Abstract
As a result of the bilingual nature of African nations due to the
historical accident of colonialism, the problem of which language (ie.
Indigenous or colonial language) to adopt for literary expression, has
lingered on. This has precipitated the use of various devices by African
writers to contextualize aspects of indigenous meaning in the L2 text.
Against this background, the present study examines lexico-semantic
aspects of transliteration in Gabriel Okara's The Voice (1964), using
the parameters of Robert Lado's contrastive analysis. The study explores
the various sociolinguistic constraints which determine appropriate
lexical choices in the text. The main aim is to enhance understanding
and appreciation of the language of Okara's The Voice in particular and
African literature in general. The study also highlights the importance
of lexis and meaning, as distinctive levels of language, to the
construction of any literary discourse. Keywords: Nativization, African
literature, lexico-semantic, transliteration,Gabriel Okara,The Voice
Introduction Every Literary text is constructed with language.
Therefore, it is imperative to determine how a particular writer has
utilized the potentials of language to negotiate meaning(s) for his text
This thesis is anchored on the premise that, as Brumfit and Carter
(1986) put it, we need to show "how what is said is said and how
meanings are made" within the psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic
ambience of the text. As a bilingual and bicultural text, the structure
of language use in Okara's The Voice "calls attention to itself”
(Murakarovsky, 1964:58), in the sense that the author manipulates and
adapts the rhythm, register, syntax and semantics of the English
Language to the linguistic and cultural nuances of his native ijaw
Language. Specifically, the peculiarity of Okara's linguistic style in
the text under study is a product of, or direct response to, the
lingering problem of language in African literature. This problem
borders on whether or not the colonial linguistic media (i.e.
Portuguese, English, French etc), would be able to adequately and
authentically express the socio-cultural and linguistic realities of the
African continent. Scott (1990) refers to it as: ….the long-standing
debate among critics of African literature over the relation between
African authors and the colonial linguistic legacy. This debate which
has dominated Africa literature in the past fifty years (Osundare,
2004), stems from the recognition among African scholars/writers of the
centrality of language to literature, and the close connection between
political independence and cultural emancipation. As literary works are
cultural artifacts, the basic thinking is that, the use of colonial
languages in African literature is a willing perpetuation of
imperialism. Significantly, there has been a sustained polarity of
opinion about the appropriate attitude the African writer should adopt
to this phenomenon. These range from the fervidly nationalist to the
stridently compromising. Osundare (2004) identifies three "attitudes"
viz: (i) accomodationist, (ii) gradualist, and (iii) radicalist.
According to this scholar, the first group (i.e. accommodationist),
which has as its chief promoter, Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal,
favours an outright use of imperialist languages; while the
"gradualists" are "the dwellers of the middle of the road", prominent
among whom is Ali Mazrui who advocates a de-Anglicization and
re-Africanization of the English language, to authentically convey
Africa's literary sensibilities. The third group, on the other hand, is
the “radicalist” composed of writers who call for an immediate adoption
of indigenous African languages as the media of literary expression. Obi
Wali and Ngugi Wa Thiongo are proponents and exponents of this
attitude. Instructively, majority of African writers belong to the
"gradualist" group identified above (i.e. indigenizing the colonial
language).
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Gabriel Okara, Chinua Achebe, Amos Tutuola, Elechi Amadi, J.P.
Clark-Bekederemo, Kofi Awoonor, etc. all fall into this category. In the
main, this linguistic constraint would have informed the device of
"transliteration" adopted in Okara's The Voice. On his part, Ushie
(2001), summarizes some of the major positions canvassed by scholars on
the problem of language in African literature as follows:
a) Those who, following Obi Wali, have continued to advocate the use
of African indigenous languages, e.g. Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Immeh
Ikiddeh.
b) Those who have followed the sophisticated formal English
expression e.g. Okigbo, Soyinka, Dennis Brutus, J.P. Clark-Bekederemo,
e.t.c.
c) Those who, following Janheiz Jahn, have suggested that European
languages, for instance, English, be used in such a way that languages
bear the African cultural experience while remaining intelligible
internationally. Chinua Achebe‟s novels, especially Things Fall Apart
and Arrow of God, and the poetry of Okot P „Bitek and Kofi Awoonor
illustrate this category.
d) Those who advocate transliteration as a way of keeping intact
African cultural heritage while using foreign words, e.g. Gabriel Okara,
AS illustrated in his novel, The Voice
e) Those who may be described as following a plural code e.g. Ken
Saro Wiwa (whose literary oeuvre is a pot-pourri of linguistic codes
with which he has experimented in his work. His novel, Sozaboy, for
instance, comes in Nigerian pidgin English; his poetry collection Songs
in a Time of war, is in both Nigerian “Standard” English and in Nigerian
pidgin English; while several of his biographical works are in
sophisticated Nigerian English, just as his posthumously published
novel.
Generally, it is germane to note that African scholars who advocate
the use of indigenous languages are goaded on by nationalist sentiments,
while their counterparts who favour colonial languages place a high
premium on the global intelligibility and outreach of a work of art.
Bilingualism and African Literature We have established Gabriel Okara's
text as a bilingual text. It is, therefore, pertinent to shed some light
on the term “bilingualism”, in relation to African literature.
Bloomfield (1933) defines the term as “the native-like control of two
languages". Lambert (1977) sees it as "the existence of two languages in
the repertoire of an individual or a speech community". The significant
thread that runs through both definitions is that the term reflects a
situation where two languages are used side by side, whether by an
individual or a given society. Bilingualism is a product of language
contact. Appel and Muystan (1987:1) confirm inter alia: “Language
contact inevitably leads to bilingualism.” The inference of this is
that, at least, two different languages with distinctive features (i.e.
lexical, semantic, phonological and syntactic) must come into contact
for bilingualism to occur or manifest. Akindele and Adegbite (1992)
identify factors such as colonialism, commerce, conquest, annexation and
war, etc, as having the potentials to precipitate such language
contacts. The bilingual situation in Africa is traceable to the
historical accident of colonialism, which was a by-product of the Berlin
conference of 1885, where African nations were balkanized among
imperial powers (i.e. Britain, France, Portugal), for administrative
purposes. The corollary is that African countries are either Anglophone
or Francophone, etc. in addition to the sundry local languages spoken by
the compatriots. As literature is an expressive art, the consequent
complex linguistic situation is reflected in the literature of these
African countries, as explored above. Alo (1998) has outlined some
devices used by African writers to reflect local or indigenous nuances
in their styles viz:
i. Coinages, borrowing, etc.
ii. The use of native similes and metaphors
iii. The transfer of rhetorical devices from native languages
iv. The translation of native proverbs, idioms, etc.
v. The use of culturally dependent speech styles
vi. The use of syntactic devices and deviation
vii. Code-switching and code-mixing
viii. Transliteration
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It is important to note that, the foregoing devices are adopted, in
varying degrees, by different writers to reflect aspects of indigenous
meaning. This gives a distinctive African cultural identity to the
texts. Literature Review/Theoretical Foundation According to McAthur
(1992), contrastive linguistics is a branch of applied linguistics that
"describes similarities and differences between two (or more) languages
at such levels as phonology, lexis, grammar and semantics". This concept
is relevant to the present study because it enables us to compare and
contrast the two languages in question i.e. Ijaw and English. Based on
behaviourist and structuralist theories of the 1950's, Lado's (1957)
contrastive analysis, which we adopted for the analysis, operates on two
broad principles. The first is that both languages are described
separately. Secondly, only patterns form the basis for comparison and
not whole languages, for, as Olabode (2001) observed: ... each language
is a complex of a large number of patterns at different levels and at
different degrees of delicacy. Therefore, there can be no single general
statement accounting for all of these patterns. In his introduction to
Okara‟s text, Ravenscroft (1969) remarks that, the text had a mixed
reception and that some African reviewers found its unconventional use
of the English language uncomfortable. The scholar adds that reviewers
abroad were also partly nonplussed by the language and curious about its
strange symbolism. This situation could have engendered the initial
cold feet developed by critics, and the awful misunderstanding of the
linguistic and cultural value and significance of The Voice in African
literature (Iyasere, 1982). However, Duruoha (1992) observes that, “a
growing volume of critique on this novel is emerging”. Previous
linguistic works on the text include: shiarella‟s (1970) “Gabriel
Okara‟s The Voice: A Study in the Poetic Novel”, Burness‟ (1972)” The
Voice: Stylistic Innovation and the Rhythm of African Life”, Okiwelu‟s
(1987) “ Gabriel Okara: The Voice and Transliteration”, Scott‟s (1990)
“Gabriel Okara‟s The Voice: The Non-Ijo Reader and the Pragmatics of
Translingualism”, and Duruoha‟s (1992) “ Form as Metaphor in Gabriel
Okara‟s The Voice”. The Significant point is that none of these works
focuses mainly on how lexis and meaning have been organized to help the
author achieve the target of transliteration in the text, using the
tools of contrastive analysis. Transliteration and Translation Alo
(1998) defined “transliteration” as the “process whereby the units of
one language, e.g. words, structures, are replaced by those in another
language e.g. from a Nigerian language into English ...” Hornby (2000)
says it is “to write words or letters using letters of a different
alphabet or language". These definitions imply that the term involves
the replacement of each source language word or other units with the
units of the target language. Thus, words or structures in the Ijaw
language could be converted to the English Language, as is the case in
Okara's The Voice. Translation is a related concept. It refers to the
neutral term used for all tasks where the meaning of expressions in one
language is turned into the meaning of another language, whether the
medium is spoken or written (Catford, 1965), without recourse to the
structures or rules of the source language. In ranking translation,
Catford identified three levels of the term:
(i) Word-for-word translation; i.e. every word in the source language is replaced by the equivalent in the target language.
(ii) Literal translation i.e. the structure of the source language is adapted to the rules of the target language.
(iii) Free translation i.e. the translator has nothing to do with the linguistic structures of the source language.
(see Olabode, 2001) From the foregoing ranking, it is clear that
"transliteration" is an aspect of “translation”. A Brief Biography of
the Author To fully appreciate the significance of the linguistic
experiment in Okara‟s The Voice, it is imperative to peep into the
background of the author. This will expose us not only to the linguistic
and socio-cultural or ancestral origins of the writer, but also to his
distinct personality, interests, and place in modern African literature,
which are crucially relevant to our understanding and appreciation of
the linguistic experiment in the text. Born in 1921 in the Ijaw area of
Bayelsa State of Nigeria, Gabriel Imomotimi Okara is one of the earliest
exponents of African literature in English. After obtaining a Higher
School Certificate (HSC) at Government College, Umuahia, he became a
book-binder, autodidact, administrator, and Biafran nationalist. K.E.
Senanu and T. Vincent (1976) comment that from this point in his life:
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…okara developed a remarkable personality by dint of personal
tuition, reflection and deep interest in literature generally and in the
language and culture of his people. From the foregoing comment, we can
observe that, though he later studied journalism at Northwestern
University, USA, Okara had developed interest in literature generally
and his linguistic and cultural roots in particular at a very early age.
This interest must have motivated him to do extensive research into
these two areas of study. There is no doubt that this would have
equipped him with the intellectual resources to fashion out a new
linguistic idiom to interpret his bilingual and bicultural environment.
It is, therefore no coincidence that the most significant thing that
marks out Okara in African literature is the experiment with language
(i.e. transliteration) in his The Voice. Apart from this novel, the
writer is also one of the earliest and foremost poet in Africa. His
poetry has won major local and international awards, including the
Commonwealth poetry prize (1979) and the Nigeria (NLNG) prize for
literature (2005). Socio-cultural Context of the Text It is imperative
to establish the socio-cultural context of Okara's text. This is because
the emphasis of a linguistic study of a bilingual text is on the
functional or pragmatic use of language which must reflect the
socio-cultural typology in which it grows. In other words, the study is a
survey of situated speech, with the context serving as a significant
background. Okara's The Voice is set in the socio-political context of
post independent Africa. Specifically, it highlights the moral
corruption in high places, as represented by Chief Izongo and his
Cohorts. Okolo, on the other hand, represents the handful of genuine
moralists and social crusaders who fight for the restoration of sanity
and rectitude. The fact that the epidemic of corruption and moral decay
spreads to everywhere in the text (i.e. both Amatu and Sologa),
underscores its pervasiveness and persistence. The conflict of the text
is thus, that between LIGHT and DARKNESS. Essentially, it is against the
background of this grim struggle between forces of light and darkness,
that linguistic choices in the text are patterned. Textual Analysis With
the foregoing preliminary insights, we shall now examine aspects of
lexical and semantic transliteration in Okara's text. The focus on
lexico-semantics is, itself, significant. Apart from delineating both
concepts as distinctive levels of language, the point is that words are
only functional in semantic contexts. This much is echoed by McCarthy
and Carter (1988) when they posited that: Much of what has been written
concerning lexis over the years has assumed that the proper place for
discussion of the subject is within semantics. However, in this
discourse, we shall restrict our exploration to verbal forms which are
culled from the L1 of the author for the expression and
contextualization of indigenous meaning, under the following
sub-headings:
i. Coinage or neologism
ii. Collocation
iii. Linguistic borrowing
iv. Semantic extension/shift
v. Contextual meaning of Lexical transliteration
Coinage/Neologism In Okara's The Voice, we find a preponderance of
lexical coinages that reflect the linguistic milieu of the source
language. Apparently, this is a product of the author's strategy of
transliteration. This strategy precipitates a phenomenon of multi-word
units or compound neologisms, which abound in the text With the L2 + L2
structure of these compound neologisms, we observe that meaning is
traceable to the source language, though the constituent lexical choices
are English. Below are some illustrative examples from the text:
i. You know-nothing people (p. 121)
ii. The caring-nothing feet of the world
iii. We are know-God people (p. 32)
iv. Wrong-doing filled their insides (p. 31)
v. These happening-things (p. 48)
vi. Man-killing medicine (p. 37)
vii. Black-coat-wearing man (p. 37)
viii. Surface-water things (p. 34)
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ix. Surface-water laugh (p. 36)
x. Questioning-word (p. 53)
xi. Teaching-word (p. 37)
xii. Meeting-place (p. 48)
xiii. Know-nothing footsteps (p. 34)
We may not bother to explain the lexical items underlined above,
since their textual meanings are very clear. However, we need to
emphasize that, although compounding itself is a lexico-semantic device
deployed by writers to encode or foreground textual meaning, they are
discussed under neologisms because their inference and usage is unusual
and novel, even though the author has used the English code. They are
clearly a product of word-for-word translation from the source language
(ie. Ijaw), to the target language (ie. English) (see Catford‟s 1965)
ranking of translation above). Hence Alo (1998) contended that word
coinage or neologism occurs ""when a new word is made up or created in
order to express a cultural concept, object or institution". This
scholar explains the nature and purpose of innovations in language use
inter alia: There is the natural human tendency to innovate in language,
either for the sake of being creative and original or as a result of
the need to express new objects, things or ideas. People are always
creating new expressions or altering old ones to fit new ones.
Innovations in language are chiefly controlled by the necessities of
communication…Innovations in non-native English occur as a result of new
cultural identities Collocation Collocation is a type of syntagmatic
lexical relation which refers to the habitual co-occurrence of
individual lexical items. Halliday (1964) sees it as “the company
lexical items keep ... their propensity for particular neighbours and
environments". In Okara's The Voice, we find this "co-occurrence” of
words as a result of transliteration from the author's native Ijaw to
English. Importantly, these collocations are deliberately and
systematically reiterated to establish the cumulative meaning of the
text. Collocations such as "straight things”, “good bottom" and "open
inside", for instance, etch the theme of truth and integrity as
championed by Okolo; while “turned world”, stinking things” and “spoilt
world” purvey corruption and moral decadence, as orchestrated by Chief
Izongo and his aides. The critical point here is that these collocations
can only be decoded or interpreted according to the mode of
signification in the author's native Ijaw language. Linguistic Borrowing
As the term indicates, this phenomenon is basically concerned with the
borrowing of linguistic devices from the LI in order to transmit the
intended indigenous meaning in the target language or L2. Bloomfield
(1933:44) saw it as: “The adoption of features which differ from those
of the main tradition”. The implication of this definition is that,
linguistic borrowing is essentially engendered by the non-availability
of a lexical equivalent(s) of a native concept in the L2. This seems to
be informed by Yule‟s (1944) hypothesis in his The Statistical Study of
Literary Vocabulary that"... the colour and flavour of a text... are
determined by the common words used by the author ...". However, in this
text, Okara appears to have used the device indiscriminately (i.e. even
where there are lexical equivalents in the L2). Quite apparently, this
is in keeping with the technique of transliteration, which is the
hallmark of the work. In our exemplification, therefore, we shall show
i. L1 borrowings which have no S.B.E. equivalents and
ii. L1 borrowings which have ready S.B.E. equivalents.
For the latter, we shall bolster our hypothesis by providing the S.B.E. equivalents. Borrowings without S.B.E. Equivalents
a. Things of the soil (p. 61)
b. Things that follow me (p. 62)
c. Things of the ground (p. 65)
d. One with black face (p. 63)
The meaning of all the lexical constructs presented above can only be
decoded in the LI sense. This is because they are not available in the
L2 code. Specifically, they concern the African belief in ancestors and
gods. This religious philosophy is directly opposed to the monotheism of
the west. While (a) and (c) above, for instance, refer to the ancestors
and gods of the land, (b) refers to guardian gods/spirits and (d)
refers specifically to the sea god known as “Benikurukuru" whose face is
always being referred to as being charcoal-black.
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Borrowings with L2 or S.B.E. Equivalents
S/N
Source Language (LI)
S.B.E. Equivalent (L2)
1
One whose head is not correct (p. 22)
A lunatic
2
Search with all his inside (p. 23)
Zealously; committedly
3
Fall from our jobs (p. 25)
Lose our jobs
4
Search with all his shadow (p. 23)
Spiritedly
5
His eyes were not right (p. 23)
Insane
6
Okolo has no chest (p. 23)
Lacks courage
7
Day's eye (p. 61)
Weather
8
Take the canoe to the ground (p. 53 )
Ashore
9
Hunger held him (p. 52)
He was hungry
10
Tell me the bottom of it (p. 40)
Meaning; reason; rationale
11
Entered our ears (p. 51)
Heard
12
Put a law (p. 51)
Make or enact a law
13
Bad head (p. 68)
Unlucky; ill-fated
14
When Okolo came to know himself (p.80)
Regained consciousness
15
From this standing moment (p. 53)
From this moment
As earlier stated, the linguistic items in the foregoing table have
L2 (SBE) equivalents, which are shown on the right-hand side. The
critical point is that, the author ignores the S.B.E form, and uses the
source language (L1) form, in line with the technique of transliteration
adopted in the text. Semantic Shift/Extension In this situation, the
meaning of standard English words are extended to accommodate local
sentiments or concepts. It is pertinent to observe that, in Okara's The
Voice, semantic extension is a product of transliteration. Let us
illustrate this phenomenon with the following two examples:
i. What I do with my money does not touch you (p.92)
ii. Did he no part of your body touch? (p. 65)
In S.B.E., "to touch" suggests physical contact. Hornby (2000)
defines it as "to be or come so close together that there is no space
between". In the context of (i) above, Okara has extended it to mean
"concern" i.e. "what I do with my money is not your business". In the
context of (ii) above, on the other hand, the term has been extended to
mean "a deliberate, sensual or lustful contact”. In the LI of the
author, the term could also suggest copulation or sexual intercourse
i.e. "have you touched her?" The major point here is that, the term
carries semantic properties of the LI of the author which extend beyond
their native English uses. Contextual meaning of Lexical Transliteration
Having delineated aspects of lexical transliteration in the text, our
next task is to show that these lexical items are only meaningful within
the context of the author's native cultural values and environment. The
contextual theory of meaning is associated with systemic linguists and
constructs can only be decoded against the background of the pattern of
signification in the source language. According to Brumfit and Carter
(1986:145): ...the more culture-bound the style becomes, the more
distance is created between the native varieties of English and the
non-native varieties. The fact is that, apart from culture-bound lexical
constructs such as "spoilt world" (which means corrupt world);
'surface-water things' (hypocrisy) "search with all his inside"
(spiritedly); "had no chest" (lacks courage); "day's eye" (weather),
etc, Okara's transliteration in his The Voice is foregrounded by his use
of forms for which options are readily available. For illustration, let
us examine the table below:
SN
L1
Transliteration Options in the L2
I
Teme
0) Spirit (ii) Shadow
Ii
Gomu iye
Straight thing rue, honest, genuine
Lii
Gesi iye
True honest thing
The table above shows that (i) teme which is the LI form, is an ambiguous word. The two meanings are shown in the L2 code.
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The point is that Okara deliberately opts for "shadow" when, in the
actual sense, "spirit" is closer to the L2 code in the following
context, for instance: He was in search of it with all... his shadow (p.
23) The inference is that okara could have used "... with all his
spirit", which is actually more contextually appropriate. For (ii) and
(iii) on the table above, let us examine the following context: I could
have been a rich man be ... if the straight thing I had not done. (p.
105). Though the line between "straight" and "honest/true" is very thin,
quite obviously, "true" or "honest" thing would have bee closer to the
S.B.E. or L2 code. In a similar vein, the use of "standing moment" (p.
53), which we have earlier identified among borrowings with L2 or SBE
equivalent in section 6.3.2, is too ambitious i.e. done without regard
to the constraints of transliteration. In the original Ijaw form, it is
"tie kiri" i.e. 'Standing ground". Obviously, Okara reckoned that the
latter (i.e. "standing ground") would be meaningless in the L2 code. Our
contention is that, faced with this transliteration constraint, he
should have left it at the SBE or L2 form i.e. "from this moment",
instead of opting for a form that makes no sense in both codes.
Conclusion In this study, we have shown how a an African writer has
nativized the English language to interpret his native sociolinguistic
environment. Specifically, we have established that Gabriel Okara's The
Voice is a bilingual text in the sense that it renders the
sociolinguistic features of the writer's L1, in the target language or
L2, by exploring the various lexico-semantic resources that reflect its
hybrid character. Importantly, we have also shown that the author's
linguistic experiment of "transliteration" is a valid and relevant
response to the persistent problem of language in African literature.
The implication of this phenomenon is that a lot of socio-cultural and
even historical variables come into play in the construction of an
African literary text for, as Adekunle (1987:1) put it, for effective
communication of textual meaning to take place, there must be
"additional knowledge of the socio-cultural variables present in the
context of situation." Thus, our finding in this study is that, to fully
appreciate the use of words and their meanings in Gabriel Okara's The
Voice, or other African literary texts, there is the need to situate
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