Abstract

This study sets out to examine language and communication in Nyamndi’s Facing Meamba and Sins of Babi Yar. It shows the various forms of language which have been used such as symbolism, proverb to show casing Nyamndi’s novelistic vision. To achieve this objective, the structuralist theory has been used. The analysis revealed that the concept of Language is pertinent in African Literary works, as it is a vehicle that is crucial in displaying pertinent thematic preoccupation and ideological postures of the author.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Language has served as one of the fundamental elements in understanding literary works. According to Chinua Achebe in his famous essay “The African Writer and The English Language’’, African literature should be written using national and ethnic literature that is a combination of indigenous language and English Language for accessibility. To Achebe, Language has been used as a medium over decades to communicate ideas, and used as an instrument for radical change and exposure of African culture used by a writer. It for this reason that language to the African writer is symbolic and emerged with richness of African culture.

In an article titled African literature and African language, Ukpai and Orji state that in understanding literature, two factors are important which are, are language and a human society that speaks the language, because language is a medium of expression and the society.

Generally, when we talk about language, our thoughts immediately go to the concept of communication through diction. This is because African texts are different from European works, making language to African writer symbolic. Dialectics also known as dialectical method in relation to language is at base a discourse between two groups, with both holding to conflicting ideologies, holding a different point of view about the concept of language.

According to Achebe in his essay, Achebe and Anglophone African literary discourse, “writing is not just about the message, but the way the message is conveyed, the felicity of the language, so it is a balance between your commitments. African literary discourse is a linguistic experimentation in variants of an imperial language” (12).

According to Dathome in the essay African language and African literature, “Literature in the written vernacular languages of Africa provides an imaginative and essential link with unwritten indigenous literature; this literature indicates the adaptability of oral tradition in that through the written vernacular literature the oral tradition expresses its versatility and diversity” (120). To Dathome, this means for African literature to be preserved it must be written in the vernacular because, African oral tradition for African literature cannot be preserved if foreign language is adopted for African literature.

Achebe’s ideology of combining national language and ethnic language, gives ruse to the use of “Nwemba” language in Nyamndi’s Facing Meamba and also the use of “Whiteman’s talk” for accessibility and communication. Therefore, this research explores the concept of language and communication in Nyamndi’s Facing Meamba in line with medium and credibility through which he uses to pass across his message. Nyamndi writes both in “Nwemba” and the “Whiteman’s talk”. He says that if he were to write in his ethnic language, his audience would not understand. Thus, language is represented through the writer’s diction.

In Nyamndi’s Facing Meamba, for instance, the protagonist Banda acknowledges the use of indigenous language. He states that if he were to narrate his story in his native language, people who are not of his cultural origin, would not understand; and though he uses English, he isn’t perfect in terms of its linguistic expression. Similarly, in Sins of Babi Yar, Nyamndi uses journalistic form of communication to depict the effects of capitalism, colonialism and neo-colonialism.

The aim and objectives of the study

This study has the aims and objectives of revealing language as a tool and medium of communication and its credibility for the accessibility of communication and understanding of the text. It aims at looking at various forms of language that have been used in the texts, because these language forms enhance the writer’s message to the readers.

The primary objective of this study is to explore Nyamndi’s use of language (Diction), and demonstrate how he uses this medium to foster understanding of his message in the texts or to pass across his message. This study also has an objective to bring out the thematic concerns that have been used by the writer to ascertain his goal.

Statement of the problem

The problem of this study is concerned with how literature has been considered as one of the tools used mainly for entertainment with no meaning attached to it. To also examine how according to the article Mother is Gold: AS study in West African Literature, Eurocentric critics like Adrian Roscoe and Dathorne believe that literature, especially “African Literature, is merely an inheritor of a universal culture or tradition of art and letters (67). This implies that literature has no meaning and impact on society.  However, this study debunks this Eurocentric vision and reiterates that language is an important aspect of literature which shapes and revamps society through its embedded meaning.

Research Questions

In view of the above statement of the problem, this study attempts answers to the following questions:

1. How has Nyamndi’s choice of words create an impact to both the reader and the society?
2. What stylistic devices have been used by the writer to pass across his message.
3. What is the link between language and communication?
4. what role does language play in enhancing the writer’s message, and fostering societal change?

Hypothesis

Based on the above problems and questions, this study is based on the hypothesis that Nyamndi has used language as a medium through which communication or comprehensibility could be reached or attained by readers.

Read More: English Language Project Topics with Materials