The Interpretation System of African Languages in the Senegalese Parliament Debates (Published)
The present work deals with the interpretation system of local languages in the Senegalese parliament. In other words, it is devoted to the implementation of the simultaneous interpretation system in the Senegalese Parliament debates. The Senegalese parliament, in cooperation with the European Parliament and the European Union, implemented, some years ago, a system of interpretation devoted to translating (into) six local languages. But what does the interpretation system consist in? What motivates the choice of six local languages and not more or less than six? Why does the Senegalese parliament implement such system in a country whose official language is French? What are the linguistic consequences of this interpretation system on the local and foreign languages spoken in the Senegalese parliament? How is the recruitment of interpreters done? To answer these questions, we have explored the documents and writings related to the implementation of the simultaneous interpretation system in the Senegalese parliament, in particular, and of the interpretation system, in general. Field surveys as well as interviews of some deputies, some interpreters and other people from the administration have also been organized and analyzed in this study. This research has helped us have a lot of information and collect data for the corpus. After the data collection, we have moved on to data analysis and we have ended up with results that we have presented in the body of the text.
Keywords: Implementation, Interpretation, Language, System, local
African Linguo-Cultural Aesthetics in Barclays Ayakoroma’s A Matter of Honour (Published)
Language and culture are not only inherently intertwined, but are also veritable elements for literary imagination and production which constructs and documents distinctive patterns of human existence. Hence modern African literature is essentially characterized by aspects of the African existential reality, as subtly or overtly encapsulated in the fabrics of oral tradition. With insights provided by the socio-semiotic theory espoused by Ferdinand De Saussure (1986) and expanded by Hodge and Kress (1988), Thibault (1991) and Kress and Van Leeuwen (2001), as the analytical template, this study, therefore , examines the deployment and appropriation of indigenous devices, such as native rhetorical patterns, proverbs, native similes, traditional belief system and transliteration, for the expression of cultural meaning in Barclays Ayakoroma’s A Matter of Honour, as an exemplification of how African authors deploy African linguo-cultural elements and aesthetics to capture the African existential reality, sensibility and essence in their works written in an imperial language. The study not only adumbrates the interface between language, culture and literature and the concept of literature as an evocation or microcosm of society, but also further enhances and enriches extant knowledge and perspectives on the African world-view, mores and values.
Keywords: African literature, Barclays Ayakoroma, Culture, Language, socio-semiotic
Paradigm Shifts in the Yoruba Anthroponyms: A Critical Discourse Analysis on Yoruba Reincanated-Child`s Names (Published)
The main thrust of the paper is the illumination of the interactions between the language use and the Yoruba cultural anthropology as attested to by a set of Yoruba names known as the àbíkú (reincarnated child`s) names. The names are considered as registers because they aptly identify discourse that occurs in particular recurrent situations within the contexts of the people’s social experience and beliefs. The factors that make the usage of these names to become atrophied are identified to illustrate the paradigm shifts in the people`s cultural anthropology. In doing this, the sociolinguistic values of Yoruba names are expatiated and categorized to elicit the contemporary perception of the names. The study found that àbíkú names stand out linguo-culturally in Yoruba onomastics and are significantly complex to be merely positioned within either the purview of core linguistics or socio-religious perspectives alone as their expositions also include anthropological identities and situational parameters of variation. Among other things, this verbal text provides unique opportunities for the people to externalize social- psychology to capture the name giver`s emotions and in the process, aptly casts identifiable marks on the bearer, thus stratifying the society in a way. Conclusively it is contended that this brand of name-words represent the signposts which encode the social perceptions on certain individuals and episodes of enduring identities in the past which have now been regrettably eroded and debased by critical waves of the so-called modernity.
Keywords: Africa Language, Child Name, Language, Linguistic, Yoruba
African Linguo-Cultural Aesthetics in Barclays Ayakoroma’s A Matter of Honour (Published)
Language and culture are not only inherently intertwined, but are also veritable elements for literary imagination and production which constructs and documents distinctive patterns of human existence. Hence modern African literature is essentially characterized by aspects of the African existential reality, as subtly or overtly encapsulated in the fabrics of oral tradition. With insights provided by the socio-semiotic theory espoused by Ferdinand De Saussure (1986) and expanded by Hodge and Kress (1988), Thibault (1991) and Kress and Van Leeuwen (2001), as the analytical template, this study, therefore , examines the deployment and appropriation of indigenous devices, such as native rhetorical patterns, proverbs, native similes, traditional belief system and transliteration, for the expression of cultural meaning in Barclays Ayakoroma’s A Matter of Honour, as an exemplification of how African authors deploy African linguo-cultural elements and aesthetics to capture the African existential reality, sensibility and essence in their works written in an imperial language. The study not only adumbrates the interface between language, culture and literature and the concept of literature as an evocation or microcosm of society, but also further enhances and enriches extant knowledge and perspectives on the African world-view, mores and values.
Keywords: African literature, Barclays Ayakoroma, Culture, Language, socio-semiotic