sun in their proper sociolinguistic context.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The world of the novel exposes the reader(s) to the real world of individual
writers because characters exhibit some features of bilingualism and multilingualism
and other sociolinguistic phenomena. Literary works are indeed a ‘field’ for language
in contact, looking at the characters and their linguistic behaviour.
Language is a sociocultural reality and this is why Paul Simpson supports this
fact by saying that ‘sociolinguistic code expresses through language, the historical,
cultural and linguistic setting which frames a narrative’ because according to him ‘it
locates the narrative in time and place by drawing upon the forms of language which
reflect the sociocultrual context’ (21).
Many researchers have studied the pragmatic and the sociolinguistic
significance of proverbs in a literary text or in a particular speech community
(Chinedu Onuigbo 2013 and Anita Maledo, 2014). However, much has not been done
in the comparative study of the innovative lexico-semantic categories in Chinua
Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun.
This study, therefore, engages in this comparative study in order to examine the effect
of the generational gap in the content and depth of the two texts. Many researchers
have examined the linguistic and sociolinguistic features of the two novels but much
has not been done to compare the authors’ use of language to carry the African or
Nigerian content of their messages.
11
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This work is specifically designed to examine the sociolinguistic elements of
Things Fall Apart by Achebe and Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun with the aim of
showing how these sociolinguistic elements such as code-mixing and code-switching,
and direct translation are exploited to project the unique messages of the authors and
therefore, carry the local colour of the tone of writing. Above all, it seeks to reveal
how the social context strengthens the linguistic repertoire of the characters.
The research is designed to explore what choice of codes, dialects, language,
styles, the characters select based on their social status and the environment from
where they operate. All these variables are linked to the thematic import of the works
to see how the authors have merged their themes and style to project the desired
sociolinguistic implications.
1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Language is an important aspect of culture and therefore a social phenomenon
that will always express the socio-cultural structure of the people. In this work,
emphasis will be laid on the analysis of code-switching and code-mixing and a host of
other sociolinguistic elements that help to project the socio-cultural structure of the
people and environment of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Adichie’s Half of a
Yellow Sun.
The scope of this study is associated with the sociolinguistic features on which
the researcher draws her conclusions. The stress areas, proper, include aspects such as:
code switching, direct translation, coinages, local similes, proverbs, semantic
extension, borrowing, cultural dependent speech style, and hybridization devices with
12
a view to carrying out a comparative study of the two works under study based on the
identified sociolinguistic elements.
1.5 RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY
This study, as already stated, has the objective of exploring the sociolinguistic
features in two selected novels. A sociolinguistic analysis of African literary works
has attracted the attention of many researchers but the study has an added significance
of presenting a comparative analysis of works that belong to different generations.
This study will enable the readers to identify cultural motifs in prose narratives.
Secondly, it will widen the sociolinguistic knowledge of students in the field and
equip them with the resources for more rewarding studies of literary texts.
Furthermore, the work will enable scholars in the field to appreciate how language is
manipulated in different literary works to present unique messages of authors in
different generations.
13
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 STUDIES IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND SOCIOLOGY OF LA NGUAGE
This study is particularly designed to examine the linguistic twists or
development in the English language as a vehicle for transmission of messages and
ideas in prose works written by Africans and Nigerians in particular. Advancing this
linguistic change, Guy Cook writes: ‘Once a language begins to spread beyond its
original homeland, the situation changes, and conflicts of opinion begin to emerge’
(27). Naturally, a language carries not only the culture of the very people that
presumably own it but it also carries along with it the linguistic and non-linguistic
culture of the other users.
The idea that English is a global language is no longer news. English is treated
as a world language because of its presence and towering influence all over the world.
Onuigbo and Eyisi (33) used a functional approach in their explanation of the term
English as a Second Language. For them, that English is a second language is not just
because it is chronologically second in the language acquisition life of Nigerians, but
obviously because it is that language for which many Nigerians have the kind of
linguistic competence that ranks second to that which they have in their native
language. In other words it is only an alternative when it comes to carrying out official
functions. David Crystal confirms this when he says that it is complementary to a
person’s mother tongue or first language. According to him, in countries where
English is the official language, it is given a special place within such communities
even though they have their own indigenous languages (4). Similarly, Rajend
Mesthrie and Rakesh Bhatt see English as a second language in the light of the
14
‘varieties that arose in countries where English was introduced in the colonial era in
either face-to-face communication or (more usually) via the education system of a
country in which there is, or had once been a sizeable number of speakers of English’
(5).
In addition, it is obvious that the English language has bridged the language
gaps which pose problems in many heterogeneous communities (such as Nigeria) and
is still playing such a unifying role (Olufin Alabi 134). In spite of its ‘great’
functional role in many countries, it cannot still carry the weight of the people’s
feelings. Dare Owolabi agree to the idea that English cannot really ‘unveil’ the
philosophy of the users in a second language context. And that is why he puts it this
way ‘... for the purpose of the expected weight, [English] has to be transliterated from
the L1, and it is understood from the background of L1’ (490).
To show the malleable nature of language, Naratip Jindapitak and Adisa Teo
cite Widdowson’s comparison of a disease with a language. In the explanation of this
metaphor, they write:
A disease spreads from one country to another and wherever it is, it is
the same disease. It does not alter according to circumstances; the
virus is invariable. But language is not like this. It is not transmitted
without being transformed.... It is fundamentally unstable. It is not
well-adapted to control because it is itself adapted (1).
The implication is that language is generally dynamic, and part of these
changes is that it carries some characteristics of the host language in terms of
grammar, phonology, semantics, morphology, and syntax.
15
Before we delve into the related studies, proper, it is necessary to understand
that virtually all the research works of linguists and particularly language experts such
as sociolinguists indicate that language has great affinity with society. This implies
that the environment of usage is of great importance to language. According to George
Yule (239), ‘sociolinguistics deals with the inter-relationships between language and
society.’ He adds that ‘it has strong connection with anthropology, through the
investigation of language and culture, and to sociology....’ John Platt et al opine that
sociolinguistics has a lot to do with ‘the study of language in relation to social factors,
that is, social class, educational level and type of education, age, sex, ethnic origin,
etc’(262). In like manner, Crystal adds that the field of sociolinguistics is preoccupied
with the linguistic identity of social groups, standard and non-standard forms of
language, the patterns and needs of national language use, social varieties and level of
language, and the social basis of multilingualism (440-441). For William McGregor
(5), ‘sociolinguistics is concerned with language in its social context and explores the
variation in languages associated with social phenomena such as the social group to
which speakers and/or hearers belong.’ What is more, Janet Holmes agrees that
sociolinguistics is burdened with the identification of ways to describe and explain the
interrelatedness of language and social context in which it is used (439).
In contrast, some scholars have attempted to show a difference between
sociolinguistics and sociology of language. Florian Coulmas expresses her opinion of
the difference between sociolinguistics, otherwise known as micro-sociolinguistics
and the sociology of language, also called macro-sociolinguistics.
16
Since sociolinguistics is a meeting ground for linguists and social
scientists, some of whom seek to understand the social aspects of
language while others are primarily concerned with linguistic aspects
of society, it is not surprising that there are, as it were, two centres of
gravity, known as micro- and macro- sociolinguistics in the narrow
sense and sociology of language. These represent different
orientations and research agendas, micro issues being more likely to
be investigated by linguists, dialectologists, and others in language-
centred fields, whereas macro-issues are more frequently taken up by
sociologists and social psychologists. Stated in very general terms,
micro-sociolinguistics investigates how social structure influences the
way people talk and how language varieties and patterns of use
correlate with social attributes such as sex, class, and age. Macro-
sociolinguistics on the other hand, studies what societies do with their
languages that is attitudes and attachments that account for the
functional distribution of speech forms in society... (n.p.).
Similar to the above, Peter Trudgill (1) understands macro-sociolinguistics as
sociology of language which usually encompasses variationist linguistics, social
dialectology, the sociology of language, and other areas involving the study of
relatively large groups of speakers. He sees micro-sociolinguistics as a term which
usually studies the face-to-face interaction such as discourse and conversational
analysis, interactional sociolinguistics, and other areas of sociolinguistics involving
the study of relatively small groups of speakers. Wardhaugh citing Hudson (1996)
17
states the difference between the two in a very simple way ‘sociolinguistics is the
study of language in relation to society whereas sociology of language is the study of
society in relation to language’ (13).
In spite of the differences between these two areas of language investigation –
sociolinguistics and sociology of language, it is pertinent that we are reminded that
neither of them can operate independent of the other. Coulmas (np) and Wardhaugh
(13) are emphatic about this when they assert that it is non-negotiable to discard either
of them for a proper comprehension of language as a social phenomenon.
A sociolinguistic study of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Adichie’s Half of a
Yellow Sun will involve the exploration of strategies in the nativization of English in a
second language situation. Nativization of a language means that the language can be
manipulated to suit the socio-cultural context of the user. By implication, the linguistic
garb of sophistication of English is dressed down or the linguistic code of the user
controls the language. Put in another way, nativization of a language has to do with
such a language being ‘twisted’ for contextualization purpose. Owolabi (488-89)
defines [nativization] of English as the ‘transformation of English as an alien medium
to make it respond to local imagery, figures of speech, sound patterns and the general
cultural milieu of the region.’ Owolabi goes further to buttress his point with the
example below from a novel: ‘Laughter killed me’ (490). He expatiates that laughter
kills me in Standard English can be paraphrased I laughed hysterically but expressed
as above in a Nigerian novel for the particular category of audience, or it will not
carry the expected weight. According to him, for an expression to bear the expected
weight it needs to be transliterated from the L1 and it should be understood from the
18
L1 background (490). It seems that Crystal’s idea of a language becoming global in
his English as a Global Language supports the notion of nativization of language
(English). Crystal says:
If there is one predictable consequence of a language becoming a
global language, it is that nobody owns it any more. Or rather,
everyone who has learned it now owns it. He ‘has a share in it’ and
changes it to suit himself and has the right to use it in the way he
wants (2-3).
Timothy Ajan (np) acknowledges the localization of English by many users of
the language and says that a great number of Nigerian creative writers together with
other general users of English have been influenced by the local languages, customs,
belief systems and cultures, enough to give it a flavour. He maintains that it is not
only English that has influenced the languages with which it has come into contact
around the world. English, too, has been and continues to be influenced by other
languages. To support the above idea, Mesthrie and Bhatt cite Kachru (1983)
contend that nativization focuses on the adaptation which English has undergone in
ESL territories, where it has become culturally and referentially appropriate in its new
context (10). Moreover, Mesthrie and Bhatt go on to clarify the point thus:
An example of this process is the use of kingship terms via borrowing
or other forms of adaptation to satisfy the needs of politeness or
respect. New terms like ‘cousin brother’ may appear for a male first-
cousin in India, Australian Aboriginal English and varieties of
African English. Similarly, ‘big mother’ occurs in the same varieties
19
for one’s mother’s elder sister. These neologisms denote a closer
relationship than the forms “cousin” and ‘aunt’ (10).
Part of the phenomena in sociolinguistics is the issues of code switching and
code mixing. Code-switching occurs as a result of languages in contact and manifests
prominently in vocabulary and lexical items in the form of borrowing. It can be from
English to any Nigerian languages or vice-versa. Ronald Wardhaugh regards code-
switching as code-mixing (101). He explains that one can switch from one code to
another or to mix codes even sometimes in very short utterances. The code created
becomes a new code. It can come between sentences (inter-sentential) or within a
single sentence (intra-sentential). It can come as a choice of the individual or as a
major identity marker for a group of speakers who must deal with more than one
language in their common pursuit. Citing Cal’s work published in 1998, Wardhaugh
explains code-switching as ‘a conversational strategy used to establish, cross or
destroy group boundaries; to create, evoke, or change interpersonal relations with their
rights and obligations’ (101).
In linguistics, code-switching is also created as a consequence of languages in
contact. Usually the speaker or the creator or the initiator of speech changes or
switches from one language or code to another depending on the situation, audience,or
subject matter (Okon Essien 271).
According to Roberto Herdia and Jeanette Altarriba (164), ‘code-switching or
language-mixing occurs hen a word or a phrase in a second language is interjected in a
sentence of another language’. They give this sentence as an illustration of code-
switching: Dame una hamburguesa sin lettuce por favour, meaning, Give me a
20
hamburger without lettuce, please. For them in the sentence, the word ‘lettuce’
replaces the Spanish word lechufa. Charlotte Hoffman believes that code switching is
potentially the most creative aspect of bilingual speech (109) while Janet Holmes
opines that interferences, code-mixing, code-switching are normal phenomenon
because bilinguals usually find it easier to discuss a particular topic in one language
rather than in another (44).
Giving a distinction between code-switching and code-mixing, one can say that
code-switching does not entail the violation of the grammatical rules of the languages
involved in the speech event while code-mixing does so. Code-mixing exemplifies
the most advanced degree of bilingualism to the extent that it requires considerable
competence in the simultaneous processing of the grammatical rules of the language
pair. Also for Sumarsih et al (79), code-mixing occurs when speakers mix or insert
foreign words in a dominant language used. They also affirm that code-switching does
not violate the rules of drafting sentences for second or more languages (79).
Moreover, an attempt has been made to categorize code-switching into
situational and metaphorical code-switching. Just like Wardhaugh (104), Trask (40)
groups code-switching into situational code-switching where speakers move between
languages, dialects, styles or accents during a conversation usually as a result of a
change in setting, hence it demands a different variety. The metaphorical code-
switching, he stresses, occurs when speakers switch to another code so as to force a
new perception of the situation on the other participants (40). Furthermore, Anthony
Oha et al say that code-switching has to do with the movement, ‘whether
psychologically or socially motivated, from one discrete code (language or dialect) to
21
another within a communicative event’ whereas code-mixing entails ‘blending of two
separate linguistic systems into one linguistic system (66).’ The above also
synchronizes with Essien’s concept of code-mixing hence he describes it as ‘a
language phenomenon in which two codes or languages are used for the same
message or communication’. The examples below illustrate that more clearly:
A mam onye i wu very well. (Igbo)
I know you very well. (English)
moti consider gbobo circumstances (Yoruba)
I have considered all the circumstances. (English)
There are indeed many functions that code-switching performs. Wardhaugh
summarises the functions as ‘solidarity,’ ‘accommodation to listeners’, ‘choice of
topic,’ ‘perceived social and cultural distance’ (104). But Yusuf Nuhu (166) cites
Malika’s (1994) reasons why code-switching is used as follows: ‘lack of linguistic
facilities in one language,’ ‘lack of register competence’, for ‘semantic significance’,
for ‘addressing different audiences’, for ‘sharing of identity’ or for ‘solidarity’, ‘to
intensify a particular point’, to show ‘the mood of the speaker’, for ‘habitual
expressions’, to achieve ‘pragmatic motives,’ and to draw ‘attention’. To compensate
for lack of language proficiency (lexical gaps) has always been one of the strongest
reasons why bilinguals code-switch (Heredia and Altarriba 165). But Fromkin et al
contradict the above reasons this way:
Because of the ignorance of code-switching, there is a common
misconception that bilingual Latinos speak a sort of ‘broken’ English.
22
This is not the case. In fact, the phrases inserted into a sentence are
always in keeping with the syntactic rules of that language (466).
They let us know that code-switching reflects the grammars of the languages in
question working simultaneously, and does not represent a form of ’broken’ English
(489).
In reality, the influence of English in African countries leads to code-switching.
It shows creative ingenuity in the ways authors blend their native language with
English (Taiwo Babalola and Rotimi Taiwo 1). Besides, having seen the subtle
differences between code-mixing and code-switching, Wardhaugh (101) summarizes
the two as one and the same thing. Following his conclusion, therefore, both concepts
would not be viewed differently based on the premise that both involve linguistic shift
in-between languages.
2.2 RELATED STUDIES
Let us now look at some field works in linguistics as they interconnect with this
study. Roland Nkwain Ngam in his MA dissertation in 2004 studied “Ben Okri’s the
Famished Road: A Case Study in the Translation of New Englishes.” The study
suggests a new approach to the translation of African literature and more precisely
African literature written in the English language considering the evolution of the
English language. Ngam (2) makes a discovery that in most former colonies, new
Englishes exist alongside the standard variety. For him, this linguistic trend needs to
be accompanied by well-thought-out and researched strategies if translations are to
match the success of the original versions. The work discusses translation theories
with special focus on dynamic equivalence and functionalism. The methodology
23
employed by the researcher is text analysis in order to highlight their cultural
specificity of borrowing, loan translations, hybrids, new coinage, new meaning,
idiomatic expressions, discourse features, phonology, and grammar. Another step
undertaken by the researcher is the discussion of the kind of translation approach to be
adopted in translating them from one language to another. Finally, the researcher
reviews what some researchers in translation studies have published on intercultural
negotiations and suggests approaches to the translation of phenomena like new
Englishes, aspects like colonialism, post colonialism and culture (Ngam 25).
Another related study was based on “The Use of Transliteration in Adichie’s
Half of a Yellow Sun, Flora Nwapa’s Efuru and The Voice by Gabriel Okara’’. This
work was carried out by Asoegwu-Ijezie, George Chukwudi in the year 2012, and it is
based on the lexical items used in the texts and their unique semantic patterns. The
research reveals that the use of English by Nigerian authors requires some
characteristic forms such as borrowings, interference, coinages, and semantic
extensions of certain lexical items. The researcher discovers that at the syntactic level,
Nigerian English is realised through the translation of Igbo/Ijaw, speech function, loan
blends, colloquial utterances, proverbs, idioms, and language mixing (vi).
The research methodology used by the author is descriptive research design.
The data collected from the texts are analysed at the lexical, semantic, and syntactic
levels of language. For lexical/semantic analysis, the researcher uses lexical/semantic
analysis which includes collocation, lexical items and interference theories. But in
syntactic analysis, the researcher uses Halliday’s theory of systemic grammar (31).
The researcher advocates that the use of transliteration should be explored in poetry,
24
drama and mass media. He also recommends intense research on Nigerian English
with a view to codifying and modernizing it appropriately without negative
consequence on the normal development of the English language (64).
Anyaogu Charity in her work: “Code-switching in Adichie’s Prose Works’’
tries to look at the linguistic effect created by Adichie through code-switching. It is a
study on the effect of code-switching in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow
Sun, and the Things around Your Neck. The work tries to capture the everyday diction
of a bilingual society. It also provides good illustrations of the processes and
functions of code-switching as well as bringing to the fore the history, functions and
some theories of code-switching (VI). According to the researcher, language shift of
the characters in Adichie’s works reflect their ethnic identity and functions as a bridge
that builds solidarity between the author and her ethnic background which is also
related to the high intimacy level concerning their relationship (45).
Anyaogu further looks at styles and linguistic stylistics of the works. She tries
to examine the creative and communicative functions of code-switching. The
methodology employed by the researcher is descriptive research which tends to
describe and interpret the effect of code-switching. She uses the following categories
to examine the representative switches such as authenticity and semblance of reality,
language solidarity and affiliation, character individuation, and thematic anchor. The
researcher discovers that switching occurs when an individual tries to express
solidarity with a particular social group. She shows that the use of some expressions
associated with some real life settings authenticates the stories and compels belief.
Again, the researcher discovers that code-switching identifies characters and equally
25
marks the writers ideological pre-occupation. At the end, she suggests that more
researches should be carried out on the linguistic innovations by African writers as it
relates to bilingualism in their cultural text (IV).
In a study entitled, “A Sociolinguistic Study of Politeness Expressions in Igbo,
Joy Eze in 2010 investigated the linguistic strategies employed by Ero-Ulo people in
expressing politeness and its sociolinguistic implications. She used survey research
design in ‘assessing the elders’ and young ones’ reactions to the use of politeness
expressions’ (43). She looked at the linguistic strategies also used in the English
language such as in-group language, expressing an interest in noticing the hearer, use
of inclusive we, hedging, impersonalizing. The researcher pointed out code-switching
such as transliteration and code-mixing, which Ero-Ulo people exploit in applying this
all-important communicative device. In analyzing the data, the author used
qualitative analysis. She also recommends the retaining of this sociolinguistic element
in language use.
In 2013, Chinedu Onuigbo studied “The Pragmatic and Sociolinguistic
Analysis of Igbo Proverbs.” According to him, the work is based on the fact that
although the proverb is a sociolinguistic tool, its proper understanding needs the
knowledge of the context (pragmatics) and the effect of any and all aspects of society
(sociolinguistics) of the proverbs. He insists that knowing the context in which a
proverb is being used is one thing but understanding all the social elements that come
into play in its use is another (viii). In order to have a proper analysis of the study,
Onuigbo uses the theories of pragmatics. While the pragmatic points out that
syntactic analysis of proverb structure has little effect in putting proverbs in their
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proper linguistic perspective in communication, the sociolinguistic analysis of
proverbs underlies the importance and interconnection the proverb has with its social
environment including people that use it (46-47).
2.3 SUMMARY OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW
The review of the relevant literature in the field shows that the techniques
employed were mainly descriptive research design with a strong leaning on textual
analysis of different literary works.
Ngam analysed Ben Okri’s Famished Road to highlight the linguistic
transformations in the English language such as coinage, borrowing, hybrids,
phonological, grammatical, and discourse features. Asoegwu-Ijezie looks at the
semantic, lexical, and syntactic patterns as he analyses the creation of Nigerian
English through Ijaw and Igbo languages. There was also an exposition of the use of
code-switching to mark out ethnic identity and this, according to Anyaogu, endows
the author with solidarity with his background, which is a source of his linguistic
repertoire. She examined the creative and communicative functions of code-switching.
Joy Eze also looked at the sociolinguistic use of language in Ero-Ulo, but she
was specifically concerned with the use of politeness expression, exploitation of code-
switching and translation and their linguistic implications in communication. On his
own part, Onuigbo employed pragmatic principles in the sociol analysis of proverbs.
This research is similar to Ngam’s work based on the fact that it explores the
linguistic changes that occur as a result of environmental influence each time the
English language comes in contact with another language in literary works of fiction.
But unlike Ngam’s work, the present research does not go into translation analysis.
27
The researcher rather tries to carry out a comparative study on literary works of fiction
represented by Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Half of a Yellow Sun by Adichie. And
this gives this study new significance and uniqueness that enriches the literature in the
field.
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CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN
The study is based on descriptive research design since it is concerned with
describing events as they are without manipulating what is being observed (Anthony
Ali 59). This work engages in a ‘‘Comparative Study of the Sociolinguistics of
Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow
Sun‘‘. The study also shows the link between language and society. In other words, a
person or a people’s language is shaped and sharpened by certain social correlates
such as age, gender, region, education, and social class. For example, when English is
used in foreign countries, it is indigenized as the new users absorb and liberate it to
embody the energies of their respective sensibilities (Amaka Ezeife 243).
Consequently, in order to analyse the sociolinguistics of the novels under study, some
linguistic strategies such as direct translation, code switching, the use of proverbs,
hybridization, and semantic extension would be examined to see the relationship they
have with the setting of the works and also the characters. In addition, the effect of the
localization of language will be compared. The two works are compared to see their
similarities and differences in the use of language.
3.2 SAMPLING
The two works were chosen for some obvious factors. One of the reasons is
that the authors manipulate the English language codes effectively to present their
personal experiences, and this usually causes them to exploit the linguistic background
29
they have acquired from their native languages. Secondly, whereas Achebe is to be
used because he represents the old generation of literary writers in terms of the time
and setting of the work, Adichie, on the other hand, represents the modern African
writers. The choice of the two works enables the researcher to have enough
libnguistic evidence for the comparative study.
3.3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This work is based on linguistic theories that embody the dynamics of language
in use. One of the features of human language is dynamism and the changes are
reflected in the development of the language. For effective theoretical direction,
therefore, two theories are used to provide a strong foundation for the study.
DYNAMIC-ORIENTED LINGUISTIC THEORY
In this study, Labov’s variability theory will be used since no speaker of a
language uses the language in exactly the same way at all times. There are always
some variations which could be accounted for by certain social variables. In other
words, every language has more than one variety (George Yule 226). To support the
existence of other varieties of English, Yule explains that If we are thinking of that
general variety used in public broadcasting in the United States, we can refer more
specifically to Standard American English or, in Britain, to Standard British English.
There is no reason why other national varieties such as Standard Australian English,
Standard Canadian English and Standard Indian English should not be recognized also
( 227). And by extention, we can have Standard Nigerian English.
30
The point above supports Matthew Gordon’s idea that sociolinguistics operates
under the principle that linguistic variation is not random but is rather influenced by
social and linguistic factors (19). Miriam Meyerhoff also echoes this variability
feature when she adds that ‘Languages are not designed as perfectly regular systems
but they take their shape in the way speakers use them in social and interpersonal
contexts (n.p). Wardhaugh, in like manner, believes that people often exploit the
nuances of the language they speak for a wide variety of purposes (5). Variation
facilitates differentiation among individuals; social or regional groups and nations,
and it can be observed everywhere in language, at all levels, in different dialects and
different registers. This is contrary to Snizhana Holyk’s observation that in the past
linguistic tradition, grammar was assumed to be a fixed, unchanging system (17).
Variety in language system is indeed a sociolinguistic marker. In a work written by
Wolfram in 2006, and cited by Werna Botha, he explains that ‘language has an
underlying structure and this structure varies according to external linguistic variables
such as age, gender, social class, community membership, nationality, and so on’ (2).
According to R.L. Trask, ‘A single language is not used in a totally homogeneous
manner’ (315).
As stated above, Labov is one of the pioneering American sociolinguists. In
one of his notable studies, he examined The Social Stratification of English in New
York City in 1966 where the language use among salespeople in the three New York
department stores, Sak’s (high status), Macy’s (middle status) and Klein’s (low
status) was used as a differentiating mark among them (Paul Baker 31). Labov asked
the employees a question that elicited the expression fourth floor His interest was to
31
observe the pronunciation (or not) of /r/ sound after vowels. He found out a regular
pattern: the higher the socioeconomic status, the more /r/ sounds, and the lower the
socioeconomic status, the fewer /r/ sounds were produced.
His findings indicated that the use of the prestige form varied according to the
level of social class. By extension, this shows that there is also a great deal of variety
in language use when other social indices are put in place. Norbert Schmitt restates
that a linguistic variable feature could be a sound, or a word, or a phrase, or a pattern
of discourse and so on (147). Schmitt further exemplifies:
[W]ords for round bread products include lexical variants: bun, toll, cob,
bap, barm, fadgie, stotty, cake, batch, loaf and no doubt many others.
You might not even recognize some of these, but their use is
determined by the social factor of geographical location (147).
Variation is not only noticed within a language, but can also come as a result of
linguistic transfers from other languages and this is in consonance with Lado’s view
that individuals tend to transform the forms and meanings of their native language to
the foreign language and culture (2). This actually led to Lado’s contrastive principle
which features prominently in second language learning because of the obvious
inherent disparity between two languages. The reality is that the feature which the user
of language one has acquired will tend to manifest whenever the language user tries
to express himself or herself in writing or speaking using a new code. That could be
what prompts Akindele and Adegbite to say this:
32
Lexical interference takes two different forms. The first form can be
traced to linguistic factors while the second can be traced to cultural
factors. Lexical interference identified linguistically are regarded as
errors, whereas that identified culturally is not because it expresses the
local colour of socially recognized phenomena (42).
The psychological reality in language use is that a writer transforms the codes of the
language in his linguistic repertoire to his works and this is the area where language is
used to stratify characters.
THE SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS
Another theory that is useful in the sociolinguistic study is the Systemic
Functional Linguistics pioneered by Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday who had
his theoretical foundation from the Prague School of Linguistics. Many linguists
including Halliday have critically re-examined the Transformational Generative
Grammar Theory which favours the native speaker’s absolute competence of his
language. For instance, Ben Rampton argues that in language use, there is no perfect
native speaker in as far as membership of a speech community changes over time just
like language, and being born into a group does not mean that one automatically
speaks one’s language well because whereas many native speakers of English cannot
write or tell stories in English, non-native speakers can (97).
The theory stipulates that what controls language use is not grammaticality but
functionality. In other words while it is essential for a language structure to be
grammatical, it is equally important that the ideas are properly exchanged. The
33
concern of Systemic Functional Linguistics is that grammaticality may be important
but what actually determines the content and meaning of a text is usage based on
context. This theory stipulates also that language use cannot be separated from daily
experiences. In Systemic Functional Grammar, there is usually linguistic mapping
which involves matching the linguistic elements recognized in the situation itself.
Explaining this further, Halliday in his Introduction: How Big is a Language? On the
Power of Language, states that any act of communication involves choices. Language
is a system, and the choices available in any language variety are mapped using the
representation tool of the system network (xi) .Halliday again explains that there is
hardly, if any, a grammatical structure that does not have a corresponding alternative
choice from given options.
The Systemic Functional Theory states that lexical items can be regarded as
open because they admit new words into the language all the time. According to
Halliday and Mathiessen (37), language is metafunctionally organised. This leads to
three basic tenets of the theory.
1. In language there is the textual metafunction for logical or effective
coherence.This is reflected in the use of place-holding elements or other
syntactic and semantic linguistic devices.
2. All languages have the interpersonal metafunction, that is to say that
language is an exchange between people. Some examples of language use is
exchange of pleasantries, giving instructions, polite requests, or asking
questions.
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3. All languages have the resources for constructing experiences. By
implication, language is used to represent the world and shows how the
world is experienced. This is the ideation component or ideation
metafunction.
The essence of this theory in this work is to show the relevance of
language in social context as well as its rich potential through which an
individual can create new meaning and shape the world.
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CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter deals with the analysis of the texts under study in order to examine
the various sociolinguistic elements in the text. As has been stated earlier, the English
language in African literature has been modified or bent to carry the linguistic and the
cultural garb of the local languages such as Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, or any other African
language. That is to say that English is reshaped to reflect the sociolinguistics of the
texts. Moreover, a sociolinguistic treatment of a text links the study of the language to
a society because meaning is derived from both the linguistic level and extra-linguistic
context. Consequently, the present analysis would be based on some sociolinguistic
variables such as direct translation, semantic extension, code-switching, proverbs,
cultural dependent speech style, coinages, borrowing and hybridization.
4.2 SOCIOLINGUISTICS OF HALF OF A YELLOW SUN AND THINGS FALL
APART
The sociolinguistics of a literary work depicts the linguistic sentiments of the
writer’s speech community in the work in question. For African writers of literature-
in-English, it demonstrates the ways by which the English language is indigenized in
their African works of arts. Many of the features presented in the two works under
study are succinctly described below:
36
DIRECT TRANSLATION
This is a word for word representation of a statement or an utterance from one
linguistic code to another. In other words, it is an exact linguistic copy of a linguistic
code in another language. It is one of the many ways that the English language is
indigenized in African literature-in-English.
Some of these features in Half of a Yellow Sun are presented as follow: ‘Her
eyes must have opened in the North. You can’t marry her, so you had better take what
she is offering before she marries (153). This translation occurred during the
conversation between Ugwu and his sister, Anulika about Nnesinachi. ‘Her eyes must
have opened’ is translated direct from the source language anya ya emepego which in
Standard English is, ‘She is now experienced or knowledgeable’. Another example of
direct translation in the text is the discussion between Richard and Nnaemeka. ‘Have
you not heard of my mother’s mother, Nwayike Nkwelle?’ Nnaemeke said to Richard
(189).
A discussion between Olanna and Arize is also an instance of direct translation
from the text. ‘It is only women that know too much Book like you who can say that.
If people like me who don’t know Book wait too long, we will expire’ (58). The
statement above was made by Arize in her course of discussing marriage with Olanna.
Arize stated that she needed a husband since according to her, ‘My mates have all left
me and gone to husbands’ houses’ (58). ‘To know book’ in this context implies being
educated or intelligent but the expression has been localized here to be ịma akwụkwọ.
Similarly, there is still another conversation between the interlocutors in the speech
37
evtent. ‘If only Mohammed was an Igbo man, I would eat my hair if you did not
marry him’ (159). Here, Arize is trying to appreciate Mohammed’s physical qualities:
‘To eat one’s hair’ is a direct translation from the Igbo language which is rendered
as ututnita `′ . The meaning of the statement in this context is that she will not take it
lightly with Olanna.
In addition, ‘May another person do for them what they have done for me’
(119). Ugwu’s mother, in this speech, shows an appreciation of Odenigbo and
Olanna’s generosity towards her when she was sick. Direct translation creates stylistic
effects and makes the author exhibit a sense of linguistic solidarity towards his or her
language. ‘Our eyes have seen plenty, anyi afujugo anya (179). The statement was
made by Obiozo, Odenigbo’s kinsman while describing the brutal nature of the war.
Obiozo saw a horrible sight where ‘a whole family. A father and mother and three
children, lying on the road’ (179). ‘[H]ave seen plently intensifies the ugly nature of
the corpses. Again this is another remarkable example of direct translation which was
uttered by Mama Dozie: ‘May chickenpox afflict you if you, [Olanna]. Who told you
it was my sister’s body that you saw? Cholera will strike you dead’ (236). In proper
Nsukka, the first statement is akirikpakpa gbaa gi which is ‘may chickenpox afflict
you’. The second translated expression is ‘cholera will strike you dead’. In Igbo it is
rendered afọ sagbo gi. Mama Dozie could not bear the news that her sister’s family
has gone in the war. In Nsukka dialect and in Igbo, for example, there are curses
usually structured the same way akirikpakpa (chickenpox) gba gi ‘Let chickenpox
agglict you’ and Afọ sagbo gi meaning ‘let cholera strike you’ are curses of threats. ‘I
said you will give me my money today! Tata! You heard me say so because I did not
38
speak with water in my mouth’ (275). One interlocutor was simply telling the other
that she did not mince words in her speech. ‘You know, Onunna from Ezeugwu’s
compound had a baby girl first, and her husband’s people went to see a dibia to find
out why!’ Anulika said and Ugwu. ‘Husband’s people’ is translated from the Igbo
phrase ndi be di which has an equivalence in English – ‘in-laws’, but the cultural
nuances of the text have affected the lexeme. [Olanna] wanted Professor Achara to
leave right away without telling her, because what she did not know would not hurt
her’ (395). The translated expression above is that of the narrator. In other words, it is
an authorial (5) comment. Another striking translated utterance in the text is ‘He is a
dicor of books, not a doctor for sick people’ (396). The above is Olanna’s reply to
Mama Oji who came to report that hr children had asthma. ‘Doctor of books’ is
literarily known as academic qualification of the highest degree, but it has be ‘bent’
here. ‘Bia, nwoke m, is something wrong with your head?’ (401). The expression is in
the nativized version of ‘Are you craze or mad!’ Olanna is, here, reprimanding Ugwu
because she had told him not to stand in front of the yard because soldiers on a
conscription mission could see him there and conscript him. Olanna asked Aniekwena
to join them in ‘touching their hands to their mouths’ (239). This is from the Igbo
idiom imetu aka n’ọnụ, meaning ‘to eat’.
In Things Fall Apart, Achebe demonstrates African linguistic flair similar to
those of Adichie but with some underlying differences in depth of usage. Just like
Adichie, Achebe exploits the sociolinguistic elements of direct translation semantic
extension, code switching proverbs, coinages, borrowing hybridization, and culturally
dependent speech styles.
39
A typical example of translation is found on page 34, ‘I cannot yet find a mouth
with which to tell the story’. The standard way to express Ekwefi’s complaint would
have been, ‘I lack words to explain the beating Okonkwo gave me’ or ‘I don’t know
how to express my regular battering by Okonkwo’. The statement ‘I am Dry-meat-
that-fills-the mouth (66) credited to Evil Forest is a direct translation of A bu m anụ
kpọrọ nku na- eju ọnụ which means, ‘I am small but mighty’. Another example of
such translation is ‘…her husband’s wives…’ (60). This is the translation of ndi
nwunye di ya’. The phrase, ‘husband’s wives has no equivalent expression in Standard
English because the native speakers of English are culturally monogamous. This is
equivalent to what Wale Adegbite et al call ‘co-wives/rivals in polygamous setting’
and describe as ‘lexico-semantic shift/transfer’(12). On page 31 of Achebe’s text, the
villagers describe Enoch’s zeal towards the new religion in the following words: ‘The
outsider who wept louder than the bereaved’.
SEMANTIC EXTENSION
Semantic extension, otherwise called lexico-semantic extension, implies: a
word or words with their meaning extended beyond their native English meaning; a
linguistic unit taking on added or wider meaning apart from its meaning in the
Standard English to depict some cultural nuances. Some words and expressions in the
text have additional meaning apart from their ordinary meaning in the context they are
used. The following examples from the text portray that. ‘You want to talk to our big
father?’ (93). The phrase, ‘big father,’ is in consonance with what Kachru and Smith
explain as Triphathi’s view on kingship terms. According to them, ‘uncle,’ ‘aunt’,
‘sister,’ ‘mother,’ ‘grandmother,’ and ‘grandfather,’ are used widely as terms of
40
address to express respects in many Englishes (108). In Half of a Yellow Sun, Emeka
calls Pa Anozie ‘big father’ as an honour showing that Pa Anozie is elderly and old
enough to be his own grandfather (93). ‘I travel and drive important cars and women
follow me’ (62). Here, Mohammed is talking to Olanna. Follow, in this sense, has not
got the meaning of walking or driving behind someone else, but signifies that women
woo him. Another startling instance of semantic extension is observed in the
expression of Ugwu’s suspicion: ‘Onyeka must have touched her’ (151). To touch, in
this situation, takes on another meaning of sexual relationship. It is used for
euphemistic purpose. Besides, in every society, there are some words or expressions
which are culturally verbalised in certain situations. In the society portrayed in this
work, vulgar expression of sexual relationship is prohibited to reflect their ‘linguistic
sacredness’.
There are also cases of semantic extension in Things Fall Apart. On page 34
Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, says ‘How is my daughter Ezinma?’ In the actual fact,
Ekwefi is the biological mother of Ezinma, but Chielo calls her ‘my daughter’ as a
sign of solidarity, love, and harmlessness. According to the narrator, we are made to
know that she is particularly fond of her (35).
Similarly, Uchendu, Okonkwo’s uncle, greated Obierika and other two men
that visited him, ‘Welcome my sons’ (96). He calls them so because he is old enough
to be their fathers’ age mates.
CODE SWITCHING
Most of the instances of code-switching in the texts are used in appositive
structure while some are in the native language of the writer. Others are however, not
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appositive but for emphasis. Kedu afa gi? What’s you name?’ (15). Odenigbo asked
Ugwu this question when Aunt Ugwuanyi first brought him. On page 38, Olanna
reminds Ugwu that: ‘[T]hose pawpaws are almost ripe. Lotekwa, don’t forget to pluck
them’. Furthermore, an old woman met Olanna at the airport and exclaimed in the
following words: Chi m! ‘my God! I am in trouble’ (42). Also in page 49, Olanna’s
mother emphasises, ‘Did you see the one [Chief Okonji] wore today? ‘Original !’
Ezigbo. Here, Olanna is discussing Okonji’s attive with her mother. ‘Gp well. Jee
ọfụma (52) Kainene, here, wishes Olanna a safe trip to Kano. This is an appository
form of code-switching. Again in page 52, we see ‘How is she doing’? Ọ na-agakwa?
Here, Olanna is asking Aunty Ifeka about Arize’s welfare. On Arize’s arrival, she,
Arize, spoke to Olanna in the code-switched form below: Ah! Sister! Arụ amaka gi !
“you look well !’ Also in page 118 of the text, Ugwu’s mother told him, ‘what is
wrong with using a good atụ? Atụ is a ‘chewing stick in Africa English. The another
uses the phrase ‘the little children and the gossiping wives of his ụmụnna’ (119) to
reflect the wishes of Ugwu. Here, ụmụnna refers to one’s kinsmen. In the response of
Odenigbo’s mother to Ugwu’s question,‘Did your journey go well? She says, ‘Yes,
Chukwu du anyi. God led us’ (121). And while blessing Ugwu for his good behavior,
she further said, ‘your chi will break away the rocks on your paths’ (121),
While speaking ill of Olanna, Odenigbo‘says, ‘… all the time she was
growing up, it was servants who wiped her ike…’ (125). Odenigbo’s mother is, here,
speaking ill of Olanna. Again in the work, there is ‘I just wanted to say kedu, to find
out how you are’ (132). In the code-switching above, Olanna exchanges pleasantries
with Kainene over the phone. Vilifying Sarduana, Aunt Ifeka remarked, ‘the Sardauna
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was an evil man ajọ mmadụ’ (163). Equally in an appositive structure on page 174,
Kainene expressed surprised that colonel Mmadu had not been shot to death in the
war” ‘Mmadu ! Is this you? Ọ gi di ife a? To show solidarity, a white man, Richard,
exchanges greatings with Nnaemeka in the following code-switched structure: ‘It has
been nice talking to you, jisie ije’ (189). In the Igbo language, jisie ike is a term used
for greeting. It simply means ‘well done’. Here, Richard, though a white man, uses it
as a sign of solidarity in the Igbo language to acknowledge and appreciate Nnaemeka,
and to be appreciated in the above statement. Similar in the above, Richard purposely
speaks Igbo again as a sign of identity so that he would be allowed to pass at a
security check-point: Abụ m onye Biafra (223). Such code-switching from one
language to another usually occurs to gain favours from the addressee. Also in page
257, speaking to Ugwu, Jomo retorts, “You are a sheep, atụrụ. in another appositive
code-switching, Aunty Ifeka enjoins Olanna not to take Odenigbo’s infidelity to heart
‘… life belongs to you and you alone, sσsσ gi (276). I did not know you were a twin,
and, nekene, she does not look like you at all’ (324). Mrs. Muokelu, here, code-
switches as she addresses Olanna. In addressing their little daughter on page 326
Olanna uses endearing words, ‘Babu, ezigbo nwa, how are you?’ in another appositive
code-switching, Olanna scolds Ugwu over his extravagant use of kerosene. ‘I na-
ezuzu? Are you stupid? Haven’t I told you to save our kerosine’. This is seen on page
364 of the text.
Code-switching is also greatly implicated in Things Fall Apart. Some of them
are illustrated in the expressions that follow. Mgbogo answers on behalf of her sick
neigbour, ‘she is has iba’. Iba in English is malaria. Another typical example of code-
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switching is found on page 92, ‘A man cannot rise against the destiny of his chi’. The
comment, ‘He sat down in his obi and mourned his friend’s calamity’ (87) describes
Obierika’s mournful mood in his sitting-room after the death of Okonkwo. Again, ilo
is used for the village playground (74). Furthermore, there is extensive code-switching
in the use of foo-foo (67), ogbanje for a spirit-possessed child in Igbo (56); iba for
malaria (53) and the ozo title (48).
PROVERBS IN THE WORKS
Proverbs are wise sayings which teach some morals, and are attached to the
environment or context of use for a clearer understanding. Below are few of them.
‘My grandfather used to say that other people just farted, but his own fart always
released shit’ (283). Olanna uses this proverb to describe how unlucky Edna is in her
own things. Re-emphasising what she told, Olanna on page 337 retorts, ‘Did I speak
with water in my mouth?’ Olanna wants Ugwu to know that he must have heard her
well.
Proverbs which were minimally used in Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun are
extensively used in Things Fall Apart. The scanty use of proverbs in Half of a Yellow
Sun is a linguistic manifestation of age. While the characters in Achebe are mostly
aged, those in Adiche’s work are younger. This explains why they did not use many
proverbs unlike in Achebe’s work. In fact, the proverbial expression, ‘Proverbs are
palm oil with which words are eaten,’ best describes the preponderance and the
veracity in the use of proverbs in the work. In describing Okonkwo’s early
achievement in life, Achebe writes, ‘If a child washed his hands he would eat with
kings’ (6). Also in showing Okonkwo’s regard and appreciation of Nwakibie’s
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greatness while requesting for help Okonkwo says, ‘A man who pays respect to the
great paves way for his own greatness’ (14). ‘A toad does not run in the afternoon for
nothing’ (15) is proverbially used to describe Obiako’s abandoning of his palm-wine
tapping trade without explaining the reason to show that every event must have a
cause. The saying, ‘An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in
a proverb’ (15) is a mockery which is not directed to Okonkwo, but to remind him of
his father’s laziness. ‘Eneke the bird says that since men have learnt to shoot without
missing, he has learnt to fly without perching’ (16). This saying which is equivalent
to, ‘Once beaten, twice shy,’ illustrates the dynamism in human actions to suit events
in life.
While positively weighing Okonkwo’s ability to handle seed yams, Nwakibie
says that ‘You can tell a ripe corn by its look’ (16). Still about Okonkwo, an old man
talks about Okonkwo’s sudden change of fortune from abject poor background to be
one of the lords of the land using this proverb, ‘Looking at a king’s mouth, one would
think he never sucked at his mother’s breast’ (19). Okonkwo is also referred to as,
‘The little bird nza who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal that he challenged his
chi’ (22). This proverb is sarcastic because Okonkwo arrogantly defiled the week of
peace by mercilessly beating his wife, Ojiugo (21). Showing disdain for his son’s
weakness, Okonkwo says, ‘A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very
day it hatches’ (46). This implies that Nwoye’s weakness is an inheritance. In
justifying his action in killing Ikemefuna, Oknkwo maintains that ‘The Earth cannot
punish me for obeying her messenger. And child’s fingers are not scaled by a piece of
hot yam which its mother puts in its plam’ (47). Extolling Maduka’s smartness,
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Obierika’s elder brother states that ‘When mother-cow is chewing grass, its young
ones watch its mouth’ (49).
Moreover to describe the destruction of a group’s good deeds by the
misdemanour of one or few, this proverb is used, ‘If one finger brought oil it soiled
the other’. And to show the reality of age and Okonkwo’s gradual weakening in
physical strength while at Mbaino a popular proverb was used to describe his efforts
to achieve so much like he was used to doing as a young man ‘…learning to become
left-handed in old age’ (92). Yet another proverb used by Okika that depicts danger is,
‘Whenever you see a toad jumping in broad daylight, then know that something is
after its life’ (143).
It is pertinent to point out that the proverbial wisdom is a popular skill which
Achebe uses in his story-telling. This is part of Achebe’s gift to the African literary
world to demonstrate the wisdom of an artist who is committed to configuring a
special linguistic code to carry the socio-cultural import of the message. Achebe’s
ability to fashion out the linguistic code justifies Jan Mohammed’s ‘sophisticated
primitivism’ of Achebe’s language (37).
CULTURALLY DEPENDENT SPEECH SYTLE
The two works under study employed what Akindele and Adegbite identify as
‘nativized thought process which does not conform to the recognized canons of
discoursal types, text design, and stylistic conventions’ (46). One of such nativization
of rehetorical strategies can be classified, according to Akindele and Adegbite, as ‘The
use of culturally-dependent speech styles’ in the English language (47). Most of such
46
expressions are in the structure of the native language, but rendered using the English
language. Two instances of this in Half of a Yellow Sun are as follow:
He who brings the kola brings life. You and yours will live, and I and
mine will live. Let the eagle perch and let the dove perch and, if either
decrees that the other not perch, it will not be well for him (203).
The above speech is that of an elderly man blessing a kola nut in Obosi. Apart
from the above, Odenigbo’s mother prayed for her son, Odenigbo, using similar
linguistic expression in the following words, ‘Your chi will break away the rocks on
your path’ (121). A typical instance of this linguistic device is seen in the words of
prayers of Nwakibie over the kola nut presented by Okonkwo when he went to
Nwakibie to ask for seed yams as seen in Things Fall Apart:
We shall all live. We pray for life, children, a good harvest and
happiness. You will have what is good for you and I will have
what is good for me. Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch
too. If one says no to the other, let the wing break’ (14).
The second instance of this is demonstrated in Egwugwu’s greetings to
Umuofia people.
Umuofia kwenu!
Yaa !
Umuofia kwenu!
Yaa ! (63)
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BORROWED WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
A good number of borrowed words from different languages were used.
Borrowing, according to McGregor, is the process of incorporating into one language
words from another language. Words that have been borrowed as such are called loan
words (88). Adichie employed the formal and the functional types in her work, just
like Achebe, but she borrowed more than the latter, especially from other Nigerian
languages apart from the Igbo language. In the description of Akindele and Adegbite,
the formal type refers to the linguistic realization of code-switching from one
language to another. They further explain that there is a blend of the two codes of
communication involved in the communication process (37).
INTENTIONAL BORROWING
Borrowing can be intentional, when the author resorts to borrowing when there
is a suitable alternative in the writing language. This linguistic experiment is done for
stylistic effects as well as to give solidarity to the indigenous language(s) in question.
In the first instance, we see the use of agụ rather than ‘farm’ on page 236, ‘Mama
Dozie herself had been away harvesting cocoyams in the agụ’. Also on page 18 – 19,
the narrator comments that ‘[Ugwu] had never been sure how he and Nnesinachi were
related, but he knew they were from the same ụmụnna and therefore could never
marry’. The same ụmụnna was repeated by Mrs. Muokelu, ‘They say he gave army
exemption passes to all his male relatives, everyone in his ụmụnna’ (339). ‘Kinsmen’,
an English word, would have been suitable for ụmụnna, but the author preferred to use
the indigenous lexical, ụmụnna. On page 460 Kainene says, ‘Ejima m, hold your heart,
be strong’. Also on page 468 Kainene asks, ‘Ejima m, what is the matter?’ The word
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ejima is the Igbo name for twins. In the work also, obi was used to describe a sitting-
room on page 93, ‘He led the way into his dim obi, which smelt of mushrooms.’ On
page 387, an aspect of beans in Igbo, akidi ,was used, ‘We will grow our protein, soya
beans and akidi’.
Besides, other intentional borrowed words from local languages in Half of a
Yellow Sun manifest in the use of ụgụ (19) for ‘pumpkin leaves’; ube tree (19) for
‘pear’ and akpụ (18) which in English is processed cassava. This is what Herbert
Igboanusi refers to as foo-foo or fufu ‘eaten in balls with soup’ (116). Although each
of the three borrowed lexical items has its substitutable equivalence in the English
language, the author used them literary for stylistic effects. The author also to used
nlacha, which in English is ‘eczema’ (226). Finally, the word abi was used on page
164-65, ‘The minister they killed used to live around here, abi, aunty?’ This is an
interjection often used as a way of confirming information. And its source language is
Yoruba. Here, it is equivalent to, ‘Isn’t it?’
As in Adichie’s Half of a Yellw Sun, Achebe borrowed many words from
language not because there are no alternatives in English but to satisfy his linguistic
appetite as well as to project the beauty of his mother tongue, the Igbo languages.
Some of such words are osu – outcast (111- 112); inyanga, from pidgin
meaning pride; an old woman (9); nso-ani – a religious offence or taboo (22); ọchụ -
murder (91); iba – feverish condition (53); ụmụnna – a wider group of kinsmen;
ndichie – elders of the land (9, 11).
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FORMAL AND FUNCTIONAL BORROWING
Apart from loan words that have suitable equivalence in another language,
there is formal or functional borrowing. This is what Akindele and Adegbite term the
linguistic realization of code-switching from one language to another (17). In some
instances, the borrowed words are used because of their functional position.
Sometimes the equivalent word or expression is a general term while the borrowed
one is more specific. In this text, there is such inevitable borrowing from different
languages in order to achieve the vivid picture Adichie paints.
On page 26, the author used okwuma, a specific kind of ointement as follows:
‘Whenever he was ill with fever, or once when he fell from a tree, his mother would
rub his body with okwuma.’ Similarly on page 134, Olanna rhetorically asks Ugwu a
question: ‘You think the dibai has sent the black cat to bite us?’ The borrowed word
dibia is also used on page 126 by Odenigbo’s mother. She says, ‘I will not let this
witch control him. I will consult the dibia Nwafor Agbala when I return home; the
man’s medicine is famous in our parts’. From the above instance, it will be understood
that dibia has cultural connotation which no known English word can substitute. In the
Igbo language, it refers to an augurer, a seer, a physician, or a professional medicine
man’ who can cast spell on a person. Again, ‘medicine’ here is a charm but can as
well be drugs. The borrowed word suya was also used (134). Suya refers to ‘roasted
meat with a lot of spices’. The source language is Hausa.
Another form of borrowing is seen on page 259, ‘Do you cook ofe nsala well?
Again, on page 253 the author says that: ‘[Ugwu] was pleased to let Mama cook but
he did not eat ugba and dried fish she made for dinner’. In addition, on page 308,
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‘Mama brought the baby, wrapped in a brown shawl that had the unpleasant smell of
ogiri’.
Adichie also made use of ogbanje, which is synonymous with the Yoruba
abiku and which describes ‘spirit children’ who keep oscillating between both worlds.
The text reads: ‘Perhaps the woman was a spirit person and had come here to perform
rituals with her fellow ogbanje’ (293). The author goes further to use chi which
Achebe calls one’s ‘personal god’ (13). This is seen on page 506, where she writes
that ‘I knew that you chi was wide awake’. Similar to this, there is: ‘Your chi will
break away the rocks on your path’ (121).
Achebe exploited a lot of formal or functional borrowing from the Igbo
language. Some of them are analysed below:
(1) Ogbanje:This word found on page 54, 56,and 130 was also used by in Half
of a Yellow Sun. In Things Fall Apart, the term implies ‘child who
repeatedly dies and returns to its mother to be reborn’ (158).
(2) Iyi-uwa: This word appeared in the sentence below: ‘Leave her to me,’ the
medicine-man told Okonkwo in a cool, confident voice. He turned again to
Ezinma. Where did you bury your iyi-uwa?’(54). The functional loaned
word, iyi-uwa, is believed to be a bond between ogbanje and the spirit
world.
(3) Another functional borrowed word is ikenga, which according to
Igboanusi, is ‘a carved ritual figure with up-raised right hand’ (145). There
is, as at now, no English word for ikenga.
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(4) Foo-foo: This a kind of food prepared from cassava or yam, and eaten in
balls with soup. This is foud on page 51 and in several other pages.
(5) Udu, ogene,and ekwe are found on page 5. They are traditional musical
instruments, and sometimes used in traditional societies to pass important
information to the members of the public.
COINAGES AND HYBRIZATION IN THE WORKS
Coinages can be referred to as coined words. This occurs when entirely new
words entre a language. This often happens when speakers invent (or coin) new
words. In terms of two components of words (sound and meaning), speakers coin a
new word by inventing a new sound sequence and pairing it with a new meaning
(Akmajian Adrian et al 25). Prominent among the coinages used in Adichie’s Half of
a Yellow Sun is ogbunigwe which was used on page 242, 340, and 435. On page 435,
in particular, a sentence reads, [Ugwu] remembered Professor Ekwenugo describe the
ogbunigwe as a ‘high-impact landmine’. The text presents it thus: ‘How glamorous it
sounded, this Biafran-made mine, this Ojukwu Bucket, this wonder that was so
perplexing to the vandals that they were said to send cattle herds ahead to understand
just how the ogbunigwe killed so many’. Ogbunigwe is a coinage from the massive
life destructive capacity of the landmine used by Biafrans during the Nigerian/Biafran
war.
‘Rain-holder’ is another coinage which refers to a person that has the skill to
restrain rainfall (245). Adichie used onyinbo which originated from Yoruba to refer to
a white man (175). Another popular coined word often used to reflect the
temperament of a group of Igbos within the South Eastern state of Enugu is wawa.
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Mama Odenigbo’s says, ‘I do not mind where the woman my son will marry comes
from, but I do not want a wawa woman’ (126). Wawa is a coinage to demonstrate the
people’s usual expression to reject evil, crime, and immoral tendencies. Nyamiri ,
Hausa’s derogatory name for the Igbos which originated from the sentence, Nyem
mmiri , is found on page 190. Nyamiri is a corruption of Nyem mmiri presumed to had
been used by the first Igbo settlers in the North, who did not know how to speak
Hausa to request for drinking water. The actual translation in English is, ‘Give me
water to drink’. In the text, a soldier barked, ‘Ina nyamiri ! Where are the Igbo
people? Who is Igbo here? Where are the infidels?’ (190).
Hybridization in linguistics is a morphological process which connotes the
formation of a new expression from two existing linguistic items from different
languages. For Nkwain, hybrids are those concepts that are somewhat coined from a
foreign language like English and any local language (24). Few of these hybrids are
analysed from Adichie’s work.
The first one is afia attack found on pages 357, 490, and 599. For instance, on
page 490, we read that ‘She told them she was going on afia attack to trade across
enemy lines.’ Also on page 357, Mrs. Muokelu says, ‘I am going to start afia attack to
see if I can buy salt. I can no longer teach.’ ‘The hybrid ‘afia attack’ is a combination
of an Igbo word, afia and the English word, ‘attack.’ In the context of use it means
buying from enemy territory. ‘Nlacha skin diseases’ found on page 226 is a
combination of nlacha and ‘skin diseases.’ It is simply eczema which attacks the skin.
In some parts of Igbo land it is called ụgwọ. On pages 111 and 112 the expression
oriokpa festival implies a feastival to celebrate traditional masquerade which is
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prominent in Nsukka area. Apart from the above, ‘ụmụada meeting’ (244) is the
meeting of a group of women relatives. This is a powerful group, especially during
funeral rites of a particular relative. Finally, ‘ido ants’ (469) belong to a specie of
yellow ants normally found on mango trees.
In Achebe’s foremost work, Things Fall Apart, coinage is conspicuously
exploited in a way that shows special power of linguistic experimentation. Many
examples occur in the work, but few are given below:
Kotma: The word ‘kotma’ is a derivation from ‘court man,’ which before now
assumed the meaning of a court messenger. It appears on pages 123, 125, and 127.
Rain-maker: This coinage connotes a person who has the magical powers to conjure
with the spirit to cause rainfall (24). The opposite is ‘rain-holder’ as used in Half of a
Yellow Sun (245).
Iron horse: This is simply a bicycle. The name came from the bicycle being an
imitation of a horse with fore limbs and hind limbs. This is seen on pages 97-98.
Some of hybrids implicated in Things Fall Apart are analysed below:
1) Ozo title: Ozo is a social rank, or simply put, a title holder in a community. It is
on page 48, and it represents the highest social title in an Igbo community.
2) Female ọchụ: This expression means inadvertent killing of a person. In Things
Fall Apart (91), it usually attracted sacrifices as in Okonkwo’s case when he
killed a kinsman.
3) Ozo dance: This is a dance which only the ozo’s enjoy. It is seen on page 41 of
the text as a special privilege for the Ozo title holders.
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4) Ozo society: This is a group of ozo titled members. It is found on page 121 of the
novel to represent the cult group..
English, in spite of it overwhelming function, has not been able to
accommodate words that lots of indigenous meanings in different languages. For the
multilingual Nigeria writer, there is often a tendency to alternate English and the
native languages. Most often, the writers’ culture has power over their choice of
linguistic items.
The language of both theThings Fall Apart and Half of a Yellow Sun is really
a variety of English that can be said to be homegrown because it carries a lot
indigenous meanings. The elements used to localize the English language in African
literature reflect aspects of indigenous meanings. Achebe and Adichie both capture the
traditional belief in ogbanje which portrays the power of reincarnation, which is a
kind of magical realism. Both of them have the same world view through the use of
some lexical items like obi, ụmụnna, rain-holder (Adiche, 245), and rain-maker
(Adiche, 14). ‘A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi’, ‘He had a bad chi
‘(Achebe 93 and 13) and ‘I know your chi was wide awake’ (Adichie 506). All these
are indicative of the belief in personal gods among the Igbos. Besides, the two works
also display the same pattern of speech style in the utterances of the characters. In
Things Fall Apart, for instance, Okonkwo says this during the presentation of a kola
nut at Nwakibie’s house:
We shall all live. We pray for life, children, a good harvest and
happiness. You will have what is god for you and I will have
55
what is good for me. Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch
too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break (14).
Similarly in Adichie’s work, a character prays by saying that::
He who brings the kola brings life. You and yours will live, and I
and mine will live. Let the eagle perch and let the dove perch and,
if either decrees that the other not perch, it will not be well for
him… (203).
The two speeches have the structure and the semantics of the Igbo language speech
pattern but rendered in English. Exclamation, on the other hand, demonstrates how a
language gives expression to culture. In the texts, tụfiakwa ! could express
condemnation, rejection or annoyance. The expression, tụfiakwa, features in both
texts. When Ekwefi, Ezinma’s mother, said she wanted to go with Chielo, the
priestess concerning Ezinma’s illness, the priestess rejected her request (71). In the
same vein, Harrison, one of the characters in Half of a Yellow Sun, said to Ugwu
‘Tụfia ! I don’t know why master wants to see that devilish festival…’ (255). The
impact of using tụfia in both linguistic situations may not be properly represented in
English. Another example of the exclamation in Half of a Yellow Sun was when
Olanna jumped the queue and one of the women sitting in the corridor cursed”
‘Tụfiakwa ! We have been waiting since dawn! Is it because we don’t talk through our
nose like white people?’ (322). The degree of annoyance from a woman who has been
waiting to see a medical doctor, only for the nurse to allow Olanna who just came in
to enter, is conveyed in the exclamation tụfiakwa!
56
Apart from the fact that most expressions in the works do not have English
equivalents for ụziza, ụmụnna, obi, egwugwu, oriọkpa, ọgbanje, ọzọ, ikenga, ọkwụma,
suya, ụgba, ogiri, ‘rain-holder’, ‘rain-maker’, there are also lots of other linguistic
items in the texts that have equivalents in English, but have been used appositively for
clarification. However, some were not translated. In Things Fall Apart, expressions
like these abound: ‘tie-tie or rope’ (127), ‘jigida or waist beads’ (20) ‘medicine house
or shrine’ (10) ‘bad chi or personal god’ (13) ‘agadi nwanyi or old woman’ (9)
‘ancestral spirit or egwugwu’ (85) ‘outcast or osu’ (111). In like manner, Half of a
Yellow Sun is filled with code-switched expressions used for repetition. Some of them
are: ‘Mummy Ola, don’t cry; Ebezi na’ (498); ‘Go well. Ije ọma’ (487); Dalụ - thank
you’ (487); ‘Get up, kunie’ (115); ‘Look here, nee anya’ (17) ‘Kedu afa gi?’ What’s
your name?’ (15).
In addition, there are areas where a word would have an equivalent, but the
native word is preferred to the English form, for example, in this expression, ‘It is
mother would rub his body with okwuma’ (Adichie 26). Okwuma is an Igbo name for
local ointment often used when someone is ill or used on swollen or dislocated joint of
a patient. It has an equivalent in English which is ‘balm’, but the local name is more
suitable in this context, or it could be to capture its native linguistic import and
obviously to depict the cultural connotation of the word. Still in Half of a Yellow Sun,
an expression like, ‘Have you not heard of my mother’s mother? Nwayike Nkwelle?’
(189). The expression, ‘mother’s mother,’ has a single item – grandmother, which can
be used but it has been directly translated to capture the cultura beauty of societal
choice.
57
On the other hand at times, some neologisms are created to show some
experiences that exist in the indigenous culture but alien to another culture. One of the
examples is this: ‘…her husband’s wives were saying that it was nothing more than
iba…’ (60). The semantics of ‘husband’s wives’ connotes polygamous style of
marriage. Therefore, ‘husband’s wives’ fills a linguistic gap in this context.
To conclude this section, it is pertinent to state that in terms of linguistic
borrowing, Adichie is wider in scope but Achebe is more profound in exploiting the
resources in the Igbo language. However, the two works are similar in terms of speech
styles.
58
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES
5.1 SUMMARY
The preoccupation of this work has been to show how African literary writers
exploit African linguistic experiences through the effective use of the English
language to reflect the Africanness of the themes being explored. Although the
emerging variety can be characterized as New Englishes with some ideosyncracies of
regional features, these Englishes serve specific and appreciable literary functions and
have therefore come to stay as a peculiar linguistic culture. The visible implication of
this is that the English language has been acculturalized, Nigerianized, domesticated,
nativized, and hybridized to meet the socio-cultural needs of the people.
Comparing the two texts under study, Things Fall Apart by Achebe and Half of
a Yellow Sun by Adichie, the researcher equally observes several twists and bends of
linguistic structures in the English language to reflect their use in the novels. The
acculturation or the nativization stratgegies employed by both authors help to invoke
the cultural milieu in which the events took place. In the novels, the writers employ
direct translation, semantic extension, code-switching, proverbs, culturally dependent
speech style, loan words, coinages, and hybridization to project the messages of the
text. All these are the aspects of localization of the English language to project the
local colour. Similar to the above is the exploitation of some native similes in Things
Fall Apart. Instances of these are seen in Okonkwo’s burden of fending for his
immediate family, father, mother and extended relations which was likened to
‘pouring grains of corn into a bag full of holes’ (16). Okonkwo’s fame has grown ‘like
59
a bush-fire in the harmattan’ (3). In the third example is ‘Okonkwo grew rapidly like a
yam tendril in the rainy season’ (37). An instance of direct translation in Things Fall
Apart is ‘… his good fortune had gone into his head’ (24). Again, we read that ‘A
baby on its mother’s back does not know that the way is long’ (71). There is also a
direct translation in ‘The lizard said he would praise himself if no one else did’ (15-
16).
Direct translated expressions are also extensively used in Half of a Yellow Sun,
‘We do not look for quarrels, but when your quarrels find us, we will crush you’
(233). In the work also, we encounter code-switching elements as in, ‘Afam bu Jomo’ ,
Jomo said (27). ‘Dianyi, you now speak English ‘just like the children of the lecturers’
(119). After the radio announcement of the coup, Odenigbo declares, ‘O mego!’ (156).
The above linguistic experiment in the two works survives even in other works
not only because of the new environment that forms the new language structures but
because of the poetic licence which flowers and flourishes in literary writings. In this
study, we have indicated that the evolution of English as a second language has given
birth to linguistic interference which has affected the target language. This
interference can be linguistic or literary. The work has, therefore, dwelt on these
linguistic elements in literary works of Achebe and Adichie by comparing and
contrasting the two works.
The work further proves that language is an aggregate of the linguistic and the
social factors in a society and as such it cannot be independent of the environment in
which it is used. The two works, in a way, explore aspects of Nigerian English which
are products of their own general and social context. Again, the works attest to the fact
60
that language is responsible to the cultures of their users and because it is a part of a
people’s culture, it cannot be separated from the culture as well. That is to say that
language is subordinated to the culture in which it operates. We can say that the
attempt by the two authors to re-structure English through code-switching, direct
translation, the use of semantic extension, proverbs, cultural dependent speech style,
borrowed words, hybridization, coinages and other Nigerian speech habits has, no
doubt, led to interference in their use of the English language in the characters’ speech
and in the authors’ writing. Actually, all these have culminated in literary stylistic
devices that are essentially African.
5.2 CONCLUSION
The linguistic development in the two novels under study supports the belief of
researchers that the twisted English precipitated by pidginization, nativization and
acculturation is mainly to express peculiar Nigerian concepts and to maintain model
interaction. Continuing this argument, Bamgbose, strongly believes that this evolution
has produced ‘distinctive literature in Nigeria’. He goes further to highlight the
essence of such linguistic manoeuvring to the success of oral traditions and written
literature in the indigenous languages of Nigeria. He concludes that this has also
resulted in the success of Nigerian literature of English expression (4).
The development has created a dominant language among African literary
writers and this goes further to create harmony between the writer and his artifacts.
Should the setting be different from the writer’s first language or his second language,
the result will be that the literary work itself lacks adequate capacity to describe events
and situations as they occurred to the writer. In other words, Achebe’s and Adichie’s
61
exploitation of the literary linguistic techniques have led to vividity in their
description of events and the development of their characters in the novels.
Another advantage of this linguistic experiment is that if the authors had used
English in its original form and meaning in the novels, it would have been impossible
to capture the African culture effectively to enable the readers to understand the
literary experiences the authors have in mind. For instance, in Half of a Yellow Sun,
the author used my ‘mother’s mother’ (189), ‘It is only that know women know too
much book like you who can say that, Sister. If people like me who don’t know Book
wait too long, we will expire’ (58). In Things Fall Apart, the author used ‘husband’s
wives’ which has no semantic import in the English language and culture (60). In
Things Fall Apart, we read, that no man ‘could rise beyond the destiny of his chi’
(92). The word chi presents semantic problems to the second users of English trying to
translate it to English. According to Emmanuel Obiechina, the word chi has:
…built-in conceptual meaning in the vernacular with no equivalent in
English…. No single English word can adequately translate this word
that is built into the very culture of African’s concept of individual
identity, destiny and the place he occupies in the general ordering of the
universe. It is often as elusive as the western concept of the individual
‘soul’. A vague and generalized description of chi as ‘destiny’ or ‘fate’
is totally inadequate to convey the meaning of the word (61).
So many of these instances are found in the two works although the two works
differ in depth of usage. The indigenization of English by speakers of African
languages through the appropriation of the English language has led to African literary
62
linguistic tradition which has been employed in Things Fall Apart and Half of a
Yellow Sun. This work contends that for African languages to survive their decimated
and subjugated status such linguistic exploit will continue to flower and flourish, and
the end to it is not in sight.
5.3 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES
Having seen the essence of this study in language development, there is a need
to suggest areas for further studies for advancement in the English language growth.
Research findings have shown that the English language has dominated African
languages because of its inevitability in multilingual settings of Africa and Nigeria in
particular. Further research into other aspects of sociolinguistics in Nigerian novels is,
therefore, advocated in so far as it will ensure that some African languages facing
extinction can attract much more attention.
Secondly, research enquiry should be focused on the strategic aspects of
African style of speaking in African novels. This will enable writers to adopt this
measure to sustain the interest in the reading of African novels in intensification of
African culture.
Again, this study calls for further study into pragmatic theories in African
literature. This, again, will help to create more awareness in the implicature in the use
of the English language.
Finally, the study suggests that discourse studies should also be carried out in
African novels rather than only on the speech aspects. This will ensure that discourse
properties are exploited the more in creative writing and research.
63
With the above, African interest in their language will be rekindled apart from
their ability to experiment with the English language, which like any language, is
natural in its syntax, morphology, semantics and phonology. It will, therefore, make
Africans develop optimally in all the five linguistic analysis in language.
64
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