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The Social Use of Language: An Ethnography of Communication in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God

Received: 14 December 2021     Accepted: 15 January 2022     Published: 24 January 2022
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Abstract

During colonization, the English language was not only the primary language of government and administration but it was also used in the education of colonized subjects. Consequently, English became a national language in the colonies and had since then complicated its own status as a significant medium of communication because of the colonized conflicting attitudes towards it. Since a writer brings his personality, experience and the totality of his personhood to bear on his work of art, postcolonial writers and critics felt that the use of English from its standard form as well as the cultural values it carried cannot give genuine artistic shape and form to their creative impulses. While some advocate for the return to writing in indigenous African languages others are of the opinion that the use of a foreign language is pointless. In this sense, Chinua Achebe’s quest for a postcolonial literary aesthetic is delineated in Arrow of God, where, with an unparalleled dexterity, he adapts the English language to suit the cultural norms, social interactions, ideas and ideals of his traditional Igbo society. The study was conducted by applying a postcolonial approach to literature which suggests that post-colonial writing seize the English language and replace it in a discourse fully adapted to the colonised place. The primary material used for arguments in this study is Arrow of God where data were purposely collected. Much more data informed by Igbo’s indigenous tradition and culture were abstracted from internet sources and many critical works. The result of the analysis shows that language and culture intertwine to subvert the colonial perspective on the colonized.

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 10, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.14
Page(s) 28-37
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Colonization, Social Use, Language, Culture, Discourse, Communication, Arrow of God, Postcolonial

References
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[2] Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1981). Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature. London: Heinemann.
[3] Sapir, E. (1929). “The Status of Linguistics as a Science”. Language. 5 (205-214).
[4] Kammampoal, Bawa (2010). “Orature in Modern Creative African Writing: Linguistic and Literary Power in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart”, CAMES, Sciences sociales et humaines, nouvelle série, B, (013) 11. 267-278.
[5] Achebe, C. (1965). “English and the African writer”. Transition. 18, 29-30.
[6] Palmer, E. (1979). The growth of the African novel. London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.
[7] Gikandi, S. (1991). Literature in Africa 1960-90. Africa Today. London: Africa Book.
[8] Obiechina, E. N. (1975). Culture, tradition, and society in the West African novel. African studies series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[9] Roscoe, A. (1971). Mother is Gold. Cambridge: C. U. P.
[10] Kammampoal, B. (2021). Literacy and Orality: Between Abrogation and Appropriation in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s The River Between. European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics Studies. (4) 4. 64-86.
[11] Trudgill, P. (1974) Sociolinguistics: An Introduction. New York: Penguin Books.
[12] Gumperz, J. J. (1964). “Linguistics and Social Interaction in Two Communities”. American Antropologist. 66, 6 (part 2).
[13] Gikandi, S. (1991) “Chinua Achebe and the Post-colonial Esthetic: Writing, Identity, and National Formation,” Studies in 20th Century Literature: Vol. 15: Iss. 1, Article 4. https://doi.org/10.4148/2334-4415.1263.
[14] Appiah, A. K. (1988). “Out of African: Topologies of Nativism”. The Yale Journal of Criticism. 2. 153-178.
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[19] Igwe, G. E. & Green M. M. (1967). Igbo Language Course. Nigeria: O. U. P.
[20] Fanon, F. (1970). Black Skins White Masks. Sidmouth, EX10 9QG, England: Chase Publishing Services Ltd.
[21] Achebe, C. (1988). Hopes and Impediment: Selected Essays. London: Heinemann.
[22] Iyasere, S. O. (1975). “Oral Tradition in the Criticism of African Literature.” The Journal of Modern African Studies. 13.1 107.
[23] Hymes, D. (1974). Foundations of Sociolinguistics: An ethnographic Approach. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
[24] Dadzie, A. B. K (2004). “Nigeria English: Influences and characteristics”. In A. B. K. Dalzie. & S. Awonusi (Eds). The concept of Nigeria English. Lagos: Concept publications Ltd.
[25] Saunders, G. (1988). Bilingual Children: From Birth to Teens. Multilingual Matters Ltd: Clevedon.
[26] Emenyonu, E. (1978). The Rise of the Igbo Novel. Nigeria: Oxford University Press.
[27] Ogbuehi, C. (2001). English as a second language in Nigeria: An introductory Text. Enugu: Magnet Computer Services.
[28] Aranoff, M. and Rees – Miller, J. (2003). The Handbook of Linguistics. Blackwell Publishers: Oxford.
[29] Skiba, R. (1997). Code switching as a Countenance of Language Interference. The Internet TESL Journal. Vol. 3 (10). See Wikipedia (2021). "Code-mixing" and "switching”. Available at: “http://wikipedia.org/w/functional-discourse-grammar.
[30] Ashcroft, B, Gareth G. and Helen Tiffin (1989). The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-colonial Literatures. London: Routledge.
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[32] Aloo, M. A (2005). Revisitng issues in English use and usage in Nigeria: Implications for the ESL classroom. Journal of the Nigeria English Studies Association. 11 (1), 144-146.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Bawa Kammampoal. (2022). The Social Use of Language: An Ethnography of Communication in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 10(1), 28-37. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.14

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    ACS Style

    Bawa Kammampoal. The Social Use of Language: An Ethnography of Communication in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2022, 10(1), 28-37. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.14

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    AMA Style

    Bawa Kammampoal. The Social Use of Language: An Ethnography of Communication in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God. Int J Lit Arts. 2022;10(1):28-37. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.14,
      author = {Bawa Kammampoal},
      title = {The Social Use of Language: An Ethnography of Communication in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God},
      journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
      volume = {10},
      number = {1},
      pages = {28-37},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221001.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20221001.14},
      abstract = {During colonization, the English language was not only the primary language of government and administration but it was also used in the education of colonized subjects. Consequently, English became a national language in the colonies and had since then complicated its own status as a significant medium of communication because of the colonized conflicting attitudes towards it. Since a writer brings his personality, experience and the totality of his personhood to bear on his work of art, postcolonial writers and critics felt that the use of English from its standard form as well as the cultural values it carried cannot give genuine artistic shape and form to their creative impulses. While some advocate for the return to writing in indigenous African languages others are of the opinion that the use of a foreign language is pointless. In this sense, Chinua Achebe’s quest for a postcolonial literary aesthetic is delineated in Arrow of God, where, with an unparalleled dexterity, he adapts the English language to suit the cultural norms, social interactions, ideas and ideals of his traditional Igbo society. The study was conducted by applying a postcolonial approach to literature which suggests that post-colonial writing seize the English language and replace it in a discourse fully adapted to the colonised place. The primary material used for arguments in this study is Arrow of God where data were purposely collected. Much more data informed by Igbo’s indigenous tradition and culture were abstracted from internet sources and many critical works. The result of the analysis shows that language and culture intertwine to subvert the colonial perspective on the colonized.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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    AB  - During colonization, the English language was not only the primary language of government and administration but it was also used in the education of colonized subjects. Consequently, English became a national language in the colonies and had since then complicated its own status as a significant medium of communication because of the colonized conflicting attitudes towards it. Since a writer brings his personality, experience and the totality of his personhood to bear on his work of art, postcolonial writers and critics felt that the use of English from its standard form as well as the cultural values it carried cannot give genuine artistic shape and form to their creative impulses. While some advocate for the return to writing in indigenous African languages others are of the opinion that the use of a foreign language is pointless. In this sense, Chinua Achebe’s quest for a postcolonial literary aesthetic is delineated in Arrow of God, where, with an unparalleled dexterity, he adapts the English language to suit the cultural norms, social interactions, ideas and ideals of his traditional Igbo society. The study was conducted by applying a postcolonial approach to literature which suggests that post-colonial writing seize the English language and replace it in a discourse fully adapted to the colonised place. The primary material used for arguments in this study is Arrow of God where data were purposely collected. Much more data informed by Igbo’s indigenous tradition and culture were abstracted from internet sources and many critical works. The result of the analysis shows that language and culture intertwine to subvert the colonial perspective on the colonized.
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Author Information
  • Laboratory of Literature, Language and Sustainable Development (LaLD), Faculty of Letters and the Humanities, University of Kara, Kara, Togo

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