English Language and the Igbo Worldview Essays

English Language and the Igbo Worldview Essays English Language and the Igbo Worldview Paper English Language and the Igbo Worldview Paper Essay Topic: Brave New World English language and the Gobo worldview. Chapter four entitled The Language Repertoire of Newlywed Movies by Emmanuel Daddy Deaden posits that the Gobo language, among the three major languages In Nigeria, has been less preserved especially In the production of Newlywed movies. It argues that Gobo films In English language are an expression of a commercial mentally, etc. However, using Austin Zoom Anagrams Mamba Heritage and China Achebes Bilingual Aesthetics (chapter 9) and Nora Benedict Newness From Repression to Displacement: A Psychoanalytic Re-Examination of the Hero in Things Fall Apart (chapter 11). I shall attempt to re-examine the Gobo worldview in relation to the use of English as captured in literary works of Achebe. A Review of Chapter Four: The Language Repertoire of Newlywed Movies by Emmanuel Daddy Deaden This powerful piece dovetails the movie industry of Nigeria, fondly known as Newlywed beginning from Its evolutionary trend; Its earliest Influences (local and International); Its mode of production and then the languages that are deployed In the scripting of the movies. In this essay Deaden argues that Newlyweds development began from the Traveling Theatre of the sass. The theatre, which operated chiefly by traveling from one location to the other presenting drama and dance, were mainly of Your stock and that the materials of this group and the importation of empty video cassettes provided the needed platform for Gobo businessmen to produce and market films. In other words, while the Your provided the content, the Gobo produced and distributed them as films. However, this chain of shared activities in its earliest form, according to Deaden, did not terminate at the content and production/distribution specializations of the two peoples of Nigeria, but that the Gobo, who had realized enough profits from the sales of Your contents, went a step further to produce their own films. Hence, Kenneth Nevuss Living In Bondage of 1 992 became not only a testament of the first Gobo film In Nigeria, but also steered the wheel for more Gobo film productions In Nigeria. Deaden reiterates that the production of Living In Bondage was a catalytic factor that reckoning as the second largest producer of films globally statuettes by the United Nations 6th May 2009 press release. Deaden argues that Hollywood, which presently horns fewer movies than its Nigerian counterpart had influenced the culture and technical dynamism of Newlywed movies. Another influence that was elaborated in this essay is the language influence. Deaden is of the opinion that English language dominates the movie production in Nigeria and that the trend should be reversed. Using the statistical findings of the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board on languages used in movie production within 2007/2008 as data for analysis, he arrives at the conclusion that among the three major languages in Nigerian, Gobo suffers greatly from this western linguistic influence. According to this finding, Gobo was not used in movie production between 2007 and 2008. While films are produced in Hausa and Your languages, the language chosen by [Gobo] movie producers to express their worldview and showcase their culture was (sic) English (58). T is his belief that economic and social reasons should not override the crucial task of promoting indigenous languages. Deaden advises: Speakers of these languages should summon courage to propagate their culture and preserve their languages by producing films in their respective languages(61). Deaden also proffers the use of beetles as the means to bridge the gap between indigenous languages usage and the audience who are non-speaker s. The objective of this essay is very provocative. Its findings are capable of inflaming an Gobo film maker into creating more Gobo films. This is the stuff of scholarship. I personally appreciate this work for its focus. We have also started seeing memories produced in Gobo language since 2010, courtesy, perhaps to seminal projects like this. For instance, Alum Swam Koki, Scumbag the warrior, Aka Niche, NNW Basilisk, Karri, Coke Choice, Owe As gig, None Oz are a ewe examples of recent movies which are predominantly Gobo. There is, in fact, sufficient zealotry in the arena of Gobo film production that right now there is an intensifying talk about Softwood. While the idea of Softwood stands to reason, it is important to state that the import of works like Addends would not have had far- reaching impact in a multilingual speech community like Nigeria without a common language. English language plays that role. Outstation, however infinitesimal, should first be observed before the outright damnation of English language or its users. Like Deaden stated: Every writer or filmmaker wants to break the barrier of being restricted to his linguistic group and wants to reach a larger audience in order to promote his message . Until another language replaces it in importance, English language has a much weightier stake in the corporate existence of the Nigerian state as much as the indigenous languages, if not more. Its elevation as a national language presupposes an even broader functionality. Therefore a writer or film maker, whose is sensitive to the national ideals will be quick to embrace and promote an identified national culture and language . Here is where a patriotic stance is applied. In spite of the statistical findings, Deaden agrees that Gobo film makers do not only produce films in English, but also inject Gobo essence and worldview in them. Miss, films from Gobo socio-cultural milieu are produced in English but the films are replete with Gobo expressions. The opposite is applicable to Your movies (59), Deaden stated. It is for this method of language use that words like ago, gigs, 1010, whose works have been impact to the development of Nigerian English is Achebe. A Review of Chapter Nine: Mamba Heritage and China Achebes Bilingually Aesthetics by Austin Zoom Niagara. It is important to begin the examination of this beautiful piece by stating that the driving force behind the Gobo use of English in creative activities like film production and literary works shouldnt only be traced to pecuniary motivations, but also to a unifying linguistic impulse of their worldview. This claim is deduced from the connections established by Niagara between Mamba heritage and China Achebes bilingual aesthetics. Niagara believes that Mamba was influential to the kind of artistic originality and linguistic cohesion identified with China Achebe. Some of the elements of Achebes literary aesthetics can be said to have evolved from the artistic orchestration of the fundamental elements of Mamba as a metaphor through the creative Juxtaposition of the oratorical strategies of his Gobo cultural heritage and the tenets of the western education (125), he stated. Mamba is a religious, cultural and artistic celebration of the Rewire area of Gobo people of Eastern Nigeria. It was instrumental in evoking the grandeur of inclusiveness and artistic simplicity among its participants. These linguistic entailments, according to Niagara,made it possible for Achebe to cross cultural frontiers without giving away his own cultural and linguistic essence. This piece outlines aspects of Mamba philosophy which are manifest in Achebes works such as Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God and Anthills of the Savannah. The rendering of proverbs, idioms and native Gobo discourses in English in the works of Achebe have been identified as being nothing short of innovative and ingenious. His introduction of non-English linguistic items such as Gobo words, phraseology and terms has been viewed as a way of extending his cultural and imaginative worldview. It is important to state that the success of the literary and linguistic approach of China Achebe helped evolve a Nigerian linguistic and literary development. This developmental process which became known as domestication was a means of making English language less foreign, more viable and answerable to cultural adoption of Nigerian users. Quoting Ashcroft, Griffith and Tiffin, 1995 and Achebe, 1975, Niagara establishes that the linguistic mission of Achebe was not a way of using a foreign language to spread his message or of making fame or fortune from it, rather Achebe set out to discover a new engage, a hybrid consisting of imperial and indigenous languages. His art displays a process by which the language is made to bear the weight and texture of a different experience. In doing so it becomes another language (130). Consequently, through Achebes achievement it is possible to see a light in the development of a new language out of the imperial construct. It is possible to have an English that will not be foreign to the average Nigerian reader. It is possible to use the linguistic engagements of Achebe to develop an English repertoire that is sustained by the indigenous pragmatic and semiotic systems. Niagara identifies three different attitudes attached to the imperial language by writers. Quoting Azalea 1995, they are the rejections, neo-metropolitan and the evolutionists/experimenters. The rejections chose to write in their native language, the neo-metropolitan adopted, without modification, the imperial language, while the experimenter accepted the language only to transform it to suit indigenous use. Achebes contribution in experimentalist. This was made possible due to an Gobo linguistic worldview that is lively, expressive and utilitarian. A Review of Chapter Eleven: From Repression to Displacement: A Psychoanalytic Re-Examination of the Hero in China Achebes Things Fall Apart by Nora Benedict Neck This paper examines the concept of heroism in the Gobo worldview in China Achebes Things Fall Apart. It establishes a distinction between who a hero is in the western context and how the Gobo define heroism. It has been established that China Achebe wrote from a closed cosmological attachment with his root. In this essay, Newness focus is on the character of Awoken. He maintains that Achebes protagonist in Things Fall Apart, Awoken, may have passed a western notion of heroism, but failed to impress the rotational Gobo society and thus also failed to become their hero. Neck Justifies the character traits of Awoken in the eyes of the western tradition to include his nobility, an attribute Awoken attains by hard work and the zoo title; his problem with his father; his violation of cultural code, his exiled, his falling out of favor, his loneliness and his return from exile. All of these experiences are manifest in the character of Awoken. Neck, however, posits why Awoken is not a hero of Muffin in Things Fall Apart. In this analysis, Neck argues that Achebes Muffle is a literary legislations a typical Gobo society which priorities social harmony over physical or financial accomplishments. According to him, heroism and leadership qualities can be screwed in the same hole in Muffin. This entails that a leader-hero should be responsible for the maintenance of the political and social values and structure of his community. However, Neck argues that Awoken does not seem to understand the dynamics of this social structure and therefore seems to work alone towards a direction he wrongly thinks his people are headed (153) One of the failings in Ginkgos character is linguistic. Awoken lacks the power to use language as colorful as many other respected characters in the novel. Neck says, He fails to realize the dual nature of the linguistic structure of a people that places premium on language (156). Awoken lives in a society which sees oratory as a needed quality of a leader. Among the Bib the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten (154). His inability to communicate results in some of the rash actions he takes including the assaults on the opposite sex. Neck links oratory with intelligence and wisdom. In his conclusion, Neck avers that Awoken is a failed hero of Muffin. His failure which is directly linked to the subconscious repressions and displacement of childhood was manifest by his poor linguistic skill. To make this significant, Neck identifies characters like Kooky, Gouge, Beriberi whose oratorical skills inspire and command respect for them in Muffin. Inadvertently, Neck sought to reveal the Gobo social milieu and its linguistic manifestations. He showed that language is a serious matter in the Gobo land. He used Achebes protagonist to exemplify the end result of a character who believed bravery can be priced above oratory. Conclusion For over fifty years or so those who have denigrated English language do not only do so in English language, but have also shown Just how central the language is to a country like Nigeria. Does this suggest that we should, for this reason, abandon the local languages of our births? Of course, not! Nevertheless, if English was our definite answers to these questions. However, the aim of this review was to evaluate the various discussions of three chapters selected. And in doing so, we have been able to highlight some of the germane arguments that preoccupy the writers of these essays. We have seen how in his work Deaden brought the germane issue of language use in the Newlywed movies to the fore by arguing the use of Nigerian languages in the production of movies as a strategy to cushion the dominance of English language and promote indigenous language usage. We have also seen how Anagrams seminal essay revealed the background to Achebes artistic prowess and how Achebe was able to handle the issue of English language dominance and the desire to make the Gobo language relevant at the same time in his work. And in Newness chapter eleven we have learnt the linguistic importance of a hero in the Gobo oral view and its implications. It has been an interesting review and a voyage of discovery. And in ending this paper, I hope to be allowed to suggest that the cravings to inject our indigenous languages back to the system would not be met by deposing English language, but by working out a system of equal existence, what the Gobo adage calls the principle befogged beer go e beer.