Intercultural Communications [1 ed.] 9781616680695, 9781604560954

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Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Intercultural Communications, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Intercultural Communications, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS

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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS

SAMUEL GYASI OBENG AND

BEVERLY A. S. HARTFORD EDITORS

Nova Science Publishers, Inc. New York

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Copyright © 2008 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the Publisher. For permission to use material from this book please contact us: Telephone 631-231-7269; Fax 631-231-8175 Web Site: http://www.novapublishers.com NOTICE TO THE READER The Publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this book, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained in this book. The Publisher shall not be liable for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting, in whole or in part, from the readers’ use of, or reliance upon, this material. Any parts of this book based on government reports are so indicated and copyright is claimed for those parts to the extent applicable to compilations of such works.

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Independent verification should be sought for any data, advice or recommendations contained in this book. In addition, no responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from any methods, products, instructions, ideas or otherwise contained in this publication. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered herein. It is sold with the clear understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or any other professional services. If legal or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent person should be sought. FROM A DECLARATION OF PARTICIPANTS JOINTLY ADOPTED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND A COMMITTEE OF PUBLISHERS. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Available Upon Request ISBN: 978-1-61668-069-5 (E-Book)

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CONTENTS Preface

vii

Introduction to the First Issue

ix

Instructions for Contributors

xi

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Talking About HIV/AIDS: Metaphors That Shape Our Perception of the Crisis in Tanzania Valerie Foster and Deo Ngonyani Reading Ngugi’s Colonial and Post-Colonial Representations Through the Gikuyu-Mumbi Creation Myth Devi Sarinjeive

1

27

Terms of Address in Ewe: A Socio-Pragmatic Investigation Paul K. Agbedor

43

Address Forms Among Akan Families (Couples) Living in the United States: A Quantitative Study Cecilia Sem Obeng

61

Language in Traditional Yoruba Social Interaction: Indirectness in Ola Rótìmí’s the Gods are Not to Blame Ayo Opefeyitimi

81

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Chapter 6

Discursive Strategies at the Palace of the Yaa Naa (A Northern Ghanaian King) Abdulai Salifu

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Index

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PREFACE

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Intercultural communications encompases social or human sciences (including political science, psychology, sociology, discourse analysis, linguistics, literary and cultural studies, education, etc.) which deal with discourse within and across different cultures. This new and significant book presents important analyses from around the globe.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST ISSUE Welcome to the inaugural number of Issues in Intercultural Communication, a journal dedicated to the exploration of communication within and between different cultures. The development of interest in intercultural communication has grown out of, among other things, the development of the fields of pragmatics, sociolinguistics, interactional sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, and (critical) discourse analysis over the last two to three decades. The objective of this journal is to provide a venue for the discussion of how cross-cultural interactions are enacted in various social domains, how such interactions both constitute and reflect the cultures from which they emerge, and how the participants engaged in interaction across different cultures position themselves or find themselves positioned through their discursive action(s). We encourage submissions by authors in a range of fields—human or social sciences and the humanities. Indeed, any papers that focus on communication within and across cultures may fall within the purview of Issues in Intercultural Communication. It is our particular aim to encourage studies of communication within contexts outside the United States and Western Europe. Although our primary concerns in creating this journal was to offer a venue for scholars and students from underrepresented areas (non-Western cultural and interactional domains) to help fill in gaps in the often inadequate knowledge of many areas of our studies, more mainstream Western contexts are welcome as well, and we hope that scholars from all areas of the world will find a welcome home in this journal. The papers in this first issue (of volume one) range from metaphors that shape interactional participants’ perception of the HIV and AIDS crisis in Tanzania (East Africa) to discussions of the cultural underpinnings of the literary works of Ola Rótìmí (Nigeria) and Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Kenya) - two of Africa’s celebrated writers. Two studies use ethnographic methodology to explore language in social

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interaction in Akan (Ghana and The Ivory Coast) and Dagomba (Ghana). Salifu examines discursive strategies at the palace of a Northern Ghanaian King (Yaa Naa), while Obeng and Agbedor each explore how interpersonal relationships, age, social status, education, and kinship influence choices made by speakers when they address other interlocutors in Akan (Ghana and The Ivory Coast) and Ewe (Ghana and the Republic of Togo). We hope to continue to sponsor a wide range of interests and frameworks in future volumes. The field of Intercultural Communication is a barely tapped resource that promises rich rewards, and we are proud to be able to take part in its development as a field of study.

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTRIBUTORS Issues in Intercultural Communication is a multidisciplinary journal focusing on the analysis of communication within and between cultures. We welcome papers written within the frameworks of the various social or human sciences (including political science, psychology, sociology, discourse analysis, linguistics, literary and cultural studies, education, etc.) insofar as they deal with discourse within and across different cultures. The focus of the journal will be on empirical studies, although theoretical expositions may also be accepted where appropriate. Manuscripts: Manuscripts considered for publication will be sent out for peer review, which will focus on relevance to the field, appropriate use of method and data, innovative use of framework and experimental design, and contribution to the general knowledge base of the field. Manuscripts will be considered for publication with the understanding that they have been submitted only to Issues in Intercultural Communication and that all pertinent sources of funding and information have been credited appropriately. Issues in Intercultural Communication will not consider articles that are currently submitted for review or have been published elsewhere. All manuscripts must be typewritten or word-processed, double-spaced throughout (including abstracts, reference lists, endnotes, and material in tables). Submissions should include three printed copies (two of which should have author-relevant data removed). These copies cannot be returned to the author because they are used in the review process. Issues in Intercultural Communication follows the style of the Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition) and manuscripts must conform to this style in order to be considered for inclusion. Manuscripts should be in a common 12 point font (e.g. Times or Time New Roman). Title pages should include for each author his or her preferred academic or professional affiliation. If the paper was

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presented at a meeting, the acknowledgment note should give the title of the meeting, the name of the sponsoring organization, the exact date(s) of the presentation, and the city in which the meeting was held. All manuscripts should be accompanied by an abstract of 100-120 words and 6-10 keywords.

Please direct any correspondence related to the journal to: Beverly A. S. Hartford General Editor Dept. of TESOL & Applied Linguistics Memorial Hall 313 1021 East Third Street Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47505-7005 U.S.A. Tel: (812) 855-2680 Fax: (812) 855-5605 E-mail: [email protected]

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Samuel G. Obeng General Editor Department of Linguistics Memorial Hall 326 1021 East Third Street Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47505-7005 U.S.A. Tel: (812) 855-8199 Fax: (812) 855-5363 E-mail: [email protected]

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Chapter 1

TALKING ABOUT HIV/AIDS: METAPHORS THAT SHAPE OUR PERCEPTION OF THE CRISIS IN TANZANIA1 Valerie Foster Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University

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Deo Ngonyani Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages, Michigan State University

INTRODUCTION HIV/AIDS is one of the most stigmatized health problems today. HIV or AIDS is considered a disease that results from immoral behavior. A person gets this disease, it is generally assumed, as a result of promiscuity and unsafe sex. As a consequence, people who test HIV positive or are suspected of being HIV positive are discriminated against, denied medication, and are blamed for the pandemic (see AVERT, 2003; Brown, Macintyre, & Trujillo, 2003; Helman, 2001; Parker & Aggleton, 2003).

1

This is a revised version of a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, November 2003, and at Western Illinois University, December 2, 2003. Many thanks to the participants for their insightful comments. We thank anonymous reviewers for helping us sharpen our focus on some of the points.

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Majira, a Kiswahili newspaper in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, carried the story on December 1, 2002 of one Veronika who was said to be HIV positive. At one time she had to walk 70 km to seek medical care in another town because nurses in her town would not treat her. She was ostracized by her relatives, neighbors, and even her church. She had to go somewhere she was not known to get the care she needed. Such lack of compassion is counterproductive in the fight against HIV and AIDS (see Farmer & Kleinmann, 1998). Unfortunately, this is not confined to Veronika’s remote community in Tanzania. We notice even now, as activists implore wealthy nations to support African nations in combating HIV/AIDS, funds are promised with such conditions as focusing on “proven methods,” abstinence, for example. In light of such stigma, there are widespread pleas for compassion and for dispensing with this stigma. Unfortunately, the stigma is often implicit in much of the public discourse on HIV/AIDS (Mutembei, Emmelin, Lugalla, & Dahlgren, 2002; Stillwaggon, 2003). In this paper, we study views embedded in metaphors and images used in describing or communicating about HIV/AIDS in Kiswahili newspapers from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Metaphors do not only reflect views about the phenomena, but also exert tremendous influence on cognition, perception, illness experience, and suffering (Farmer & Kleinmann, 1998; Wilce, 2003; Wilce & Price, 2003). We argue that many of the seemingly innocent metaphors are rooted in prejudices and reinforce stigma. We seek to expose some of the images. In exposing such prejudices, we hope to resist the stigma, disrupt prejudice, and challenge widespread assumptions, and we call for a re-examination of our views and knowledge about HIV/AIDS. The data is collected from various Kiswahili newspapers, especially Mwananchi, Mtanzania, Majira, Rai, Hamu, and Tanua.2 We show that the dominant theme in the metaphors is that HIV and AIDS is an epidemic resulting from the decline in morality, where morality is defined in terms of sexuality. We see images of people suspected of being HIV positive, whereupon morality judgments are passed. The Kiswahili metaphors reflect the perception of the world on the pandemic, especially given the idea that 90% of transmissions in Africa are said to be through heterosexual means (UNAIDS, 2003; World Bank, 2000). The argument is presented in the next five sections. In Section 2, we outline the cognitive approach to metaphor and argue that an examination of the metaphors is not a trivial academic exercise since metaphors frame perception and cognition of the pandemic. The actual metaphors found in the papers are 2

Mwananchi, Mtanzania, Majira and Rai are daily newspapers while Hamu and Tanua are weekly popular magazines. All are published in Dar es Salaam.

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discussed in Section 3, where we cite some examples and explain their meanings. After discussing the metaphors, we discuss the implications in Section 4. We argue that stereotypes and prejudice are very pervasive in the metaphors and often limit understanding about HIV and AIDS. The pervasiveness of prejudices calls for a careful examination of their origins. We attempt to locate some of the sources in Section 5. In Section 6, we raise some questions about African sexuality as the main culprit in the spread of HIV and point out that ignoring other “co-factors” (Root-Bernstein, 1992, 1997), such as malnutrition, and other illnesses commonly associated with HIV and AIDS, impedes progress in combating the pandemic. We draw some conclusions in Section 7.

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COGNITIVE APPROACH TO METAPHOR Our study of metaphors is informed by the cognitive approach to metaphor. We outline this approach and argue that metaphors provide frames for cognition, thus exerting tremendous influence in the way we view and experience phenomena. Since framing is an important concept in this study, we briefly discuss it in the context of decision-making. In their pioneering work on cognitive study of metaphor, Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p. 5) point out that, “The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.”3 The conceptual structure of metaphor consists of two aspects also known as domains: (a) an aspect of experience being discussed or talked about; (b) a phenomenon whose terms are used to express the target experience. The former, often abstract and complex, is called the target domain, and the latter, more concrete and familiar, is known as the source domain. The concepts and entities in the more familiar domains have correspondences with concepts and entities in the target domain. Understanding a metaphor, therefore, entails, among other things, mapping from the source domain to the target domain. The use of any item in the source domain conjures images of the other terms that represent items in the target domain in an analogous manner. Proper interpretation is accomplished by recognizing or mapping the corresponding expressions.

3

Turner and Fauconnier (1995) propose a multi-space model and argue that the two-domain model is part of the many-space model. We find the two-domain model insightful enough to support our arguments.

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In everyday English, for example, such mapping is demonstrated in expressions such as: We had reached crossroads in our life; My brother was on the fast track; We told him to slow down; With a baby on the way, his wife needed more attention; and then grandpa passed on; and my brother realized he was going nowhere in life. The underlined expressions use terms that refer to the domain of travel and journey. But in context, they are appropriately understood as referring to various aspects of life, where life is conceptualized as travel through time. The mapping is shown in the following diagram. SOURCE

TARGET

JOURNEY Travelers Arrival Departure Going

LIFE People Birth Death Living

The root metaphor for this set of expressions is LIFE IS A JOURNEY. The terms in the source domain literally refer to physical travel or journey, and their proper interpretation as referring to life is mediated through metaphor interpretation. The source domain often provides the terms that embody a more familiar and common-sense view of the world, which are then mapped onto the more abstract, less common-sense concepts. Thus, we speak of death as departure because we conceptualize life as a journey. Likewise, we speak of birth as arrival, and people as travelers. Lakoff and his associates have noted that much empirical evidence shows that metaphors are not restricted to poetic discourse; they are instrumental in organizing much of our everyday thinking (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). They are a powerful tool in communicating diverse phenomena since they provide a framework for cognition and perception. For this reason, we use the study of metaphors as a window into the perception of AIDS and thus go beyond public pronouncements and delve deeper into the meanings that are constructed about the pandemic. Metaphors do not only reflect perception, but also frames or backgrounds for understanding discourse on HIV/AIDS.

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There is mounting evidence now showing that metaphors influence the decision- making process and choices made to solve problems, because they provide a frame, a conceptual structure for thinking. They become the prism or lens through which people view events or information, shaping their perception and interpretation. Such reference points may facilitate understanding or may place limits on the comprehension of phenomena. Metaphors provide conceptual frames for cognition of what they describe. In Fillmore’s (1982) frame semantics, lexical items are related in systems of domains. Understanding one item requires familiarity and comprehension of other words in the system. Words in the system provide a background of knowledge that determines how a particular word is understood and used. Moreover, the introduction of a word in a system results in making other items that are related to it available. Thus, when the structure of one domain is adopted to target another, other items in the structural component are also imported (Lakoff, 1993). Experimental studies conducted by Tversky and Kahneman (1981) reveal the power of frames in influencing problem-solving tasks. The experiments consisted of dilemma situation in which the subjects had to make a choice about the course of action to solve the problem. The situation consisted of an outbreak that had the potential of killing 600 people. Subjects were presented with two alternative programs. In one program, 400 people would certainly die, while the other program stated that 600 people would die with a probability of .67. The second program was strongly favored although the probability in the two programs is the same. This shows the framing of the situation strongly influences the thinking and decision-making process. Likewise, the way in which HIV and AIDS are described and framed greatly influences how the pandemic and those who are afflicted are viewed. If it is framed as a product of immorality, then people who consider themselves moral are likely to condemn the victims and exhibit apathy towards the afflicted. Such frames are created by metaphors we use to describe or represent phenomena. In a series of experiments, Robins and Mayer (2000) discovered just how strongly metaphors frame thinking. In one experiment, for example, they tested two groups of college students, whom they asked about their opinions regarding trade tariffs. In one group, the students read a vignette where the metaphor was TRADE IS WAR. Consistent with this metaphor, tariffs were described as defense shields. The root metaphor in the second group was TRADE IS A TWO-WAY STREET. Consistent with this metaphor, the tariffs were described as obstacles that impede traffic. The participants who read the TRADE IS WAR metaphor preferred tariffs more than those who read the TRADE IS A TWO-WAY STREET metaphor. The metaphor in the vignettes effectively framed how the trade

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tariffs should be viewed. This goes to show that our thinking process is often significantly influenced by the metaphors we use or the metaphors used by others. In the light of such power of metaphor, it is important to emphasize that the metaphors and the frames they create are not trivial. If HIV/AIDS is framed as an epidemic ravaging Africa because Africans are too promiscuous, then it is their fault and could be avoided if only they could control their sexual cravings. The focus within such a frame is on apportioning blame rather than recognizing the many aspects of the crisis and trying to understand and solve the problem. Influenced by such metaphor, some people become hostile to any solutions that are not consistent with this frame of thinking, because the frame provides a tunnel view of the problem. If it is recognized as a crisis which has many contributing factors, then a tunnel view of the crisis could be dispensed with; we might have more compassion for people affected, and more attention will be paid to other serious health crises such as malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and malnutrition, now recognized by health practitioners and researchers as co-factors (Root-Bernstein, 1992, 1993; Root-Bernstein & Merrill, 1997; Foster, 2003a). In examining the metaphors, we engage in a critical examination of commonly held views on HIV and AIDS, views that pervade public discourse even when they are not consistent with public pronouncements about compassion.

METAPHORS OF AIDS The public discourse on HIV and AIDS in the Kiswahili papers reveals the following prevalent metaphors: (a) HIV/AIDS is an enemy, (b) HIV/AIDS is an accident, (c) HIV/AIDS is a catastrophe, (d) HIV/AIDS is a monster, (e) HIV/AIDS is a disease of development, (f) HIV/AIDS is silence, and (g) HIV/AIDS is a bug. In this section, we discuss these and several other images.

HIV/AIDS is an Enemy One global metaphor describes HIV/AIDS as a formidable enemy in a raging war humans are fighting. Common expressions of war are found in the following examples:

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(1) ‘Ukweli utasaidia mapambano dhidi ya UKIMWI’4 (Majira Desemba 01, 02 p.6) The truth will help in the fight against AIDS. (2) ‘Katika kuadhimisha siku hii, tunapenda kuwakumbusha watu wote kumpiga vita ya kufa na kupona adui huyu mbaya HIV/AIDS ili kulinda uhai, maisha na heshima tuliyopewa na Mwenyezi Mungu.’ (Mtanzania Desemba 1, 2002 p.16; Public service announcement sponsored by Blankets and Textile manufacturers (1988) Ltd) In observing this day [AIDS day], we would like to remind all people to engage in this life and death war against this evil enemy HIV/AIDS so as to defend life and honor that is given to us by the Almighty God. Words such as mapambano (‘fight’), vita (‘war’), adui (‘enemy’), kulinda (‘to guard or defend’), kufa na kupona (‘death or life’) reinforce the notion that we are involved in a war against the disease. They call for utmost efforts to be invested in dealing with this pandemic. Framing HIV/AIDS as an enemy in a war calls for mobilization of resources and manpower to engage the enemy. However, often the resources are moral as detected in such words as ukweli (‘truth’) and kulinda heshima (‘to safeguard honor’). What is more revealing in this is that it invokes God's name in the war in heshima tuliyopewa na Mwenyezi Mungu (‘the honor that was bestowed upon us by the Almighty God’). This makes it a religious war. The implication is that people get sick because they succumb to sin. The war against AIDS is framed as war against evil. This can easily be understood in the context of the claim that 99% of the HIV infections in Africa are transmitted through unsafe sex (WHO, 2002, p. 62).

HIV/AIDS is an Accident Ajali (‘accident’) has become a very common metaphor in Tanzania. A reader complains about this term in a tabloid:

4

UKIMWI is the Kiswahili acronym for Upungufu (‘deficiency’) wa KInga (‘of immunity’) MWIlini (‘in the body’). It is the accepted translation of HIV/AIDS. Public discourse on HIV/AIDS in Tanzania often does not distinguish between HIV and AIDS. It is similar to expressions like the ‘AIDS virus.’

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(3) ‘Utakuta siku za karibuni kumezuka na watu wachache sana waliojawa na ujinga ambao wanadai kwamba ukimwi eti ni kama ajali zingine!!!’ (Hamu Juni 5-11, 2001 #15 uk.15) These days you find there has emerged a few people who are filled with ignorance, they claim that AIDS is just like any other accident!!! The reader is referring to one way of referring to AIDS as ajali kazini (‘accident at work’ = ‘occupational accident’). That is, one gets infected with HIV in the course of one’s efforts to earn a living. This is analogous to satisfying ones biological need. People who take this fatalist view are indeed recklessly and irresponsibly endangering the lives of others by citing an old saying that says Ajali haina kinga (‘an accident cannot be prevented’). In short, it is God's will (see Setel, 1999). One form of accidents in the source domain is accidental electrocution. The idea is that there are live wires lying around, and if you are not careful, you could step on them (kukanyaga miwaya = ‘step on wires’) and get electrocuted—only, in this case, slowly. In the comic that sums up this sentiment, we notice some of the major problems in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The character that narrates the story says that he is losing weight or wasting, a classic symptom of AIDS, and wherever he goes people turn their heads in a mixture of pity or contempt because they assume he is wasting on account of AIDS; he recklessly stepped on miwaya (‘wires’). That is, after unsafe, promiscuous, and reckless sexual behavior, he has contracted HIV and now has AIDS. The man has lost weight, not that he has been tested HIV positive with the results known to everyone.

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(4) The man on the right says: ‘Du miwaya hiyo.…. Si ulijifanya mjuba utakoma’ (Tanua #03 p.26) Gosh that is live wire …. You thought you knew everything, (?) you got what you deserve. The man who says miwaya assumes the wasting man is HIV positive and concludes that he must have had a history of promiscuity. Perception about a person’s health is crucial because it involves determination of their morality and an estimation about chances of the person's survival and whether they deserve medication or care. This is often done without any verification of the HIV status of the person. It should be borne in mind that there are several other health conditions common in the tropics that do cause wasting. One such condition is malaria.

HIV/AIDS is a Catastrophe

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All media have been very active in educating and warning the public on HIV and AIDS. Much of public discourse on HIV/AIDS characterizes the pandemic as a frightening catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions. On AIDS day 2002, the editorial of Mtanzania wrote: (5) ‘Baa kubwa linaloikabili dunia kwa sasa ni magonjwa ya ukimwi na malaria.’ (Mtanzania Editorial – 12/1/02) The major disaster that is facing the world now is HIV/AIDS and malaria. Notice here the description of the catastrophe includes malaria. It is very rare to find discourse on AIDS include malaria and other tropical diseases that are endemic in Tanzania. By emphasizing the dangers of the catastrophe, an editorial implores people to change behavior. (6) ‘Hakuna haja ya kuwa na hofu, lakini ipo haja ya kuelewa kwamba janga hilo tunalo, na limekuwa sehemu ya jamii.’ (Rai – Desemba 19-25, 2002. p.22) There is no need to panic, but there is need to understand that we have this catastrophe and it is in our midst.

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Valerie Foster and Deo Ngonyani Even entertainment magazines and papers warn readers about the pandemic. (7) ‘Ukimwi sasa ni janga kubwa tena janga la kitaifa hivyo kila mmoja pale alipo apige vita gonjwa hili …’ (Hamu Julai 16-22, 2001 #20 uk.15) AIDS now is a major catastrophe and a national tragedy, which everyone must fight.

Even the word gonjwa (‘disease’) has taken the augmentative form of the basic form ugonjwa (‘disease’). The deletion of the noun class marker u- has the effect of making the noun appear huge and ominous. This metaphor carries a sense of an impending doom, exhorting everyone to become aware and fight by changing behavior. Most discourse does not mention the fact that many other treatable diseases continue to ravage the population in Tanzania. A tunnel view has been created where the only threat appears to be HIV/AIDS. It is well known that the treatable diseases continue to claim millions of lives in Africa.

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AIDS as a Monster The disease is also portrayed as a monster that is threatening the very existence of humanity. This portrayal is accomplished by such anthropomorphic expressions as: it shakes humanity, robs, and sweeps away humans. (8) ‘Ukimwi umekuwa ukiinyang’anya dunia nguvu kazi ya hali ya juu…’ (Mtanzania 12/1/02) AIDS has been robbing the world of its manpower (9) ‘Ni ugonjwa unaofagia kila sekta na kila mtu.’ (Majira Desemba 1, 02 uk. 15) It is a disease that sweeps every sector and any person. With these images, the disease assumes unique identity and existence independent of other factors contributing to the spread of the epidemic. This is consistent with how treatable diseases in Africa are neglected and receive less attention.

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AIDS is a Disease of Development Although we did not find it in the narrow sample of papers collected especially in December 2002, the expression ugonjwa wa kisasa (‘modern disease’) or ugonjwa wa maendeleo (‘the disease of development’) is among the most common ones. Foster (2003b) found these expressions very extensively used among people she interviewed and communicated with in Tanzania. There are two aspects of these two terms. One is blaming the disease on modernization, where modernization means, among other things, the growth of big cities with their attendant moral decay which is the ‘cause’ of the disease. In the cities, it seems people are no longer bound by the old traditional moral codes. The result is rampant promiscuity and the diseases. The second feature is that the frightening syndrome is indeed a mythical beast that strikes with finality, like death itself. No wonder words like ugonjwa wa kisasa (‘modern disease’) are used as euphemisms of HIV/AIDS since UKIMWI (AIDS) actually translates as DEATH. It is taboo to say someone is dying, because that is tantamount to wishing that person death. Even after a person dies, attributing their death to AIDS sounds like accusing them of immoral behavior and promiscuity.

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AIDS is Silence There is much reluctance to discuss a person’s HIV and AIDS status in public. Much is shrouded in mystery. The acronym UKIMWI is derived from Upungufu wa KInga MWIlini. Incidentally, this word sounds like ukimya (‘silence’). Many people use it also to indicate both the health condition and the silence that surrounds it. Here is a reader seeking advice in one of the tabloids published in Dar es Salaam. (10) ‘Sijawahi kukutana na msichana kimapenzi tangu nizaliwe na ninaogopa sana kutongoza hata pale msichana anapoonekana kunipenda nakimbia, ninachoogopa ni (Ukimya) Ukimwi’ (Tanua #03 uk.15) I have never made love to a girl since I was born and I am afraid of asking a girl even when a girl seems to like me I run away, I am afraid of (silence) AIDS.

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The metaphor here is that AIDS is silence. It is a calamity that those who are afflicted will not talk about because they will face all kinds of discrimination and prejudice.

AIDS is a Bug HIV is also known as mdudu (‘a bug’) a variation of which is found in this statement made on a popular magazine.

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(11) ‘Ukiangalia utaona kuna ukweli ingawa kwa wakati wetu huu wa sasa ukweli huo ni wa kutisha kutokana na kuingiliwa na dosari ya "kamdudu" HIV.’ (Tausi #2 Julai 2001) If you think about it you will find that it is true (that men tend to want a second secret lover) although these days this truth is frightening due to the problem of the little bug HIV. The noun mdudu may take the diminutive ka- prefix to signify a tiny, sneaky, and dangerous bug in this case. All images indicate that generally the disease is taken very seriously. The names given to the disease reveal public understanding and fears shared by many people. The understanding reflects world perception and prejudices. We discuss these in the next sections.

IMPLICATIONS Two issues need to be noted here, namely, the link of the disease to immorality and the absence of other diseases that cause death from public discourse on HIV/AIDS. Much of public discourse encourages behavior change as a way of preventing the spread of HIV. The following text is a good example of editorials on AIDS day 2002. (12) ‘Kubadili tabia kwa mtu binafsi kunaweza kupunguza, hata kuondoa kabisa balaa la ukimwi, ikizingatiwa kuwa idadi ya waathirika wa ugonjwa huu ni matokeo ya maamuzi ya binafsi ya watu mbalimbali.’ (Majira Desemba 1, 2002. p.21)

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Individual change of behavior can help to reduce, even eliminate, AIDS considering that most people are affected because of personal choices. The general belief expressed here is that behavior change will eliminate the epidemic. This is very consistent with the religious outlook as in the quote presented earlier and repeated here.

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(13) ‘Katika kuadhimisha siku hii, tunapenda kuwakumbusha watu wote kumpiga vita ya kufa na kupona adui huyu mbaya HIV/AIDS ili kulinda uhai, maisha na heshima tuliyopewa na Mwenyezi Mungu.’ (Mtanzania Desemba 1, 2002, p.16; Public service announcement sponsored by Blankets and Textile manufacturers (1988) Ltd) In observing this day (AIDS day), we would like to remind all people to engage in this life and death war against this evil enemy HIV/AIDS so as to defend life and honor that is given to us by the Almighty God. Implicit in this text is the notion that AIDS is a sign of sinful ways of the afflicted. Again, a person gets HIV and AIDS in immoral sexual encounters. One of the most glaring issues in metaphors and discourse about HIV and AIDS is the absence of all other diseases that plague Africa. Tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, malnutrition, and many other tropical diseases continue to ravage Africa. The focus is supposedly on programs that emphasize preventing the spread of HIV. However, effective prevention programs depend on a proper understanding of the dynamics of the pandemic. One of the most crucial aspects of the pandemic is the role of other diseases. The virus suppresses the immunity of the person who has contracted it. Due to compromised immunity, diseases attack and finally kill the person because the immune cells are not capable of combating the attacking organisms. Therefore, when a person is said to have died of AIDS, the actual cause of the death is those diseases that were not overcome by the patient’s weak immune system. In other words, the opportunistic diseases are a precondition for progression to AIDS and death. In combating AIDS and preventing deaths, it is at least as important to fight the death-causing diseases such as TB, malaria, typhoid, and diarrhea, as well as malnutrition (RootBernstein, 1992, 2002; Root-Bernstein & Merrill, 1997).

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It is surprising that, in spite of these diseases being the known causes of AIDS deaths, there is unwillingness to acknowledge their contribution to the escalating deaths. In fact, there is much confusion and denial of the contribution of the other diseases to the huge number of deaths. Consider, for example, the following:

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(14) ‘Mara nyingi tumesikia mtu aliyekufa kwa UKIMWI akitajwa kwamba amekufa kwa shinikizo la damu, homa ya malaria na visingizio vingine vingi.’ (Majira 12/01/02 p.6) Often we have heard a person that has died of AIDS is said to have died of high blood pressure, malaria, and many other pretexts. This quote refers to the unwillingness shown by many people to attribute relatives’ or friends’ deaths to AIDS. At the same time, it should be noted that many are very willing to attribute those deaths to AIDS even when they have no access to the diagnosis. Again, judgments on morality are made on the basis of assumptions about the righteousness of a person and even entire societies affected by the pandemic. It is well known that health conditions like TB, malaria, malnutrition, and a multitude of others predispose a person to HIV infection (Root-Bernstein, 1993). A person who is suffering from malaria or malnutrition, for example, has a compromised immune system. Eliminating these diseases would mean eliminating the predisposition to HIV infections. Therefore, a successful war against AIDS must pay a lot more attention to these diseases than has been the case so far. It is important to take these diseases into serious consideration in the war against AIDS because they are the actual causes of death for AIDS patients. They suppress immunity, making a person vulnerable to HIV infection and other diseases. There is a danger of ignoring these problems and confusing them with AIDS, especially when people assume without proper diagnosis. Another reason that more attention needs to be paid to other health conditions is that, when the public passes moral judgments on the sick without diagnosis, they condemn them. As a consequence, these diseases continue to spread further, predisposing people to contracting HIV. Public discourse on HIV/AIDS has thus created and maintains a frame in which the pandemic is attributed entirely to the promiscuity and sinfulness of the afflicted and the people who come in contact with them. This tunnel view has no room for co-factors and sadly, may not be the most effective approach to combat HIV/AIDS.

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THE ORIGINS OF THE STIGMA The prejudices and stigma are not an exclusive Tanzanian phenomenon; neither is it restricted to individuals. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence of HIV (Morahan, 2002; UNAIDS, 2003), and the peoples in the region are stigmatized as promiscuous. As stated in the introduction, our goal is to identify the images used in describing HIV and AIDS and to suggest ways to combat the stigma that is associated with HIV and AIDS. In order to combat stigma and prejudice, we need to locate some of the sources. The problem of the HIV/AIDS stigma in Africa may have started with the definition of AIDS. A WHO meeting in Bangui, Central African Republic, came up with a definition of AIDS for Africa. The Bangui definition was modified later but carries much of what it originally said. WHO (1994) defines an adult AIDS patient: a)

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b)

At least two of the major signs (weight loss 10%, chronic diarrhea for more than a month, prolonged fever for more than 1 month intermittently or constant) At least one of the minor signs (persistent cough for more than a month, history of herpes zoster, oropharyngeal candidiasis, generalized pruritic dermatitis) (p. 274)

A disturbing feature of this AIDS diagnosis is the fact that it shares some of the symptoms with these common diseases. Even the WHO clinical definition of AIDS in Africa admits this. This definition is adapted from the Bangui Definition of 1985 (WHO, 1985) which says: Advantages of the WHO definition for AIDS surveillance are that it is simple to use and inexpensive since it does not rely on HIV serological testing. Limitations of this case definition are its relatively low sensitivity and its low specificity particularly with respect to tuberculosis, since HIV-negative tuberculosis patients could be counted as AIDS cases because of their similarity in clinical presentation. (emphasis added) (p. 20)

The clinical definition for other parts of the world requires an HIV test. It is now very common in many places in Tanzania to consider a person as an AIDS case just because they have a persistent cough, a rash, wasting, etc. Note that a person who constantly gets malaria attacks will waste, regardless of their HIV or AIDS status.

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We understand the definition was motivated by the urgency to deal with an emerging crisis and limited resources. However, think of someone who becomes chronically ill due to some treatable disease. Since that person is wasting (one of the symptoms of AIDS), he/she is suspected of AIDS. This means no treatment, because he/she is going to die anyway—why waste the scarce medicines on him/her? There has been a surprising degree of acceptance of unsubstantiated claims on African AIDS. For example, the journal Reviews of Infectious Diseases carried a stunning article in 1987 that attempted to account for the high prevalence of HIV in Africa. In our opinion, this is one of the best examples of science hat is based on prejudice. The paper by Hrdy (1987) says: Although generalizations are difficult, most traditional African societies are promiscuous by Western standards. Promiscuity occurs both premaritally and postmaritally. For instance in the Lese of Zaire, there is a period following puberty and before marriage when sexual relations between young men and a number of eligible women are virtually sanctioned by society. To date, African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops, or vervets) are the only species reported to have an AIDS-type virus in the wild . Hence vervets are the principal suspect in the transmission of disease. . . . There is a striking analogy between promiscuity as a risk factor in humans and the "promiscuous" behavior of vervets. Typically, female vervets, unlike baboons, are sexually receptive for long periods (many weeks) and during that time mate with multiple male partners, sometimes engaging in dozens of copulations on a single day – activity that may lead to traumatic lesions of the vaginal or perineal area.

Hrdy goes on to identify African cultural practices that contribute to transmission of HIV: female circumcision, group circumcision, contact with the monkeys, ritual scarification, etc. The shocking part of this is that no scientific data is offered to support the claims of promiscuity except for an example of one community in Zaire that is then supposed to provide a general picture of Africa. What statistics indicate the higher degree of African promiscuity? The main point, however, is the comparison of the supposed similarity of the promiscuity of the monkeys and the Africans. This widely quoted paper supposedly provides some explanation about the high prevalence of HIV in Africa. The comparison of the alleged promiscuity of Africans to that of the monkeys is unmistakable. Even when the data seems to contradict the thesis, there is reluctance to let go of the preconceived notions about Africa’s guilt in the spread of HIV. Here is another example:

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It seems to be relatively difficult to pass HIV during normal vaginal intercourse. Only 10% of habitual heterosexual contacts of hemophiliacs with AIDS become seropositive. Thus, it has been proposed that heterosexual transmission is somehow enhanced in Africa. (Hrdy, 1987)

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The idea that heterosexual transmission is very inefficient for passing HIV from one person to another has been known for some time (see also Section 6 below). But when it comes to Africa, a new explanation that is consistent with African promiscuity must be found. Another example is that of female circumcision as one of the factors. Hrdy provides maps showing where the practice is prevalent.

Map 1. Distribution of female excision (hatched area) and infibulation (cross hatched area) in Africa (Source: Hrdy, 1987)

The areas where female circumcision is practiced more is Northeast Africa and West Africa. Hrdy also notes that the highest HIV prevalence areas are not the same as the female circumcision areas as the following map shows. The map shows the highest prevalence of HIV at that time was in Central and East Africa. Hrdy is at a loss in explaining this lack of correspondence. Determined to make this a major contributing factor to the spread of HIV, however, he suggests the possibility that the tradition of genital mutilation may have spread to the high HIV areas, thus becoming a major factor in the spread of HIV.

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Map 2. Areas of high seropositivity of HIV (Source: Hrdy, 1987)

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This is but one example of how the explanation for the HIV prevalence in Africa is based on some questionable premises. This raises questions about the statistics on the mode of transmission. We therefore need to ask questions regarding this paradigm.

QUESTIONS ABOUT AFRICAN SEXUALITY It has generally been accepted that Africa has a very high prevalence of HIV infection in the world due to more sex because, after all, in Africa, 90% of transmission is through heterosexual intercourse. Accordingly, sexual behavior modification has been the definition of AIDS prevention. Current estimates suggest that more than 99% of the HIV infections prevalent in Africa in 2001 are attributable to unsafe sex (WHO, 2002, p. 62). Do we stop to ask how much sex we are talking about that differentiates Africans and people in other parts of the world? The implicit assumption here is that the rate of spread and prevalence are proportional to the amount of sex people have. Consider, for example, that Botswana has a 40% prevalence. The U.S., on the other hand has a 0.7% prevalence. As Stillwaggon (2001) points out, Botswana’s rate is 50 times that of the U.S. Does that mean people in Botswana have 50 times more sex than Americans. Suppose Americans have sex 5 times a month on average (a conservative hypothetical figure). That means the people in Botswana have sex 250 times a month, an average 8 times a day.

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Map 3 shows high percentages of prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa with the highest rates indicated by darker shades in southern Africa. Let us pose one more question at this point. If HIV/AIDS reflects promiscuity, is this a map of sexual behavior? There is mounting evidence that indicates that HIV transmission is a much more complex phenomenon than the heterosexual transmission paradigm suggests. Various comparative studies of HIV transmission have concluded that heterosexual sex has very low transmission efficiency (e.g., Gray et al., 2001; Papadopolous-Eleupolos et al., 2002). Discordant couples (couples in which one is HIV positive and one is HIV negative) abound in all parts of the world and show heterosexual intercourse does not necessarily result in infection. Compare HIV and syphilis, for example. If a man contracts syphilis from his philandering and then goes home and sleeps with his wife, you can be sure that the wife will also contract syphilis. With HIV, however, that is not the case and the discordant couples are a clear indication that sex has very low efficiency.

Map 3. HIV prevalence (Source: UNAIDS, 2003)

To add to the paradox of HIV transmission is the study on Nairobi sex workers. Between 1985 and 1994, researchers studied a cohort of 424 sex workers who were HIV negative at the beginning of the study. During the period of the study, 239 became infected with HIV (Fowke et al., 1996) while the rest did not

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convert. This cohort was a group with the highest risk since they were in a high prevalence area and did not practice safe sex. In spite of overexposure through sex, this group of women did not contract HIV. Brody, Gisselquist, Potterat, and Drucker, (2003) report on findings of Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa that found that three quarters of HIV-infected 2–11 year olds may have been infected from a source other than their mothers or sexual transmission. This translates into 670,000 HIVinfected children not infected from their mother or sex. This shocking fact raises even more questions about the heterosexual transmission of HIV in Africa. How did these children become infected? Africa has different prevalence levels that, according to the heterosexual transmission theory, should exhibit differences in sexual behavior. In a study of four cities in Africa, Buve et al. (2001) found that differences in sexual behavior cannot explain differences of prevalence in four major African cities—no differences in sexual behavior between high prevalence areas and low prevalence areas; no differences in condom use. Prevalence rates of HIV infection were 3.4% in Cotonou, Benin, 5.9% in Yaounde, Cameroon, 25.9% in Kisumu, Kenya, and 28.4% in Ndola, Zami (see also Lagarde et al., 2001). Another anomaly that is coming to light now is the higher prevalence in women in prenatal, post partum, and induced abortions than in the general population (Gisselquist, Rothenberg, Potterat, & Drucker, 2002). Something seems to trigger antibodies associated with HIV. As in the cartoon shown earlier, one of the major problems in the HIV/AIDS crisis is undue reliance on rumors. One look at a person is enough to make an estimation of their health condition and therefore their moral standing. We argue that we must be more conscious about how we discuss HIV/AIDS and the images we choose to represent the crisis, because they trigger some reasoning that might or might not be helpful as we confront the epidemic. This must begin with deeper understanding of the pandemic and the many factors that aggravate the calamity.

CONCLUSION The metaphors emphasize the crisis as natural disaster or a phenomenon due to behavioral problems. That means HIV/AIDS is not treated as a health condition like malaria, cholera, diarrhea, TB, and typhoid, but rather as a contagion caused by immorality that is leading to an impending doom. Another way of looking at the problem is desirable: a holistic view that humanizes the pandemic, highlighting it as a complex health condition exacerbated by issues of poverty,

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such as hunger and malnutrition, which are endemic in Tanzania. The tunnel view that links HIV/AIDS exclusively to sex overlooks that it is a health condition. It also overlooks malnutrition and food insecurity and tropical diseases as major factors in predisposing people to contract HIV and to diminish their capacity to combat infection. It ignores the fact that opportunistic infections are the preconditions for progression of HIV to AIDS. In view of the fact that AIDS is a syndrome with more than one cause, it is apparent that images of HIV and AIDS, which reflect views generally accepted by the public, overlook several crucial aspects of the pandemic. They overlook the fact that it is a health condition in the company of several other health conditions. The monster has assumed a unique and frightening form of existence ostensibly because it is said to be sexually transmitted. Other monstrosities, such as TB, malaria, cholera, typhoid, food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition, which continue to kill, have been relegated to obscure space in public discourse. It is as if they are not as threatening as they were before. To effectively combat HIV and AIDS, these health problems must be dealt with appropriately. It is well known that these diseases contribute to the suppression of immune systems accelerating the progression of HIV infected people to clinical AIDS. Efforts to combat AIDS effectively must involve actual testing as well as aggressive treatment of the treatable diseases. The epidemic in African has raised many unanswered questions. It is crucial to remember that research on the phases of the pathogenesis shows they are the same throughout the world for all HIV-infected individuals. In developing countries, however, the phases are generally shorter than in industrialized countries (Bartlett & Finkbeiner, 1998; Piwoz & Preble, 2000). This suggests factors other than promiscuity are at work. The shortened period between diagnosis and death in developing countries is said to be due to exposure to pathogens and infectious diseases, lack of health care, and high prevalence of malnutrition (Grant, Djomand, & DeCock, 1997; Greenberg, Dabis, Marum, & DeCock, 1998; Piwoz & Preble, 2000). The efforts to combat HIV and AIDS seem to be focused entirely on sexual transmission at the exclusion of all other aspects of the pandemic. This is consistent with the widely held view that the pandemic is so pervasive in Africa due to a higher degree of promiscuity among Africans, thus setting limits to effective control of the disease. Reports by researchers regarding anomalies in the heterosexual transmission of HIV are often dismissed as if we know everything there is to know, even in the face of anomalies to the prevailing wisdom. It is quite possible that this is because these anomalies negate the preconceived frame of Africans with their sexual cravings. Much more research needs to be done. The

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Centers for Disease Control (CDC) acknowledges that “although the scientific evidence is overwhelming and compelling that HIV is the cause of AIDS, the disease process is not yet completely understood” (CDC, 2002, p. 2). Discounting sexual transmission of HIV in the HIV/AIDS campaign would be disastrous. But focusing the war entirely on sex ignores important aspects of the pandemic and impedes developments towards eradication of the disease.

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Fowke, K. R., Nagelkerke, N. J., Kimani, D., Joshua, S., Simonsen, J., Anzala, A., Bwayo, J., MacDonald, K., Ngugi, E., & Plummer, F. (1996.) Resistance to HIV-1 infection among persistently seronegative prostitutes in Nairobi, Kenya. The Lancet, 348(9038), 1347-1351. Gisselquist, D., Rothenberg, R., Potterat, J., Drucker, E. M. (2002.) HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa not explained by sexual or vertical transmission. International Journal of STD and AIDS, 13, 657–666. Grant, A. D., Djomand, G., & DeCock, K. M. (1997.) Natural History and Spectrum of Disease in Adults with HIV in Africa. AIDS, 11(Supplement), 543-554. Gray, R. H., Wawer, M., Brookmeyer, R., Sewankambo, N. K., Serwada, D., Wabwire-Mangen, F., Lutalo, T., Li, X., van Cott, T., Quinn, T., and The Rakai Project Team. (2001.) Probability of HIV-1 transmission per coital act in monogamous, heterosexual. The Lancet, 357(9263), 1149-53. Greenberg, A. E., Dabis, F., Marum, L., & DeCock, K. (1998.) HIV Infection in Africa. In P. Pizzo, & C. M. Wilfert, (Eds.), Pediatric AIDS: The Challenge of HIV-1 Infection in Infants, Children and Adolescents. Baltimore: Wilkins and Wilkins. Helman, C. G. (2001.) Culture, Health and Illness. New York: Butterworth Heinemann. Hrdy, D. (1987.) Cultural practices contributing to the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus in Africa. Reviews of Infectious Diseases, 9(6), 1109-19, Retrieved October 10, 2003 from http://www.cirp.org/ library/disease/HIV/hrdy1/. Lagarde, E., Auvert, B., Chege, J., Sukwa, T., Glynn, J. R., Weiss, H. A., Akam, E., Laourou, M., Carael, M., & Buve, A. (2001.) Study group on the heterogeneity of HIV epidemics in African cities: Condom use and its association with HIV/sexually transmitted diseases in four urban communities of sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS, 15(Suppl 4), 571-8. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980.) Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Lakoff, G. (1993.) The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Morahan, L. (2002.) Sub-Saharan Africa hit hardest by AIDS. Retrieved November 22, 2003 from http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1167704.html.

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Mutembei, A. K., Emmelin, M. C., Lugalla, J., & Dahlgren, L. G. (2002.) Communicating about AIDS-changes in understanding and coping with help of language in urban Kagera, Tanzania. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 37(1), 1-16. Papadopolous-Eleopulos, E., Turner, V. F., Papadimitiou, J. F., Alfonso, H., Page, B., Causer, D., Mhlongo, S., Fiala, C., & Brink, A. (2003.) High rates of HIV seropositivity in Africa: an alternative explanation. International Journal of STD and AIDS, 14, 426-427. Parker, R., & Aggleton, P. (2003.) HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination: A conceptual framework and implications for action. Social Science and Medicine, 57, 13-24. Piwoz, E. G., & Preble, E. A. (2001.) HIV/AIDS and nutrition: A review of the literature and recommendations for nutritional care and support in SubSaharan Africa. Washington D.C.: United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Robins, S., & Mayer, R. E. (2000.) The metaphor framing effect: metaphorical reasoning about text-based dilemmas. Discourse and Society, 30(1), 27-86. Root-Bernstein, R. S. (1992.) HIV and immunosuppressive cofactors in AIDS. Estratto Dalla Rivista, 4(12), 256-262. Root-Bernstein, R. S. (1993.) Rethinking AIDS: The Tragic Cost for Premature Consensus. New York: The Free Press. Root-Bernstein, R. S. (2002.) The cofactor theory of AIDS. In A. S. Bourinbaiar (Ed), Trends and Developments in Virology (pp. 1-14). India: In Press. Root-Bernstein, R. S., & Merrill, S. (1997.) The necessity of cofactors in the pathogenesis of AIDS: a mathematical model. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 1887, 135-146. Setel, P. W. (1999.) A Plague of Paradoxes AIDS, Culture and Demography in Northern Tanzania. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Stillwaggon, E. (2001.) AIDS and poverty in Africa. The Nation, May 21, 272, 20:22-25. Stillwaggon, E. (2003.) Racial metaphors: Interpreting sex and AIDS in Africa. Development and Change, 34(5), 809-832. Turner, M., & Fauconnier, G. (1995.) Conceptual integration and formal expression. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 10(3), 183-204. Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1981.) The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice. Science, 211, 453-458. UNAIDS (2002.) A Global Overview of the Epidemic. Geneva, Switzerland: UNAIDS.

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UNAIDS (2003.) Factsheet. Retrieved November 24, 2003 from http://www. unaids.org/Unaids/EN/geographical+area/by+region/sub-saharan+africa.asp. WHO (1985.) Workshop on AIDS in Central Africa, Bangui, Central African Republic October 22-25, 1985. WHO (1994.) WHO case definitions for surveillance in adults and adolescents. Weekly Epidemiological Record 69, 273-275. WHO (2002.) World Health Report 2002: Reducing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life. Geneva: WHO. Wilce, J. M. Jr., & Price, L. (2003.) Metaphors our bodyminds live by. In J. M. Wilce, Jr. (Ed.), Social and Cultural Lives of Immune Systems (pp. 50-80). London: Routledge. World Bank. (2000.) Intensifying Action Against HIV/AIDS in Africa: Responding to a Development Crisis. Washington DC: World Bank.

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Chapter 2

READING NGUGI’S COLONIAL AND POST-COLONIAL REPRESENTATIONS THROUGH THE GIKUYU-MUMBI CREATION MYTH Devi Sarinjeive Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

University of South Africa

At a time when globalisation and the consumer-culture of an image-driven world, prefigured in the post-colonial Petals of Blood and Devil on the Cross, have to be grappled with, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, offers, in the five novels selected for this paper, ancient wisdom, in the form of the creation myth, as a restorative. The degree of proximity to this traditional reference point serves as an index to the state of the community represented by Ngugi. This is because the efficacy of the ancient legacy is put to the test in his narratives of the traumatic experiences of colonialism, the Mau Mau freedom struggle, with its attendant sacrifices, its triumphs and betrayals, and the shattered dreams of corrupt post-independent power together with the physical violence, the fear, the uncertainty, the bitterness, and the despair. Ngugi shows what happens to a community which loses touch with ancient wisdom because of countervailing forces. Because of its significance as both a generative and regenerative source the ancient wisdom, informing the Gikuyu-Mumbi myth will be used in this paper not so much to cast a nostalgic look backwards, but as a means of measuring the integrity of a community undergoing many changes. Moreover, by reading from

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the standpoint of the myth, the novels themselves will be shown to be resources with which to assess and deal with the changing human condition. The myth will first be reconstituted from what Ngugi himself provides in his narratives and then used as a lens through which to read his representations of the romantic relationships between men and women love-relationships that are interwoven into his stories. For, besides providing personal and romantic interest, these relationships are of critical significance in serving symbolically to connect the community with its deeply embedded cultural source, the Gikuyu-Mumbi creation myth. As a playing out of the myth the love-relationships operate as socio-cultural touchstones in the representations of colonial and post-colonial communal upheavals. The myth and the love-relationships are also cornerstones from which to access Ngugi within African terms and to validate and affirm the oral cultural knowledge inscribed in his narratives. Not to do so has far-reaching implications for literary criticism and knowledge-making, as the Afro-American writer, Toni Morrison, for instance, is quick to point out in her case. She draws attention to what happens when her texts are not read within their own terms. She has been read from the white, male perspective—James Joyce, to be specific—and this, she complains, does not do justice to her writing. She says: If someone says I write like Joyce, that’s giving me a kind of credibility I find offensive. It has nothing to do with my liking Joyce. I do, but the comparison has to do with nothing out of which I write. I find such criticism dishonest because it never goes to the work on its own terms. It comes from some other place and finds content outside of the work and wholly irrelevant to it to support the work. . . . The criticism may read well, in fact very well, but it’s not about the book at hand. It’s merely trying to place the book into an already established literary tradition (Tate, 1985, pp. 121-122).

She is not alone, as Chinweizu and Madubuike (1985) attest more specifically in African terms: In examining the criticism of African writing we find that a significant number of African critics are eurocentric in their orientation, whereas they ought to be afrocentric. Such critics habitually view African literature through European eyes. If at all they are aware that African culture is under foreign domination, they seem to think that it ought to remain so – with minor adjustments; or they may perceive a need for a restorative cultural enterprise but fail to see its implications for literary criticism. (p. 3)

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As long established mainstream practice, it is regarded by Wole Soyinka (1976) more seriously as a second epoch of colonisation – this time by a universal-humanoid abstraction defined and conducted by individuals whose theories and prescriptions are derived from the apprehension of their world and their history, their social neuroses and their value systems. (p. x)

Consequently, Soyinka felt it was high time, as part of African self-liberation, for “a reinstatement of the values authentic to that society” (p. x). The values, intricately bound up with African oral knowledge and culture, have been marginalised by white male knowledge (see Evans, 1990; Jansen 1991; Leeuw, 1994; Pityana, 1992). Speaking in terms of the South African educational context, but resonating with Soyinka of twenty-years ago, Ratele and Mokotedi (1997) write that such mainstream knowledge has been shaped

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by white middle-class males drawing from their own lives, experiences and perspectives. Whites seized the definition of knowledge, methods, and meanings and posted themselves in the driving seat of history and science. Their particular experiences and what they made of these experiences became the touchstone on which everyone’s experience, meanings and knowledge had to be passed. White male experience was equal to human experience. (p. 477)

‘Other’ forms of knowledge, such as those from African experience, lives, and perspectives have been disregarded and “also often been looked upon with contempt by the powerful white social and cultural group” (Ratele & Mokotedi, 1997, p. 476). In an attempt to correct this practice and, in the process, reinvigorate resources from the oral past, Ngugi is read in this paper, as much as possible, within ‘his own terms’; this entails bringing into sharp focus what he himself textualises, where relevant, along with what is written elsewhere, since intertextuality is necessary at times to get to the essence or expand on the literary texts. Re-reading the novels from the centre of love-relationships results in an emphasis-shift, as the discourse re-aligns itself to reveal the extent to which the Gikuyu keep to the terms or are in danger of losing touch with the humanity, the wholeness of being, that is articulated and set in motion by the foundational story of Gikuyu and Mumbi. The origin myth anchors the community, telling them where they come from and where they are going. Its purpose is to keep the community whole, integrated, and coherent, both in good times and in bad.

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This story explicitly referred to in The River Between, Weep not, Child, and A Grain of Wheat (markedly absent in Petals of Blood and Devil on a Cross) is buried deep in the heart of the community. As a living pulse, it serves as an inspiration to the Gikuyu in the most demoralising times. It is the moral centre that connects the communal psyche with the metaphysical and anchors the past with the present. In short, it presents a total context, a complementarity of myth, history, and mores and validates African self-apprehension. In the words of Edward Said (1984) it is an assertion of belonging in and to a place, a people, a heritage. It affirms the home created by a community of language, culture and customs; and, by so doing, it fends off exile, fights to prevent its ravages. (p. 162)

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Furthermore, as a convergence/fusion myth it continues to hold out the promise of redemption and regeneration even when its truths are often violated and negated. As the story goes, in the harsh, unpredictable African locus, Murungu, the creator, made Gikuyu and Mumbi, the mother and father of the tribe. Chege relates the genesis of the tribe to his son, Waiyaki, in The River Between: Murungu brought the man and woman here and again showed them the whole vastness of the land. He gave the country to them and their children and the children of the children, tene na tene, world without end. (18)

“The oral transmission of the myth from generation to generation underscores its historical significance to the community,” writes Ogude (1999, p. 89), and also “enhances communal and spiritual unity.” The myth confirms the fusing of the material and spiritual worlds, the concrete and the abstract, and the continuity of the people. Separation from the myth (and the land) parallels separation from spirituality. The importance of the male and female principles, which are inextricably bound to the land, is also part of Njoroge’s traditional education in Weep not, Child, where Ngotho, the father, initiates his son into tribal sources: God showed Gikuyu and Mumbi all the land and told them, ‘This land I hand over to you. O man and woman It’s yours to rule and till in serenity sacrificing Only to me, your God, under my sacred tree ...’ (24)

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The continuity of the blood-line is under threat, however, when nine daughters are born to the founding parents, because “if a man dies without a male child his family group comes to an end” (Kenyatta, 1938, p. 15). The significance of having both male and female forces is, thus, re-emphasised. To solve the dilemma, Gikuyu sacrificed a ram under the sacred tree. On his return home, he found nine men to marry his daughters on the condition “that the women should be the heads of the household and ... all of the sisters, their husbands, and their children would live together in one village” (Gatheru, 1964, pp. 4-5). Consequently, the tribe began as a matriarchy, all living together in group unity, the mbari, on the shamba, the homestead. Existence was predicated on the kinship group living on the sacred land given by Murungu. To maintain the link with the tribal parents and the land, every Gikuyu has to undergo the central ritual sacrifice of circumcision. In The River Between, Muthoni defies her Christian father, Joshua, when she expresses her need for something more than what Christianity can offer her (or feminism would applaud) to become “a real woman, knowing all the ways of the hills and ridges” (26). For Waiyaki, the central consciousness in the same novel, it is a significant moment not only for a second birth, but also to reveal his courage like a man. . . . The knife produced a thin sharp pain as it cut through the flesh. . . . Blood trickled freely on to the ground, sinking into the soil. Henceforth a religious bond linked Waiyaki to the earth, as if his blood was an offering. (45)

The families of Gikuyu and Mumbi’s daughters grew into clans, multiplied, and eventually dispersed into other parts of the land. The matriarchy worked well until the women became tyrannical and overbearing. To overcome this problem, the men impregnated the women and defeated them. Since then, polyandry has been replaced by polygamy. Just before the circumcision ceremony, Chege takes Waiyaki to the sacred grove and explains how “women owned everything” before they were overthrown (River, 15). “It was then Waiyaki understood why his mother owned nothing” (River, 15). Chege had had three wives but “two wives had died during the great famine without any children” (River, 6-7). And Waiyaki’s mother, almost in the footsteps of the founding mother, Mumbi, “had borne him many daughters but only one son” (River, 6).

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The themes which form the bases for Gikuyu conduct and existence include: Murungu (who jealously guards his people), the ancestors, group solidarity, practising the vital rituals, and the land. The genesis myth shapes the lifestyle and defines

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the Gikuyu . . . a people who know where they have been and have come from, a people who are secure in their ancestry because it is kept alive in their legends, preserved in their land, revitalized through successive incarnations, and embodied in their traditional way of naming; and, if the ancient prophecies of seers prove valid, along with the Gikuyu mythic reading of history, they are also a people with a manifest destiny and a clear promise of where they are going. (Olney, 1973, p. 79)

This pattern of life is disrupted concomitantly with the Gikuyu-Mumbi myth when the “people with clothes like butterflies” arrive (River, 2). Waiyaki and Njoroge, “the children of the children,” are alienated from the “whole vastness of the land.” During the second World War, Ngotho had been forced to build roads “for the warring white man” (Weep, 25). When he returned home expecting a reward from the British, “the land was gone” (Weep, 25). His father “and many others had been moved from . . . ancestral lands. He died lonely, a poor man waiting for the white man to go. . . . The white man did not go and he died a Muhoi on this very land” (Weep, 25-26). To regain the land, the Gikuyu await a messiah, a role that both Waiyaki and Njoroge often dream of fulfilling through the panacea of education. With the arrival of the missionaries, the Gikuyu-Mumbi genesis story is mixed up with the Adam and Eve, Moses, and Jesus stories from the Bible—an uneasy convergence that leads to fragmentation and confusing, irreconcilable divisions, as demonstrated in Muthoni’s fatal circumcision episode. First, there is the loss of the land; then, inroads are made into cultural beliefs by “missionaries [who] attempted to deprive them of their own cultural values by the moral condemnation of all practices that were ‘heathen and unChristian’” (JanMohamed, 1983, p. 190). The forces that subvert the Gikuyu-Mumbi myth work, too, to undermine young men and women joining hands, like their tribal forebears. The failure of the love-relationships in The River Between and Weep not, Child, the two early novels, reflects the greater failures, the fragmentations and divisions in the Gikuyu community. In The River Between, the people are separated by the two ridges, Kameno and Makuyu, traditionalist and Christian, respectively. Waiyaki, the last in his line, feels an emptiness that can only be filled by the uncircumcised Christian girl, Nyambura. Both the traditionalists and Christians struggle for control in the area

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by negating one another. Varying the play of the opposing male and female forces, set in motion at the beginning of tribal history, the couple are drawn to and away from each other. But unlike Gikuyu and Mumbi, Waiyaki and Nyambura have to grapple with the added complexity of alien intrusions, in the form of Christianity and colonial education. In Lloyd Williams’ (1982) view, Christianity, in itself, is not condemned by Ngugi, but the abstract, law-like form in which it is imposed and practised by the missionaries and Joshua. He writes:

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In the character of Joshua, Ngugi portrays the religious law given, the man who accepts without question the religion handed down to him by those he considers his superiors, the man who feels it his duty to impose the acceptance of the same religion on those under his control; and through the character of Nyambura, Ngugi condemns this imposed religious law as being destructive to the people it involves. (p. 60)

Joshua’s family is destroyed, ironically, by an alien and demanding Christianity that he does not quite understand, but which he rigidly obeys. Finally, Kabonyi, who envisions himself as the messiah, and his son, Kamau, who also desires Nyambura, exploit the sacred oaths of the clan in their vendetta against the Christians and Waiyaki. The manipulation prefigures the abuse of the oath at teaparties by the comprador bourgeoisie in Petals of Blood. At the eleventh hour, Waiyaki, misrepresented as a double-agent by his enemies, pleads for unity by invoking the founding mother of the tribe: We are all children of Mumbi and we must fight together in one political movement, or else we perish and the white man will always be on our back. Can a house divided against itself stand? (River, 149)

Waiyaki draws on the traditional myth that also reflects a Christian truth, love and reconciliation, which is demonstrated when he embraces Nyambura. But the solitary Waiyaki, in his individualism and search for fulfillment with Nyambura, could also be said to undermine the genesis paradigm of group unity. As Mbiti (1969) states: In traditional life, the individual does not and cannot exist alone except corporately. He owes his existence to other people, including those of past generations. . . . He is part of the whole. . . . Whatever happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual. (p. 108)

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By the same token and despite the lovers’ ambiguous position, the destruction of the couple means the destruction of the community. Njoroge, another isolated individual, also acts as the mirror of his group. His family, once happy even though they are muhoi, becomes a microcosm of the nation during the war of liberation, a violent time of chaos and destruction. Ngotho has two wives. He “did not beat his wives much. On the contrary, his home was well known for being a place of peace” (Weep, 11). This image of peace is, however, shattered when family members are pulled in several different directions as they form new loyalties and reject the traditional power structure. During this time of the Emergency, the erosion of British influence in the country parallels the disintegration of the family. The relationship between Njoroge and Mwihaki, the daughter of Jacobo, on whose land Ngotho is a squatter, grows into brotherly-sisterly love. But it is always a strained relationship because of their fathers, who belong to opposing camps, and the uprising, which impacts destructively on all their lives. On the one hand, Ngotho loses his authority in his family when he refuses to take the oath from his son, Boro. On the other hand, the Gikuyu people, like Boro, attempt to unite in the forest to fight the white man. But this, too, is tainted as we discover when Boro introspects about the lost land and freedom: Boro had always told himself that the real reason for his flight to the forest was a desire to fight for freedom. But this fervour had soon worn off. His mission became a mission of revenge. (Weep, 102)

Dreams of the future diminish rapidly when the once closely knit family is destroyed. In Larson’s (1978) view “it is the closeness of Ngotho’s family which results in their feeling the eventual turmoil of the Mau Mau revolt more deeply than other families” (p. 129). In spite of the assassinations of Jacobo and Howlands, the death of Ngotho after being tortured and castrated by Howlands, and the imminent deaths of Boro and Kamau, Njoroge, the dreamy idealist, proposes escaping with Mwihaki to Uganda. His ambivalence towards her is also revealed in a nightmare when “he tried to hit her but soon realized that what he wanted was to hold her and together escape from the calamity around. She was his last hope” (Weep, 121). Although Mwihaki’s father was killed by Njoroge’s brother, Boro, she, too,

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wanted to meet him because at the very height of the crisis in her family the words that had most comforted were those that he had spoken to her. She had repeated them to her mother, saying firmly, ‘The sun will rise tomorrow’ (Weep, 130)

However, when next they meet, Njoroge says in despair, “I have no hope left but for you, for now I know that my tomorrow was an illusion” (Weep, 132). Mwihaki refuses to elope with him and reminds him, “We have a duty. Our duty to other people is our biggest responsibility as grown men and women” (Weep, 134). In spite of himself, Njoroge is reminded that he is involved in the national chaos. He is prevented from killing himself by his two mothers, an indication of the unity of the remaining family, the foundation of the future society. Loyalty to the clan is an overriding theme in A Grain of Wheat, a novel of purification and regeneration. Its shifting points of view, displacement of the temporal, and the flashbacks reflect both the chaos of the Emergency and the collective consciousness of Thabai. The communal is also reinforced by the first person plural we instead of the second person, that is used in the earlier novels of simple heroics. David Cook (1977) finds in A Grain of Wheat “much more baffling and complex realities of . . . independence” and the need “to face the hard facts of human greed, selfishness, deceit, and self-deceit, where the enemy is now” within (p. 97). Later, in the same essay, Cook sums up, “Man is a potentially violent and dangerous animal, whether he is black or white, young or old; whether he manipulates great or little power” (p. 99). Up to this period, Ngugi had made a point of equating imperialism with whites, and blacks represented the hope of delivery from oppression. He explains the change: Very often the writer who sang Tell Freedom in tune and in time with the deepest aspirations of his society did not always understand the true dimensions of those aspirations, or rather he did not always adequately evaluate the real enemy of these aspirations. Imperialism was far too easily seen in terms of the skin pigmentation of the colonizer (Ngugi, 1988, p. 94).

Before the Uhuru celebrations, the community in the novel needs to be purged of the guilt, shame, and jealousies generated during activities in the Emergency. The substantial change in this novel from Ngugi’s earlier preoccupation with dewy-eyed, self-deluded youngsters can also be ascribed to the influence of Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (1963), which highlights the socio-political function of art, and the need for optimism if the freedom struggle is to open the door to a creative future (JanMohamed, 1983, p. 209).

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The novel centres on an organic community, sympathetic and complementary in a communion of purpose and interconnectedness. Palmer (1972) finds that Ngugi’s treatment of the love-theme and the lovers themselves has “matured since the rather adolescent” earlier representations (p. 39). Gikonyo and Mumbi, harking back to the founding mother, represent the model family which is shattered when the husband is sent to a concentration camp for having taken the oath. Isolated in the camp, he feels the absence of his wife and mother. He fears spiritual nullification so much that he breaks the taboo about discussing his family and home. As a result of that, he is so extremely demoralised that he finally breaks down and confesses the oath to the authorities. Yet when he returns to Thabai, he finds that Mumbi has betrayed him with an old rival for her hand, Karanja. Embittered by the child, the result of the betrayal, he is driven into deeper isolation. In Cook’s (1977) view, he is really full of selfhatred for his capitulation to the British:

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His self-pride is deeply hurt. And he attempts to reassert his pride by projecting all his own guilt onto Mumbi, making her the scapegoat for his weakness; and so he magnifies her failure. (p. 102)

He channels his energy into business and becomes prosperous but alienated, unsympathetic and frigid. The failure of his marriage mirrors the disintegration of the community under colonial pressure. There are variations on the love-theme in the thwarted relationships of Kihika and Wambuku, Karanja and Mumbi, and the intrusive colonials, the Thompsons, who, however, reconcile before leaving Kenya. As the day of independence approaches, the novel in its circuitous, polyphonic revelations demonstrates how, through interaction, Mugo, the reclusive villager, is drawn into the community by confessing in public how he betrayed Kihika. This act of self-sacrifice sets in motion in the community the impulse to re-unite, redefine, and revitalise itself. Gikonyo, whose alienation leads to attenuation of his own self, initiates regenerative communication with Mumbi. In contrast to Kihika’s concern for an abstract humanity during the struggle, Gikonyo is driven towards concrete individual relationships. In the time of transition and reconstruction, it is characters like Gikonyo and Mumbi who ensure survival. The regeneration of the people is dramatised in the lives of the reincarnations of the mythic ancestors, Gikuyu and Mumbi. In the last chapter, entitled Harambee, symbolising communal dedication, Gikonyo plans to carve a stool, a wedding gift to Mumbi. After deciding to talk about Karanja’s child with Mumbi,

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he determines that the motif on the stool will consist of a thin man, a child, and “a woman big - big with child” (Petals, 213).

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Their recent self-discovery in forgiveness and reconciliation lifts the burden of guilt from their hearts and shoulders and they are used to point to the possibility of renewal and the birth of a new nation. As characters whose names echo those of the founders of the Gikuyu nation, Gikonya (Gikuyu) and Mumbi stand for change in permanence and hope in the future of the community. (Ogude, 1999, p. 111-112)

Furthermore, to Gikonyo, the family man, independence frees the people so that they can trust and depend on one another in a communal effort. At the same time, although the thrust of the novel is generally utopian towards integration and regeneration, it is also made evident that the people have to be alert to opportunists waiting in the wings to replace the colonialist exploiters. In Petals of Blood, the beneficiaries of the struggle turn out to be the new elite, who, in alliance with multi-national capital, betray the hopes and aspirations of the people. The novel, steeped in the history of freedom struggles in Kenya and elsewhere, is unambiguously socialist, even while it draws together the major themes of the previous novels. Humanizing this vast socio-historical canvas are characters such as Munira, Wanja, Abdulla, and Karega, who relate their experiences of life in colonial and neo-colonial situations. In keeping with the corruption and exploitation during this period of neocolonialism, elaborated upon in the magic-realism of Devil on the Cross, there is an absence of Gikuyu-Mumbi incarnations. Instead, there is the morally flawed and questionable Wanja, who functions as the active female principle. Amatu (1989) considers her a “typical Ngugi woman”: Although a drop out from school, Wanja displays an incredible ability to survive in a hostile world. She resists exploitation by the menfolk but instead uses her relationships with the men as a stabilizing influence for her own selfrealization. Her fiery rebellious spirit, which is aptly captured in her frequent association with fire, helps her rise above the status of a common prostitute. (p. 150)

Amatu’s view notwithstanding, the ambiguity of Wanja’s characterisation draws attention to the moral complexities that are more entangled by neocolonialistic forces. She herself is clear about herself to Munira and Karega: “As for me, it’s a game . . . of money. . . . You eat or you are eaten” (Petals, 293). Her first lover in Ilmorog is Munira, the disappointing son of a well-to-do preacher.

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Munira leaves his wife and children with his father to teach in drought-stricken Ilmorog. Wanja also has relationships with Karega and Abdulla, besides her prostituting activities. There is, however, a reminder of the fighting spirit and integrity of the community in their epic march to the capital to demand aid. But it is also a journey into the thick of hypocrisy and depravity. As a result of the march, Ilmorog becomes the focus of capitalist investment. Instead of a better life, Abdulla, who lost his leg in the struggle, is marginalised in the ironically named slum, New Jerusalem. Karega, Munira’s former pupil and an untrained teacher, becomes a trade-unionist. Wanja, a precursor to a similar type of character, Wariinga in Devil on the Cross, was abused in her youth by neo-colonialists like Kimeria. As the capitalists entrench themselves in Ilmorog, she becomes a successful madam of a brothel. In front of her wood mansion, “a nice aromatic smell hung about the courtyard of beautifully neatly mowed grass with a pattern of words, LOVE IS POISON” (Petals, 286). Years ago, she had murdered her child and has, for many years thereafter, struggled to conceive. Eventually, she does fall pregnant after a chance encounter with Abdulla, the crippled relic of the revolution, who had once asked her to marry him. As an incarnation of Mumbi, flawed by neo-colonialism, it is she who carries the seed of the heroic past into the uncertain future and, with Abdulla, “signifies the regeneration of potency in the struggle for freedom from oppression and exploitation in present-day Kenya ” (Stratton, 1994, p. 50). Munira becomes so unbalanced psychologically that he turns into a religious fanatic. In a fit of righteousness, he sets fire to Wanja’s brothel and causes the deaths of the Directors of the Ilmorog brewery, Chui, Kimeria, and Mzigo. In this anti-capitalist novel, everything is ironically a commodity, even human beings who are now governed by a new ruling class of their own people. Institutions, such as the church, the law, and the educational system, operate to reproduce the marketplace. As the process of historical reconstruction is perverted, so is the traditionally sanctioned continuation of the Gikuyu blood-line, appropriately captured in the nonregenerative symbol, petals of blood. The erosion of traditional values is reinforced by the exploitation of the real Theng’eta plant, which is the key ingredient in the harvest celebration. In the past, it had been both a stimulant and medicine reserved for ritual occasions. But in capitalist Ilmorog, it is appropriated as raw material for the local brewery. Amatu (1989) views the crisscrossing of the lives of the characters as a “gigantic metaphor of human struggle with historical forces threatening annihilation” (p. 151). But it is a far cry from the communal spirit that strove to heal and reconcile itself for a hopeful future in A Grain of Wheat.

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In Ngugi’s novels, the lives of men and women are, more or less, living history and legend, depending on their ability to grapple with the pressure of events. The depiction of their lives is an attempt to “tell the whole story of a whole people, in living time, to restore their knowledge of themselves to themselves so that they can end exploitation” (Nazareth, 1985, p. 122). And the primary Gikuyu-Mumbi narrative, functioning like an archeology of the self, comprises Gikuyu ontology. To preserve wholeness of being, the rituals, such as circumcision, the more recent oathing ceremony, and even western education, constitute rebirth and the transformation of selfhood. Birth, initiation, marriage, and death, the vital stages of individual transformation, extend to the Gikuyu people as a whole given their belief in the reincarnation of their ancestors. In contrast to the integrative developmental impulse of the myth, the sense of self undergoes a battering during the colonial (and even post-colonial) encounter. Through a series of rationalisations, engendered by a negative self-image, the coloniser’s identity is predicated on the colonised as ‘other,’ ‘negative,’ and ‘blank darkness.’ To JanMohamed (1983), the mental misrepresentations “are not accurate appraisals of reality but rather projections of the settler’s own anxieties and negative self-image” (p. 3). In return, the colonised sees the coloniser as absolutely evil, which results in mutual rejection. At the same time, however, given the complexities of being, the settler depends on the presence/absence of the colonised, who himself is both attracted to and repelled by the coloniser. These contradictions are compounded in the colonial and, so it would seem, in the postcolonial set-up, so that the colonised soon loses sense of his own cultural history and direction. To offset this, Ngugi uses writing and English to recover the origin myth of Gikuyu and Mumbi, which is disrupted by other, perhaps more fashionable, stories that lead to the breakdown and distortion of the community. He does this by connecting orality and literacy and intertwining oral transmissions of the past with his own improvisations to show the continuity of a vibrant African narrative tradition. Like other writers on the continent such as Achebe, Soyinka, Nwapa, Emecheta and Kunene, to name but a few, Ngugi did not learn to make stories from colonisers. As George Moore (1980) writes, there was “a rich and ancient oral tradition, expressed in languages which have special tonic and sonic qualities of their own” (p. 7). What was new was the activity of writing and in a foreign language, for the most part. Writing enabled the “performing of a function as ancient as African cultures themselves, but for a new market and under new conditions” (Moore, 1980, p. 7). The result, inevitably, is hybridity, but, as Losambe (1996) concludes, “the incursion of literacy, European languages and literary forms into the African

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literary creativity should be seen as an historical incident which came to enlarge the capacity and enhance the development of that creativity ” (p. xii). That creativity is exemplified by using all that is available; Ngugi, for instance, has recorded the creation myth, which, in turn, has been used as an interpretive paradigm and moral touchstone in this reading. Besides that, the inscribing of the myth creates and affirms an identity, a reference point, a sense of history and place, all of which have implications for the politics of literary criticism and knowledge-making as Morrison (cited in Tate, 1985), Chinweizu and Madubuike (1985), and Soyinka (1976) have taken pains to bring to notice.

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REFERENCES Amatu, C. (1989.) The Theory of African Literature. London: Zed Books Ltd. Chinweizu, O. J., & Ihechukwu Madubuike. (1985.) Toward the Decolonization of African Literature London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Cook, D. (1977.) African Literature: A Critical View. London: Longman. Evans, I. (1990.) Experiencing the fourth wall: A narrative of graduate teacher education in education in curriculum, Curriculum Inquiry, 23, 37-61. Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press. Gatheru, R. M. (1964.) Child of Two Worlds. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. JanMohamed, A. R. (1983.) Manichean Aesthetics. Boston: University of Massachusetts Press. Jansen, J. (1991.) Knowledge and power in the classroom: Rethinking educational practice and scholarship. In J. Jansen (Ed.), Knowledge and Power in South Africa: Critical Perspectives across the Disciplines. Johannesburg: Skotaville. Kenyatta, J. (1938.) Facing Mount Kenya: The Tribal Life of the Gikuyu. New York: Random House. Larson, C.R. (1978.) The Emergence of African Fiction. USA: Indiana University Press. Leeuw T. (1994.) Research Capacity Building: Context, identity, and enduring challenges. Paper presented at the launching conference of the Social science Research and Development Forum, University of Fort Hare. Losambe, L. (1996.) An Introduction to the African Prose Narrative. Pretoria: Kagiso Tertiary. Mbiti, J. S. (1969.) African Religion and Philosophy. London: Heinemann. Moore, G. (1980.) Twelve African Writers. London: Hutchinson.

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Nazareth, P. (1985.) The Second Homecoming: Multiple Ngugi’s in Petals of Blood. In G. M. Gugelberger (Ed.), Marxism and African Literature. New Jersey: African World Press Inc. Ogude, J. (1999.) Ngugi’s Novels and African History. London: Pluto Press. Olney, J. (1973.) Tell me Africa. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Palmer, E. (1972.) An Introduction to the African Novel. London: Heinemann. Pityana, S. M. (1992.) The role and place of research and intellectual discourse in the reproduction of social relations of racial domination in South Africa. Developmental Southern Africa, 9, 481-486. Ratele, K., & Mokotedi, P. (1997.) Learning in a language of exclusion. In J. Mouton, & J. Muller (Eds.), Knowledge, Method and the Public Good. Pretoria; Human Sciences Research Council, 469-492. Said, E. (1984.) Reflections on Exile. Granta, 13, 158-165. Stratton, F. (1994.) Contenporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender. London: Routledge. Soyinka, W. (1976.) Myth, Literature and the African World. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press. Tate, C. (Ed.) (1985.) Black Woman Writers at Work. London: Oldcastle Books. Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. (1964.) Weep Not, Child. London: Heinemann. Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. (1965.) The River Between. London: Heinemann, Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. (1967.) A Grain of Wheat. London: Heinemann. Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. (1977.) Petals of Blood. London: Heinemann. Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. (1982.) Devil on the Cross. London: Heinemann. Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. (1988.) Writing Against Neo-colonialism. In K. H. Petersen (Ed.), Criticism and Ideology. Uppsala, Sweden: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. Williams, L. (1982.) Religion and Life in James Ngugi’s The River Between, In E. D. Jones (Ed.), African Literature Today, No 5 (The Novel in Africa). London: Heinemann.

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Chapter 3

TERMS OF ADDRESS IN EWE: A SOCIO-PRAGMATIC INVESTIGATION Paul K. Agbedor Department of Linguistics University of Ghana, Legon

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ABSTRACT This paper examines the address system of Ewe, a New Kwa language of the Niger-Congo phylum, spoken in parts of Ghana and Togo. It is shown in this paper that the types of choices made by speakers when they address interlocutors is determined by the relationship that exists between the interlocutors; this relationship is usually social in nature. The social indicators involved in the choice of address terms in Ewe include age, social status, and kinship. Data has been collected from various sources, including drama on TV, radio talk shows, and observation of actual interactions in some Ewe-speaking communities.

INTRODUCTION When people are engaged in verbal interaction, they address one another in various forms. The various expressions or words used to refer to people we interact with are referred to as address terms. Much work has been done on address systems of European languages. A well-known study is that of Brown and Gilman (1960) who focused on the use of the second person pronoun in French,

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German, Italian, and Spanish. The use of this pronoun in those languages was found to be governed by the social considerations of power and solidarity. It was observed that, in any communicative event, a speaker may have power over the addressee or vice versa. This power relationship is guided by such social indicators as age, caste, race, and occupation. A power relationship exists, for instance, between a child and the parents, a teacher and a pupil, or between a boss and his subordinate staff member. In such a relationship, the person who exercises power over the other addresses the other person with the singular form of the second person pronoun, referred to here using the French T(u); the one with power is addressed with the plural form of the second person pronoun, generally referred to with the French V(ous). According to Brown and Gilman (1960), this power relationship is not reciprocal, in the sense that two people may not have power over each other. Solidarity, on the other hand, is invoked between equals or people who are closely or intimately related. In this regard, it is reciprocal. In this type of relationship the T type of pronoun is used by the interlocutors for each other. Even though the power and solidarity use of personal pronouns does not exist in English, these attributes are found in American English, but expressed by other means such as the use of first name (FN) or title and last name (TLN) (Brown & Ford, 1961). The use of FN and TLN in American English almost coincides with the T and V usage in French, German, Spanish, and Italian. FN is used by the ‘powerful’ speaker to the ‘non-powerful’ addressee and the former receives TLN in return. This represents a non-reciprocal use of the terms. Other types of exchanges found in the American study were mutual FN and mutual TLN. These choices are found to be determined by age and occupational status or rank. But it should be noted that there is no correlation between age and occupational status. In other words, a young person may be of a higher status than somebody who is older. In this type of situation, Brown and Ford found that occupational status takes precedence over age, so that the younger but superior officer addresses the older but subordinate interlocutor with FN and receives TLN from the older interlocutor. It will be shown that, in such a situation in Ewe, age plays a more important role in the choice of address forms. One of the most comprehensive studies on address systems in an African language is Oyetade’s (1995) study on Yoruba. Oyetade notes that Yoruba makes use of personal pronouns (especially second and third person pronouns) in power relationships of the type mentioned for French and the other European languages. According to him,

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the choice of 2nd and 3rd person pronouns in Yoruba unequivocally tells the status of the participants and their referents in a speech act. (p. 520)

The determining factor is age or status; for example, an older person addresses a younger person with the singular form and gets the plural form in return. The same applies to a boss and a subordinate. One point made by Oyetade is that these two categories of pronouns are used honorifically only when they are used to address a single person; but when used to refer to more than one person, they perform their normal grammatical function. One other interesting finding of Oyetade is the fact that in certain situations this power relationship can be violated by a speaker. This ‘poetic license’ is, however, reserved for only a particular class of speakers, notably traditional poets who eulogize kings. It was also noted that, on certain occasions such as traditional festivals, the king can be addressed by name by his subjects.

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METHODOLOGY The material for this paper was gathered using the sociolinguistic elicitation technique developed by Labov (1972). Data was collected from a weekly drama program and an adult education program on TV. There are two important Ewe programs on Ghana Television (GTV); these are “Adult Education Program” and “Showcase in Ewe.” The “Adult Education” program involves a host and a guest or two. The “Showcase” program is a dramatized program involving people who have different types of relationships—master-subordinate, husband-wife, parentchild, pastor-congregation, etc.—in which different forms of address are used. Some data was also obtained from direct observation and participation in verbal interactions and conversations in some Ewe communities. A number of people were also interviewed about some of the address forms in the language and what type of situations they would be used in. In collecting the data, certain factors were taken into consideration. Some of them are: the identity of the characters, the role relations between them, the context of speech, and the purpose of the interaction. The recorded materials were transcribed later and analyzed. Because pronouns do not play a part in the overall address system, they are not discussed. From the data, the following are the categories that feature most often in the address system of Ewe:

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Paul K. Agbedor a) b) c) d)

names kinship terms titles occupational terms.

CATEGORIES OF EWE ADDRESS FORMS In this section, the types of Address forms used in Ewe are examined. The rest of this paper is discussed under the above headings.

Names

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Names are identified as the most common address forms used in Ewe. Ewe names fall into two main categories. These are personal names and family names. Personal names are of different types, namely: a) b) c) d)

birthday names (dzigbeŋkọwo). circumstantial names Christian names appellations (ahanoŋkọwo)

Birthday names are the most common. A new-born child is named according to the day of the week that it is born. We have names for male and female corresponding to the seven days of the week (see Agbedor, 1991). For example, a baby boy born on Friday is named “Kofi” and the female counterpart is named “Afi.” The personal birthday names corresponding to the days of the week are shown below. Day of Week Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Male Name Kọsi Kọdzo Kọbla Awuku Yào Kofi Kọmi

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Female Name Kọsiwa Adzo Abla Aku Yáwo/Awo Afi/Afiwa Ama/Ami

Terms of Address in Ewe

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Apart form these birthday names, a child could also be named according to a particular circumstance surrounding the birth or an eventful occasion characterizing the birth. For example, a child may be born soon after a family member has died. Then, that child could be named “Ametefe,” which means “in place of a person.” This implies that the baby is a replacement for that family member who has passed away. Other circumstances that may determine a baby’s personal name include:

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location of birth (e.g. on the farm, in the market, by the roadside etc); genealogy (e.g. first, second or third male/female; twins or triplets etc.)1

Christian names have also become common among the Ewe because of the rapid spread of Christianity. Apart from imported Christian names, there are Christian names in Ewe which are either translations of the English ones or the language’s own derivatives. For example, apart from the imported Christian names like Victoria, Paul, and Seth, there are Ewe Christian names like Yayra (‘blessing’), Kafui (‘praise him’), Mawutọ (‘God’s own’), and a host of others (see Agbedor, 1991). Appellations are special names normally taken by the person during adulthood. These names usually express the bearer’s philosophical view of life, or they may be used to put a message across. This category of names represents a whole discourse, but a clipped form is used on normal occasions. The full form is usually evoked on special occasions where two or more people are gathered. The reason for evoking the full form, usually in the presence of others, is for the message embodied in the name to be passed to others. An example of such a name is: Æ Vigbedọ Vi gbe dọ Child refuse errand ‘A child who refuses errands’ The full form of this name is: Vi gbe dọ me-gbe-a awlime dọ o Child refuse errand NEG-refuse-HAB Hades errand NEG ‘A child who refuses errands cannot refuse the errand to Hades.’

1

All these types of names are discussed in Agbedor (1991).

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The bearer of this name wants to put across the message that everyone, no matter how powerful they are, will have to succumb to death eventually. It is not directed at children, but to those who think they are above the law or who think they are so powerful that nobody can touch them. The child and errand are used here as symbolism. Family names or surnames are usually names of one’s grandparents or great grandparents. Among the Ewe, the name of an ancestor is perpetuated by being used by generations of family members. Usually, a child would take the grandfather’s name as a surname. These two categories of names, personal and family names, are used as address forms. Whichever category is used depends on such factors as age, family relationship, intimacy, and status relationship. Depending on these factors, a person can address another by a personal name (PN), a title plus surname (TSN), or an appellation (AP). Personal names are used reciprocally among friends, close associates, and peer groups. The nonreciprocal use is determined by age or family (or institutionalized) status (e.g. kinship, priesthood, chieftaincy). So, an older person would address a younger person with PN and receive either a TSN or an appropriate kinship term. It is considered rude or impolite for a younger person to address an older person with a personal name (PN). If that happens, the younger person is always reprimanded or chastised with the expression: Me-bu-a

ame o a person NEG QP ‘Don’t you respect?’ NEG-respect-HAB

or Wo hati wo-nye a 2SG age-mate 3SG-be QP ‘Is he /she your equal?’ In interactions involving dyadic relationships, a generic kinship term or an appropriate honorific term is used. For example, a woman would address her father-in-law as papa and her mother-in-law as mama. She considers the parents of her husband as her parents too in a way. In fact, a younger person would address a person who s/he considers to be as old as her parents with these same generic terms. A man would also address his in-laws with the same terms. People use the kinship term efo (‘elder brother’) for male interlocutors who are older than they are but not as old as their parents. The feminine counterpart is afenọ (‘elder sister’). These two terms are usually used in the bare form to address strangers.

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For people who are familiar to the speaker, the terms are used together with a personal name. For example, a younger person can address an older person with efo Kọmi or afenọ Ama for male and female respectively. Another category of personal names that feature in address systems among the Ewe is what is referred to as ahanoŋkọwo, which literally translates as “drinking names.” These names are taken by individuals (usually men) at adulthood. These names represent whole discourses, but the clipped forms are used to address the owners.2 These names represent the owner’s world view on certain important social and moral issues. They are used to communicate a message to the people. For example, the name Dzamesi is the clipped form of the following discourse:

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Dze -ame -si -e wowọ-na na ahia; ahia me-∂o-a fall person hand FOC 3PL-do-HAB give love love NEG-send-HAB ame ∂e fi gbe o person to theft place NEG ‘One gives his lover only what he has; love does not send one to steal’ This name suggests that one should not go and steal to satisfy your lover; your lover should accept whatever you have, no matter how little. The person who takes this name is trying to send this message to the public that that is his view about love-life. This category of names is used reciprocally among friends or contemporaries. The label ahanoŋkọwo derives from the fact that these names were used mostly at drinking bars, where they drew attention to the person bearing the name. As soon as he steps into the bar, a colleague who is already seated there welcomes him by mentioning his name loudly to the hearing of those around. This is a way of not only acknowledging the presence of that person, but also drawing the attention of the people to the message that his name carries.3

Kinship Terms Kinship terms are a very common way of addressing people among the Ewe. They are used non-reciprocally between interlocutors who have some social distance between them. For example, a woman would address a man in a teknonymic form such as X papa (‘X’s father’) or another woman of equal age or 2 3

This category of Ewe personal names is discussed in Agbedor (1991). This category of personal names used to be taken by only men, but now some women are also adopting names from this category.

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status as X dada (‘X’s mother’). A woman would usually not use the personal name of a man of equal age. This seems to be a reflection of the social distance between the woman and the man that is culturally determined. In other words, women are generally supposed to show deference to men in many traditional societies. So, she addresses a man through his children (usually the eldest one). In a dyadic relationship, a woman would normally address her husband as efo (‘elder brother’). A woman may address another woman of the same age using the personal name, but most of the time, to show respect to each other, they would address their female age-mates through their children (i.e., X mother). There is one use of kinship terms among the Ewe which is commonly used by spouses to address each other’s relatives. It has been mentioned that a woman would usually address her father-in-law and mother-in-law as papa (‘father’) or dada (‘mother’). But the woman would address siblings of her husband by the kinship names that her children will call them. For example, children of this woman would call their father’s sister tasi (‘aunt’). So, in addressing the sister of her husband, the woman would use the expression wotasi (‘their aunt‘), which means the children’s aunt. The pronominal wo is the third person plural possessive pronoun, which is used here to refer to the children. The same woman would address the younger brother of her husband as wotọ∂e (‘their younger father/paternal uncle’) and the elder brother of her husband as wotọga (‘their elder father’). A husband would also address siblings of his wife in similar manner, using the possessive pronoun with the appropriate kinship term. So, he would address his wife’s younger sister as wonọ∂e (‘their younger mother’) and her elder sister as wonọga (‘their elder mother’). These kinship titles may be used together with the personal name of the addressee. So, one could hear a person addressing the interlocutor as wotasi Ama (‘aunt Ama’) or wotọ∂e Kofi (‘uncle Kofi’). One interesting use of kinship terms in Ewe is when they are used to address people without any kin relationship to the speaker. The speaker assesses the addressee, whom s/he meets for the first time and with whom s/he is not familiar, and gives him or her the appropriate kinship title, depending especially on the age of the person. For example, if a speaker assesses an unfamiliar addressee and finds that s/he is about the age of his or her father or mother, s/he address him or her as either papa or dada. Any young person who the speaker assumes to be older than him or her is addressed as efo (‘elder brother’) or afenọ/da (‘elder sister’). Kinship terms constitute a very important aspect of honorification in Ewe. Most of the time, these kinship terms are used without a name, especially when they are used as address forms (see Miyamoto & Agbedor, 2003). In fact, they serve as titles in Ewe, where they can go with a name or be bare. So, we can have

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Tasi (Ama) Aunt Ama ‘Aunt (Ama)’

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Titles People can also be addressed by titles. These are discussed under three rubrics, namely titles derived from (a) social status (b) traditional authority (c) professions. Titles derived from social status. Social status can be the result of age, socio-economic position, or education. The social status deriving from these factors normally attract the address form Amega or Afetọ, the latter being the result of foreign influence (it is the equivalent of “Mr.” in English). Amega and Afetọ are usually used between people who are unfamiliar with each other or people who meet for the first time. As a result, they can be used bare or with a personal or family name. When a person wants to address someone s/he has never met before and therefore does not know his/her name, s/he can simply say the bare titles. Title plus personal or surname is used reciprocally between people of equal status in official or formal situations. In a conversation between people of different statuses, the younger or low status speaker would address the older or higher status interlocutor with title with or without personal or surname, and s/he receives PN or another form from the addressee. Where the addressee does not know the name of the addresser, s/he uses an appropriate expression such as vinye (‘my child’). Afetọ is usually used by educated speakers to address other educated people Apart from using kinship titles for their husbands as seen earlier, women also use the title Afetọ to address their husbands. So, you would normally hear a woman address the husband as: Nye Afetọ My Lord ‘My Lord’

Traditional political titles. Another important category of titles in Ewe are those conferred on traditional rulers. The chief or the king in an Ewe community is addressed or referred to as Tọgbi, with or without the stool/royal name/title. When the referent is understood by the interlocutors, the title alone is sufficient. Otherwise, the title plus the stool name will be used. For example, a chief or king

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with a stool name “Adzomani” and who is the third chief in the lineage will be referred to as: Togbi Adzomani III. The title Tọgbi, which literally means grandfather, is also used for traditional priests. These priests are very much respected in the society because they are believed to be the intermediaries between the gods and the people. They are the custodians of the traditional religion. Included in this category are traditional religious titles. Traditional religion features very prominently in the lives of a large number of Ewes, even though there are more Christians today than the traditional religion adherents. There are shrines of various deities dotted all over the Ewe-speaking areas, especially in the southern portions. The fetish priests, who are the elders of the shrines, are usually addressed as Tọgbi, just like the title for the chief. Apart from the chief, the fetish priests are held in very high esteem by their followers because they are considered to be above the ordinary person and are intermediaries between the people and the gods. Another title used for fetish priests is Hunọ. Normally, the choice between Tọgbi and Hunọ depends on the type of shrine. The leaders of the Yewe cult (a thunder god) are usually addressed as Hunọ, while the other shrines address their leaders as Tọgbi. There is another type of traditional religion referred to as Afa. It is a divination cult, and those who practise it are claimed to be able to forecast events or tell people the reason for their predicaments. For example, they are consulted by people who want to find out the cause of death or illness of their relatives. The practitioners of this cult are addressed as Bokọ. Like other titles, these address forms can be used with or without names, depending on the circumstances, or when the context is clear. Professional titles. As far as professional titles are concerned, we can categorize them into traditional and modern titles. Traditionally, the Ewe are farmers. Farming, being the most common occupation, does not have any title associated with it. Within the traditional professions, those that require specialized skills usually attract titles. Two such traditional professions are blacksmithing and hunting. These require special skills, so they have the titles gbede and adela respectively. Depending on the circumstances, these titles can also be used with or without a name. The modern professions are those that came during contact with the Western world. One of the commonest of such professions is teaching. So a teacher in an Ewe community would be referred to as titsa or nufiala with or without a name. Other modern titles we find in Ewe, some of which are the result of borrowing from English, are:

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supervisor of schools headmaster of a school headmistress (of a school) manager (of a company/other institutions) chief (boss)

The title Amega, which we saw earlier, is used to refer to any category of superior person or senior male officer. Other modern professional titles derived from loanwords are: Dọkita (‘doctor’) Lọya (‘lawyer’) (Papa/Mami) sodza (‘male/female soldier’) (Papa/Mami) polisi (‘policeman/policewoman’) Kọpro (‘corporal’ in army or police) Sadzi (‘seargent’ in army or police) Kabita (‘carpenter’) Drọẹva (‘driver’)

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All these forms, except those with Papa/Mami prefixed to them, can be used with or without a name.

SOCIAL INDICATORS OF ADDRESS FORMS In this section, I would like to discuss the social factors that govern the use of these address forms or strategies we have examined. The use of address forms is said to be determined largely by the relationship between the speaker and the addressee (Brown & Gilman, 1960), and this relationship may be analyzed in terms of two semantic dimensions, namely, power (or status) and solidarity (intimacy). However, in this paper, four elements which pertain to the relationship between a speaker and an addressee, and which Martiny (1996) refers to as “relational characteristics,” are discussed. These are: (1) social distance, (2) power, (3) age, and (4) formality. Age could be considered under power, but it is observed that age is a unique factor in determining the type of address form in Ewe in that it seems to have ramifications for the other three factors, hence its separation.

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Social Distance Social distance may be determined by the level of intimacy or familiarity between interlocutors or by the social status differential. When the level of familiarity or intimacy is low, then social distance is high. This kind of situation calls for reciprocal use of either title alone or title plus last name (TLN) from both interlocutors. Where the two are intimate or very close, informal language is usually the norm, and they can address each other by personal names. Social distance is also determined by the status differential between the interlocutors. Social status derives from a person’s social position with respect to his/her profession, which may be a product of his level of education. People with higher social status include professionals such as doctors, engineers, lawyers, professors, politicians, and high-ranking members of government agencies and other institutions. Special families such as royal families are included. All these categories of people attract polite behavior. When one speaks to anyone with a higher social status, one must be polite. Under such circumstances, there is usually a non-reciprocal use of either TLN or a professional title without a name. For example, a patient may just address his/her physician with the professional title dọkita without the name. This is one of the differences between the use of titles and names as address forms or as reference terms. In the former, one can use the title without a name, but in the latter, the title must be accompanied by the name for easy identification of the individual, since s/he is not present in the domain of discourse In cases where the two interlocutors are of equal status (e.g., two doctors or two lecturers), the choice of address form will depend on their level of familiarity. If they are meeting for the first time or if they have not been very close, reciprocal use of title alone or TLN is appropriate.

Power One of the sources of power is a person’s ranking in an organization. A superior person has more power than his or her subordinate; so, the latter must be polite to the former. Power can sometimes be relative in the sense that a change in situation can change a person’s power level. For example, a policeman may exercise power over an arrested person at the time of arrest, but the person who is arrested may have power over the policeman in another situation. For example, the person being arrested may be the policeman’s superior officer, such as the Minister of Interior. But at the time of arrest, the minister is a culprit and the

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policeman has greater power over him. Being a culprit, the policeman does not have to be polite to him because of the power he exercises over the culprit at that time. However, considering the fact that the power position might change again in favor of the culprit, the policemen may decide to show some politeness by addressing the culprit appropriately using either a title alone or TLN. Money is another source of power. A person who has money has power over the person who does not have it. In that regard, customers who deposit money at the bank have more power than the bank staff. The person who borrows money from the bank, on the other hand, has less power than the bank staff. Customers of service professionals such as barbers, waiters and waitresses, and hairdressers have more power than the professionals because the customers have the bargaining power. The professionals depend on the customers for their living. So, these service professionals are expected to be polite to the customers. One way to show their politeness to their customers is by addressing them appropriately. The customer and the service provider can employ mutual TLN or title alone. On the other hand, they can both use personal names when they are intimate or very familiar with each other. But even here, the issue of age is important. That is, even if client and service provider are very familiar with each other, any age difference between them must reflect in their choice of address form. If the customer is older, the service provider must respect the latter’s age by using either a title alone or TLN. If the customer is younger and familiar, the service provider can use the personal name and receive a title or TLN from the younger customer, even though the latter has power (economic) over the provider. However, if the younger customer belongs to a respectable professional group known to the service provider, then the status and economic power the younger customer has makes him/her equal to the older service provider. Here age is counterbalanced by status and power. Therefore, the two of them must use either mutual T or mutual TLN. The use of address terms as a reflection of economic power differential is displayed very vividly in the open markets in Eweland and other places in Ghana. The market women, in an attempt to catch a customer’s attention, resort to all kinds of address terms ranging from titles and TLN to kinship terms. Kinship and endearment titles are more commonly used in this context. For example, an elderly woman would address a younger customer as srọnye (‘my spouse’) just to win the prospective customer to her wares. She has probably not seen the young man before, but she uses the endearment term to draw him to her side. Such other kinship terms as efo (‘elder brother’), nye lọlọtọ (‘my sweetheart’) are used to attract prospective buyers in the market.

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Age Respect for age is very vibrant in Ewe society. Senior citizens are treated politely no matter the setting. In fact, age seems to be even more important than social status. A person with a higher social status speaking to a lower status person has to consider the person’s age and show politeness accordingly, despite the fact that the speaker has a higher social status. For example, in a traditional Ewe society, the chief is the highest authority, and everyone is expected to show deference to him. But the chief has to show respect to elderly people when he addresses them, despite the fact that he is the highest authority in the community. The chief, therefore, addresses his elders with the appropriate terms—either a Title or TLN. For example, a chief addressing one of his elders would use either a title (e.g., Zikpuitọ, ‘stool father’) or TLN (e.g., Amega X). He may even use a generic kinship term efo (‘elder brother’) or the appropriate kinship term if the elder is a biological relation.

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Formality The relationship between formality and politeness is that formal situations normally call for polite behavior, and polite behaviors usually indicate some level of formality. Formality is determined by such factors as the nature of the participants in the interaction, the type of occasion, the topic under discussion, and the purpose of the interaction. When there is no familiarity or solidarity among participants, we can say that we have a formal atmosphere. In other words, when one is interacting with strangers and socially distant people, one has to assume a formal attitude and be polite to one’s partner. It must be noted that the attitude may change in the course of interaction when the level of familiarity between the participants increases. The more familiar the participants become, the less formal and less polite the situation. Occasions that call for formality include weddings, funerals, church services, business meetings, and lectures. A speaker will behave formally and use polite language and the appropriate address term on such occasions, no matter the social status, age, or power of the participants. For example, a professor would be polite to a student during lectures by addressing the student appropriately. A person introducing his/her close friend to an audience at a public lecture would address the speaker with an address term appropriate to the occasion (e.g., Mr., Ms., Madam, Dr., Prof. X, etc, as the case may be). The intimacy or high solidarity between the speaker and the one introducing him/her become irrelevant on that

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particular occasion. In other words, solidarity or intimacy is overridden by formality. The kind of topic under discussion also determines the level of formality. When the topic is a serious one, then the language is formal. For example, when students are discussing academic work, the language will be more formal than when they are just conversing about everyday affairs, such as a ball game they watched the previous night. The channel of communication may also determine the level of formality. A radio or TV discussion will be more formal than face-toface discussions, probably because of the perceived presence of other people, the “unseen audience” (Martiny, 1996, p. 771). In this instance, therefore, formality is the determining factor for the type of address form used. These four factors form the basis for polite behavior and appropriate address forms. But as Ide (1982) notes, these factors can be manipulated to serve a particular individual need. For example, a person who wants to keep others away from him or herself would resort to the use of honorifics as a means of maintaining distance between himself and others. Also, in order to express feelings of empathy and solidarity towards a person, a speaker may use address forms that express these feelings, such as the tactics that market women use to attract customers.

PRAGMATIC FUNCTIONS OF ADDRESS FORMS Apart from the social indicators of address forms, there are pragmatic explanations for the use of these forms. The first of such functions is that address forms serve as attention-getters. They pick out the addressee as the target of the utterance. As Odonkor (2001) observes, address forms “spark off some emotional elation in the addressee.” Where there are several persons at the time of speaking, an address form also serves the purpose of selecting the person to whom a particular speech act is directed (Martiny, 1996). Another function of address forms is the identification and acknowledgement of the social position and power of the addressee. The use of honorific address forms, for instance project the power image of the addressee. They remind the addressee of his/her status or rank in the community and show the awareness of the speaker to such status. For example, the use of the honorific traditional political title Zikpitọ acknowledges the addressee’s position as the “stool father,” who, even though he cannot occupy the stool himself, has the power to choose the occupant of the stool. That position is acknowledged by the speaker, who, by using that address form, reminds others present, and those who may not be aware, of the position of the addressee.

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One other function of address forms is to bridge the kin and social distance between the speaker and the addressee. This function is evident in the use of kinship terms for non-biologically-related interlocutors. This strategy is employed by market women or salespersons to attract customers. A woman who was selling tomatoes once addressed the author as Nye Afetọ (‘my Lord’), a term used by wives for their husbands. She did not know me, nor did I know her; but this was a strategy she adopted to draw me closer to her and her tomatoes. Here, the woman employs the psychology of being nice to people in order to win their affection and patronage. Apart from the market women or salespersons, a subordinate may use an address form for his/her boss in order to win some favor from the boss. By social convention, the subordinate is supposed to be polite to his/her boss by using the appropriate address form or title. But, in order to get closer to his boss and win his attention, a speaker may add an honorific term to the title. For instance, the address form Nye Amega (‘my boss’) is more effective when the honorific expression Bubunatọ is added to it to derive Nye Amega Bubunatọ (‘my respectable boss’). The use of kinship terms for other people outside the speaker’s biological relations is also a means of showing politeness.Politeness may be negative or positive (Brown & Levinson, 1987). Negative politeness strategy is used to mitigate a face threatening act (FTA), an act that inherently tramples on the socially-derived need for others not to be imposed upon. Positive politeness, on the other hand, is a strategy used to show our appreciation for others’ feelings and needs. Address forms usually show the speaker’s appreciation of the addressee’s social position and therefore serves the purpose of positive politeness. However, they can also serve the needs of negative politeness. For example, a professor, who has the social right to address his/her student informally, may decide to accord him/her some politeness by addressing him/her formally when s/he is making a request of the student. This is especially evident when others are present in the speech situation. Terms of address may be used together with paralinguistic features and pragmatic particles to project certain pragmatic effects. For example, an address form used with a loud pitch may indicate some serious event that the addressee must be aware of. It may also indicate some emotional state of the speaker, such as fear, anger, or anxiety. It may be a cry for help. The use of the particle lee with an address form shows some level of impatience on the part of the speaker. This is commonly found in address forms used as vocatives. After calling Kofi twice without any sign of his presence, an agitated mother may shout “Kofi lee!” The addressee, on hearing this, knows that the mother is anxiously looking for him.

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With regard to function, address forms can also be categorized into two types: first, those forms that designate the addressee as a specific individual, and second, those forms that emphasize the relationship between the speaker and the addressee (Peret, 1968, cited in Martiny, 1996). First name (FN) and last name (LN) are examples of the former; while titles (M-titles, occupational titles, and kinship titles) represent the latter. FN is distinguished from LN in the sense that FN represents a clearer intrusion into the personal preserve or territory of the addressee. However, both FN and LN permit a personalized address to be made to an interlocutor. This characteristic distinguishes them from titles, which emphasize the social relation between the speaker and the addressee and are therefore less personal than FN and LN.

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CONCLUSION This paper has examined the address forms used in Ewe and their social and pragmatic importance. It has been observed that the well-known T(u) and V(ous) types of pronouns of address found in many languages, such as French, Spanish, Russian and Yoruba, do not occur in Ewe, where second person pronouns are used only for reference. Ewe employs different means of addressing interlocutors. These are names (FN and LN), titles (with or without names), and kinship terms. The main factors that determine choice of address forms are discussed, and the socio-pragmatic functions of address forms have been attempted. Address forms do not only open a window to the cultural practices of an ethnic group; they also show the kind of social relationships that a particular ethnic group considers to be very important in social interaction.

REFERENCES Agbedor, P. (1991.) What is in a Name? Working Papers of the Linguistic Circle (WPLC) of the University of Victoria, 9, 19-28 Brown, R., and Ford, M. (1961.) Address in American English. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 62, 375-385. Brown, R., and Gilman, A. (1960.) The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity. In T. Sebeok (Ed.), Style in Language (pp. 253-276). Boston: MIT Press. Brown, R., and Levinson, S. (1987.) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Ide, S. (1982.) Japanese Sociolinguistics: Politeness and Women’s Language. Lingua, 57, 357-385. Labov, W. (1972.) The Study of language in its Social Context. In J. Fishman (Ed.), Advances in the Sociology of Language. The Hague: Mouton. Martiny, T. (1996.) Forms of address in French and Dutch: A sociopragmatic approach. Language Sciences, 18, 765-775. Miyamoto, R., and Agbedor, P. (2003.) Politeness Strategies: A Study of Japanese and Ewe. Journal of Asian and African Languages and Linguistics, 32, 81111. Odonkor, D. P. (2001.) Request Among the Krobos: A Survey. M. Phil. Thesis, Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana. Oyetade, S. O. (1995.) A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Address Forms in Yoruba. Language in Society, 24, 515-535.

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Chapter 4

ADDRESS FORMS AMONG AKAN FAMILIES (COUPLES) LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY Cecilia Sem Obeng

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Department of Applied Health Science Indiana University, Bloomington

ABSTRACT Choice of an address form among Akan couples living in the United States is influenced by such factors as education, profession, age, religious affiliation, socioeconomic status, discourse purpose, message content, and speech context. Elderly couples with little or Western education address their spouses by their day-names or proper names. However, couples with different levels of Western education address their spouses either by their foreign names (European name, Christian name, non-Akan name), daynames, proper names, professional titles, etc. The general address patterns point to the fact that women pay more attention to status than men and that discourse purpose and message content influence men’s address forms more than women’s address forms.

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INTRODUCTION This paper explores the various address forms used by Akan couples living in the United States. It shows that the choice of an address form among Akan couples is influenced by several cultural and interpersonal factors such as kinship ties, the communicational context (i.e., the interactional and cultural norms of communication), message content, discourse purpose, politeness (respect for spouse), level of education, socioeconomic status, profession, age, and religion. The paper also demonstrates that although couples’ address patterns may be influenced by the above-mentioned factors, the degree or extent to which each factor affects the overall address pattern may be different and that some factors affect males and females at different degrees. Finally, the paper ends with a brief discussion of the relevance of this study (on address forms) to Family Studies.

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Cultural Use of Address Forms Language represents one of the most fertile areas for exploring social/power structure in marriages, social organization, and social relationships among couples. Terms of address—words speakers use to designate the person they are talking to while they are talking to them (Fasold, 1984, p. 1) - represent a social aspect of the role of speech in interpersonal communication and interpersonal relationships. As the selection of a particular term of address is governed by the relationship between the addressor and the addressee (i.e., the speaker’s social status in relation to the addressee), terms of address come squarely under relational language and that they provide insights into how social factors and language influence each other (Fasold, 1984). Bean (1978) presents ethnographic and semantic theoretic accounts of terms of address in Kannada (a Dravidian language spoken in India). In particular, she deals with the referential (symbolic) and the indexical or pragmatic meanings of Kannada system of address. She notes that ‘terms of address are not simply about something, that is, used to discuss categories of sociocultural worlds; they are tied to their referents indexically, necessarily being co-present with them’ (Bean, 1978, p. xii). Thus, besides showing whom the addressee of a particular utterance is, a mode of address actually makes one the addressee by being the person at whom the utterance is directed. Terms of address, according to Bean (1978, p. xiii), then, ‘stand in the interstice between semantics and pragmatics, since their

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meaning is in part symbolic (i.e., about the sociocultural worlds) and in part indexical or pragmatic (i.e., through an intrinsic association with it)’. Geiger (1979) notes that there may be a difference between how a person is referred to and how s/he is addressed. How a person is referred to, he argues, is decided by the context within which the discourse is held. Fasold quotes him as saying that although a man may address his wife by her first name, he may refer to her as “‘Mom’, ‘my wife’, ‘Mary’, ‘Mrs. Harris’, or ‘Tommy’s mother’ depending on whom he is talking to” (Fasold 1984, p. 3). Brown and Gilman’s (1960, 1972) work on pronouns of power and solidarity is by far the most important and the most cited work on address forms and the social relationships such address forms reveal. Working on the address by the second person pronoun in four Indo-European languages (French, German, Italian and Spanish), they show that pronoun usage is governed by ‘power’ and ‘solidarity’ semantics. By semantics they are referring to “the covariation between the pronoun used and the objective relationship existing between speaker and addressee” Brown and Gilman (1972, p. 252). On the power semantic, Brown and Gilman (1972) argue that X may be said to exercise control over Y if X can control the behavior of Y. Power, they, emphasize, is nonreciprocal since the person who exercises power over some one and the one over whom the power is exercised cannot have power in the same area of behavior. The superior may address the subordinate using T and the subordinate may address the superior with a deferential pronoun—V. Because the T and V address forms relate to superiority/authority and inferiority/ subordination, they call for a social structure in which there are unique power ranks for every individual. Mey (1993) and Bean (1978, p. 1) argue that terms of address are indexical symbols. They act as pointers or shifters in telling where to look for a reference. Specifically, they point to people’s place in given social contexts. Through the concept of address terms as indexicals governed by various social factors, couples can express their feelings of solidarity, power, intimacy, hostility, or anger toward others by manipulating choices. Couples’ expression of their feelings is based on their awareness of social customs shown through the concept of politeness, on their moods, their social status within a marriage, and on their overall culture. The solidarity semantic, Brown and Gilman contend, dominates power as the semantic that is most important in selecting T and V. Specifically, the solidarity semantic “is potentially applicable to all persons addressed. Superiors with power may be solidary (parents, elder siblings, etc.) or not solidary (officials whom one seldom sees). Power inferiors, similarly, may be as solidary as the old family

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retainer and as remote as the waiter in a strange restaurant” (Brown & Gilman, 1972, p. 258). Use of reciprocal first name (FN) and reciprocal title plus last name (TLN) on the one hand and the nonreciprocal FN or TLN among American English speakers was studied by Brown and Ford (1964). Their results show that the reciprocal address forms are governed by solidarity (i.e., intimacy) whereas the nonreciprocal forms are governed by such power attributes as age and occupation status. The broad outlines of Brown and Gilman’s studies have been confirmed by several other researchers including Slobin et. al. (1968) and Ervin-Tripp (1972). However, studies by other researchers call for the need to take a closer look at the power and solidarity semantic since other factors also come into play. Paulston in her (1975) paper on “Language and Social Class: pronouns of address in Swedish”, argues that such factors as language type, kind of community, nature of social group and even individual differences all affect the application of the power and solidarity semantics. In the words of Fasold (1984, p. 35), “Both uniformity and considerable group and individual variation are characteristic of address form systems.” Among the Hindi of India, Mehrotra (1970) shows how by associating modes of address with a group of related categories or variables in the context of situation one can unearth hidden linguistic facts about social differences, social hierarchy, inferiority or superiority, class, race or nationalism, conformity and nonconformity, caste, communalism, affection and intimacy, strength and weakness of character, religion, physical appearance and disability. He notes that even the “slightest change in a situation (say, appearing in different clothes) results in a major change in the mode of address affecting the attitude and total behavior of the participants” (Mehrotra, 1970, p. 48). Mehrotra concludes by indicating how different terms of address may suggest some emotional meaning besides their intellectual content. Unusual emphasis of the emotional element may not only lead to loss of the intellectual content, it may lead to either the elevation or degradation of certain words in a language. He notes, for example, that flattering epithets Maharaj (emperor) and Khalifa (Caliph) used to address watercarriers and tailors respectively serve as verbal lubricants that soothe the vexation of wounded pride and imagined or genuine grievances of such persons.

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Address Forms Among Akan Families (Couples)…

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METHOD The data for this study are from responses to a questionnaire administered in New Jersey, United States in 2005. Eight hundred questionnaires were mailed to four hundred couples living in the Jersey, Plainfield, Somerset, and Trenton areas. All the respondents were Akans (Ghana). The participants were identified through the association ‘chiefs’ (leaders). Of the eight hundred questionnaires mailed, four hundred and fifty were returned and fifty were discarded as unfit for the research because of various errors in how they were completed or because only one member of a family responded. In designing the questionnaires, such important background information as identity of the respondents, communicative context, the role relations between them and their spouses, etc. was considered. For example, I considered education an important variable and I identified four categories under it (i.e., tertiary, second cycle, middle, and none). The categorization was based on Ghana’s education system so for example, tertiary will strictly be used to refer to those respondents who have studied in a university. Respondents who attended teachers college or nursing colleges will be classified under secondary and post secondary. Middle school will include those who attended middle school under Ghana’s old educational system and those who have had junior secondary school education in the new system. Those under the category ‘Little/None’ are those who may have had some elementary (primary) school education or no education at all. Table 1. Respondents’ Educational Profile Educational Background Tertiary Secondary Cycle Middle School Little/None Total

Male (% Respondents) 16 (80%) 80 (66.7%) 75 (41.67%) 29 (36.25%) 200 (50%)

Female (% Respondents) 4 (20%) 40 (33.3%) 105 (58.33%) 51 (63.75%) 200 (50%)

Total (% Ed. Level) 20 (5%) 120 (30%) 180 (45%) 80 (20%) 400 (100%)

In Table 1, we observe that only 5% of the respondents had tertiary education. Most of the respondents either had a middle school education (45%) or a second cycle education (30%). A fifth of the respondents (20%) either had no education at all or had completed a few years of elementary education.

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In view of the high premium placed on occupation and/or profession (and its accompanying socioeconomic status) and on age by the Akan community in New Jersey, I also considered occupation and/or profession and age as significant variables. Tables 2 and 3 below respectively show the occupational and age profile of the respondents. A high percentage of the respondents were janitors (39.75%), nurses (24%), professional drivers (10.75) - these were mainly taxi and truck drivers -, and clerks (8.75%). 2.25% of the respondents were teachers whereas 4.75% were unable to name their specific occupations (this group represented those who had no permanent jobs but did hourly jobs in grocery stores and in stores as ‘casual’ workers). Occupations with the fewest number of respondents were automechanics (1.75%), managerial (2%), and physicians (2.75%). Table 2. Respondents’ Occupational Profile

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Occupation

Male

Female

Total

7 33 6 82 7 41 4 10 7 3 200

4 63 3 77 0 2 4 25 12 10 200

11 96 9 159 7 43 8 35 19 13 400

Physician Nursing Teaching Janitorial Auto-Mechanic Driving Managerial Clerical Other Unemployed Total

Percentage of Occupation 2.75% 24.00% 2.25% 39.75% 1.75% 10.75% 2.00% 8.75% 4.75% 3.25% 100%

Key: T=Total; M=Male; F=Female.

In Table 3 below, I show the respondents’ age profiles. My knowledge about Akan society played a significant role in establishing the age profile. In Akan society, especially in the rural areas, women, especially those without any formal education, have the tendency to get married after fifteen. Depending on their socioeconomic status, those with education (both males and females, but especially females) get married between ages twenty and twenty-five (although, for some, marriage may be delayed due to further education, financial problems, etc.). Couples between 15 and 19 may be termed ‘young people’ and those between 20 and 49 are referred to as ‘youth’. People between 50 and 60 are described as ‘middle aged’, whereas persons over sixty are referred to as ‘old

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Address Forms Among Akan Families (Couples)…

men/old women’ or ‘elders’. The age structure given here may be fluid at times, especially depending on one’s socioeconomic status and educational background, and sometimes even on one’s physical appearance. For example, in some Akan communities, the ‘youth chief’ may be a sixty-year old man. The age profile/structure is more or less evenly distributed with those in the 20–49 and 15–19 groups outnumbering those over fifty years of age. A close look at the age profile of the respondents and the length of stay in the United States reveals that most of the respondents in the 50–60 and over 60 age groups emigrated to the States in the 1970s and early 80s and have therefore lived in the US for over 25 years. Table 3. Respondents’ Age Profiles

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Age Group 15-19 20-49 50-60 Over 60 Total

Male 48 (44.4%) 54 (48.2%) 58 (58%) 40 (50%) 200 (50%)

Female 60 (55.6%) 58 (51.8%) 42 (42%) 40 (50%) 200 (50%)

Total 108 (27%) 112 (28%) 100 (25%) 80 (20%) 400 (100%)

A majority of those between 20 and 49 migrated to the United States in the1990s whereas most of respondents in the 15–19 age group were born in the United States or accompanied their parents or relatives to this country. Most of the respondents visit Ghana at least once every other year and keep in touch with extended family members through phone calls. In terms of culture maintenance, the respondents are members of various Akan associations and attend funerals, naming ceremonies, and other social functions such as GhanaFest (a festival that brings Ghanaians of all walks of life together to celebrate Ghana’s rich cultures).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Address Patterns Based on Level of Education In Table 4(a) we see that use of day-names and proper names decreases with increase in the level of education. On the other hand, use of foreign name in address increases with an increase in the level of education.

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From Table 4(a), we observe that a greater percentage (75%) of couples with college education address their spouses by their foreign names. Fifteen percent address their spouses by their day-names whereas 10% use other address forms— mainly nicknames. The data in Table 4(a) also suggest that 12.5% of males address their spouses either by their day-names or other address patterns whereas 75% use foreign names. Females with college degrees use only two address forms—foreign names (75%) and day-names (25%). Reasons given by such couples for the use of foreign names as address forms include being influenced by their spouse’s mode of address and educational background. To the question of why proper names are not used, a respondent who is a physician indicated that use of proper name would be rude. Asked if the perceived rudeness could not be mitigated by preposing a deferential title to the proper name, he responded, “why go to that trouble? Isn’t it just easier to address her as Rose than to use ‘Eno Gyamfua’?”

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Table 4. Address Patterns Based on Level of Education Level of Education Tertiary Post-Secondary Middle Little/None Total

DayName 3 38 76 31 148 (37%)

Foreign Name 15 63 48 6 132 (33%)

Proper Professional Name Title 0 0 8 8 29 9 32 7 69 (17.25%) 24 (6%)

Other

Total

2 3 18 4 27 (6.75%)

20 120 180 80 400 (100%)

Table 4(a). Address Patterns by Respondents with Tertiary Education— Woman addresses spouse by… Gender

Day-Name

Male Female Total

2 (12.5%) 1 (25%) 3 (15%)

Foreign Name 12 (75%) 3 (75%) 15 (75%)

Proper Name 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Professional Title 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

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Other 2 (12.5%) 0 (0%) 2 (10%)

Total 16 4 20

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Address Forms Among Akan Families (Couples)… Table 4(b). Address Patterns by Respondents with Tertiary Education— Is addressed by… Gender

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Male Female Total

Day-Name 2 (12.50%) 1 (25%) 3 (15%)

Foreign Name 8 (50%) 2 (50%) 10 (50%)

Proper Name 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Professional Title 5 (31.25%) 0 (0%) 5 (25%)

Other

Total

1 (6.25%) 1 (25%) 2 (10%)

16 4 20

Of the three people who addressed their spouses with their day-names, the reasons given by two suggested that it was for intimacy whereas the third viewed it more convenient than any other address form. From Table 4(b) we observe that a majority (50%) of them was addressed with their foreign names. This may point to reciprocity in address patterns since they mostly address their spouses with similar modes of address (foreign names). Given the obverse situation with the group that has little or no education, it could be argued that use of the above mode of address may give an indication to a sociocultural change among such couples. Specifically, it points to the strong influence of education on social interaction and interpersonal relationships. A close observation of the data in Tables 4 (a) and (b) also points to a strong reciprocity in address patterns. In particular, we observe that the way one addresses one’s spouse is in part influenced by the spouse’s address form. For example, none of the respondents in this category either addresses or is addressed by a spouse with a proper name. Also, 75% of the respondents address their spouses by their ‘foreign’ names and 50% are addressed in the same manner by their spouses. Table 4(c). Address Patterns by Respondents with Secondary/Post-Secondary Education—Addresses Spouse by… Gender

Day-Name

Male Female

24 (30%) 14 (35%)

Total

38 (31.6%)

Foreign Name 44 (55%) 19 (47.5%) 63 (52.5%)

Proper Name 7 (8.75%) 1 (2.5%) 8 (6.7%)

Professional Title 3 (3.75%) 5 (12.5%) 8 (6.7%)

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Other

Totals

2 2.5%) 1 (2.5%) 3 (2.5%)

80 40 120

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Gender

Day-Name

Male Female

30 (37.5%) 13 (32.5%) 43 (35.8%)

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Total

Foreign Name 40 (50%) 22 (55%) 62 (51.6%)

Proper Name 1 (1.25%) 4 (10%) 5 (4.2%)

Professional Title 5 (6.25%) 0 (0%) 5 (4.2%)

Other

Total

4 (5%) 1 (2.5%) 5 (4.2%)

80 40 120

Although none of the respondents in Table 4(a) addressed his or her spouse by professional title, in Table 4(b) we observe that five males are addressed by their spouses with a professional title. All five respondents who received professional titles as modes of address were physicians. Interestingly, no female physician was addressed with her professional title by a spouse. The above trend in the address pattern points to the fact that married women pay more attention to the power semantic than married men. It could also suggest that married women are more polite toward their husbands than married men. From Tables 4 (c) and (d) we observe that more married couples with secondary/post secondary education address (52.5%) and are addressed (51.6%) their spouses by their foreign names. This address pattern is followed by the use of day-names—31.6% address their spouses by their day-names and receive 35.8% in return. We also observe that, as with the tertiary group, no female respondent in this group was addressed by her professional title although 12.5% of the females addressed their spouses with their professional titles. Furthermore, we observe that whereas 8.75% of males in this group addressed their spouses with their proper names, only 2.5% of females in the group addressed their spouses with their proper names. On the other hand, whereas 10% of females in this group were addressed by their spouses with their proper names, only 1.25% of males were addressed with their proper names. The above figures give further credence to the point made earlier that the female respondents are more polite than the male respondents or that the female respondents pay more attention to the power semantic than do the male respondents.

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Address Forms Among Akan Families (Couples)… Table 4(e). Address Patterns by Respondents with Middle School Education—Addresses Spouse by… Gender Male Female

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Total

Day-Name 31 (41.3%) 45 (42.85%) 76 (42.22%)

Foreign Name 20 (26.7%) 28 (26.7%) 48 (26.67%)

Proper Name 9 (12%) 20 (19.03%) 29 (16.11%)

Professional Title 3 (4%) 6 (5.71%) 9 (5%)

Other

Total

12 (16%) 6 (5.71%) 18 (10%)

75 105 180

An important difference in address pattern between couples in this group and those with tertiary education is that whereas 0% of respondents in the tertiary group used proper names in address, 6.8% of respondents in the second cycle group addressed their spouses with their proper names and received 4.2% in return. An observation of Tables 4(e) and 4(f) shows that day-names are the most common address forms followed by foreign names. 42.22% address their spouses with the spouses’ day names whereas 49.43% are addressed by their day-names. We observe further that 41.3% of males address their spouses with their daynames and receive 50.67% in return, whereas 42.85% of females address their spouses with their day-names and receive 48.57% in return. Table 4(f). Address Patterns by Respondents with Middle School Education—Is addressed by… Gender Male Female Total

Day-Name Foreign Name Proper Name 38 (50.67%) 51 (48.57%) 89 (49.43%)

20 (26.7%) 32 (30.47%) 52 (28.9%)

10 (13.33%) 14 (13.33%) 24 (13.33%)

Professional Title 4 (5.33%) 3 (2.85%) 7 (3.9%)

Other

Total

3 (4%) 5(4.76%) 8(4.44%)

75 105 180

An important observation about this group is the increase in usage of proper names in addressing their spouses. As many as 16.11% of respondents said they address their spouses with the spouses’ proper names and 13.33% are addressed with their proper names. We also see a significant decrease in the use of foreign names as address forms. For example, whereas 52.5% of couples with secondary or post-secondary education addressed their spouses with their foreign names, only 26.67% of

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respondents with middle school education used foreign names in addressing their spouses. This supports the claim made earlier that the more education one has, the higher the tendency there is for them to use foreign names as modes of address. Comparing the secondary or post-secondary education with the middle school group, we also observe a slight increase in the use of address forms described as ‘other’ from 4.2% to 4.44%. Table 4(g). Address Patterns by Respondents with Little/No Western Education—Addresses Spouse by… Gender

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Male Female Total

Day-Name 11 (37.93) 20 (39.22%) 31 (38.75%)

Foreign Name Proper Name 4 (13.79%) 2 (3.92%) 6 (7.5%)

10 (34.48%) 22 (43.14%) 32 (40%)

Professional Title 3 (10.34%) 4 (7.84%) 7 (8.75%)

Other

Total

1 (3.45%) 3 (5.88%) 4 (5%)

29 51 80

A close observation of the data in Tables 4(g) and 4(h) suggest that the respondents use proper names (40%) more than any other address form. This is followed by day-names, 38.75%. Only 7.5% of the respondents in this group addressed their spouse by a foreign name. This is understandable since most of them do not have Western-based education. Close observation of the data also shows that compared with the other groups, there is a higher percentage in the use of professional titles as an address form. Table 4(h). Address Patterns by Respondents with Little/No Western Education—Is addressed by… Gender Male Female Total

Day-Name 10 (34.48%) 19 (37.25%) 29 (36.25%)

Foreign Name 3 (10.34%) 3 (5.88%) 6 (7.5%)

Proper Name 10 (34.48%) 24 (47.06%) 34 (42.5%)

Professional Title 4 (13.79%) 1 (1.96%) 5 (6.25%)

Other

Total

2 (6.9%) 4 (7.84%) 6 (7.5%)

29 51 80

We observe that more women (43.14%) use proper names than men (34.48%). What is different, though, is that women who use proper names as address prepose such deferential titles as wofa (‘uncle’) and agya (‘elder/father’) to the proper name. Obeng (1997) notes that in traditional Akan society, day-names and their hypocoristic forms may be used to mark solidarity or intimacy and that among friends or equals a shift in the use a hypocoristic form to a non-hypocoristic form

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may signal a shift in the relationship between members of a social network. Some respondents indicated that a combination of day-name and proper name without a preposed deferential title denotes anger on the part of the addresser. In Table 5 below, I explore the various reasons that make couples address their spouses the way they do. In Table 5, we observe that the most important factors that affect the modes of address among the respondents are discourse situation (18.75%), respect for spouse (17.25%), age (11%), discourse purpose (10.5%), socio-economic status (9%), and level of education (8.5%). Each of the above factors has considerable effect on the notions of power (Fairclough, 1989). Specifically, each relates to how language may be used to index power asymmetry or equality in power among interactants. For example, regarding discourse situation, a female respondent (who is a nurse) indicated that, although she makes more money than her husband, in the presence of other Akans she shows deference to him by addressing him with a deferential title ‘Uncle’ and a day-name. She indicated further that it would be rude to address him with a bare day-name or foreign name. Another respondent indicated that she addresses her husband with a deferential title plus either a day-name, foreign name, or proper name if she wants a favor from him. Asked why she does that, she indicated “It’s always nice to make a man feel good before you make a request for something.” Table 5. Factors influencing address patterns Factors Influencing Address Pattern Profession Discourse Purpose Teknonymy Level of Education Age Children’s/Relatives Address Religion Spouse’s Address Pattern Socio-economic status Discourse Situation Respect for Spouse Message Content Other Total

Male Number (% Respondents) 3 (33.3) 28 (66.7) 3 (33.3) 14 (41.2) 20 (45.5) 6 (37.5) 5 (45.5) 18 (64.3) 16 (44.4) 35 (46.7) 34 (49.3) 15 (75) 3 (42.9) 200

Female Number (% Respondents) 6 (66.7) 14 (33.3) 6 (66.7) 20 (58.8) 24 (54.5) 10 (62.5) 6 (54.5) 10 (35.7) 20 (55.6) 40 (53.3) 35 (50.7) 5 (25) 4 (57.1) 200

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Total Number (% Factors) 9 (2.25) 42 (10.5) 9 (2.25) 34 (8.5) 44 (11) 16 (4) 11 (2.75) 28 (7) 36 (9) 75 (18.75) 69 (17.25) 20 (5) 7 (1.75) 400 (100)

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A man in his fifties indicated that although he is much older than his wife (who is about 28 years old), he addresses her with a day-name and encourages her to address him with a day-name. He noted “In this town we’re all equal. It is in Ghana that we insist that they defer to us. Any time we go to Ghana, she addresses me as “Teacher” + Proper name because that is how everyone addresses me. If she uses any other address form, she would be seen as impolite. You see, it is the place and the people around the discourse situation who influence how you should address or call someone.” The above utterance points to the fact that the overall discourse context including the place and participants, influence modes of address. With regards to the above-mentioned power-related factors (discourse situation, discourse purpose, socio-economic status, respect for spouse, age and level of education), we observe that, apart from discourse purpose in which the percentage of men is higher than women (66.7% and 33.3% respectively), the percentage of women is higher in all of the factors. This points to the fact that either women pay more attention to power and hence to politeness than men or they (women) care more about interpersonal relationships and will thus use language to ensure its smooth operation. It may also be argued that the male respondents and female respondents use language for different purposes. This is because whereas fifteen men (75%) paid attention to or considered message content as an important factor in determining their address forms, only five female respondents (25%) felt message content was an important determinant for modes of address. Although only 7% of the respondents indicated that their ‘spouse’s address pattern’ influenced their address forms, it is important to cite it for mention because we observe that of the twenty-eight respondents whose named it as an important factor, 18 (64.3%) were men whereas only 10 (35.7%) were women. Some of the reasons given by the respondents were as follows: “Marriage is like a mirror, you get what you give out,” She addresses me with my foreign name that is why I also address her with her foreign name,” “We have addressed one another with our day-names all these years so it comes naturally,” “Initially when we got married, I used to address him as Mr. Ampa; however, as I got to know him better, I decided to address him by his initials, AA. Now we’ve become like friends or siblings.” The above stretches of utterance and similar cases scrutinized in the data suggest that address forms among couples may be determined by mutual inter-relationships/understanding, how one treats the other, degree of familiarity, among others.

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The above figures tend to suggest that men pay less attention to social issues than women. It could also be argued that women pay more attention to solidarity than men do. In conclusion, it may be noted that the figures on the above table suggest that men and women employ language for different purposes and that their address forms are therefore motivated or guided by different cultural and pragmatic variables. An observation of Table 6 points to the fact that respondents over the age of 60 constitute the highest percentile (37%) of day-names users as a mode of address. This is followed in a descending order by those in tdhe 50-60 (27.03%) age group, 20-49 (22.97%), and then by the 15-19 age group (19.59%). Regarding foreign name usage, we observe a trend opposite that of day-name usage. Specifically, we observe that respondents over the age of 60 constitute the lowest percentile (1.52%) of foreign name users as a mode of address. This is followed in an ascending order by those in the 50-60 age group (15.15%), 20-49 (34.09%), and then by the 15-19 age group (49.24%). The above figures in the mode of address point to a close connection between a generational change and interactional strategies. In particular, it points to the fact that younger Akan couples living in the United States are more westernized, than the older couples, as reflected in the address patterns. The above-mentioned fact is supported in part by proper name usage as modes of address. We observe that couples in the 15-19 (1.85%) and 20-49 (16.07%) age groups use fewer proper names than do those in the other age groups.

Address Patterns Based on Age In Table 6 below, I present the address patterns by the different age groups. Table 6. Address by Age Profile Age profile

Day-Name

15-19

29 (26.85%) (19.59%) 34 (30.36%) (22.97%) 40 (40%) (27.03%) 45 (56.25%) (30.41%) 148 (37%)

20-49 50-60 Over 60 Total

Foreign Name 65 (60.19%) (49.24%) 45 (40.18%) (34.09%) 20 (20%) (15.15%) 2 (2.5%) (1.52%) 132 (33%)

Proper Name 2 (1.85%) (2.9%) 18 (16.07%) (26.09%) 34 (34%) (49.3%) 15 (18.75%) (21.74%) 69 (17.25%)

Professional Title 5 (4.63%) (20.83%) 9 (8.04%) (37.5%) 1 (1%) (4.2%) 9 (11.25%) (37.5%) 24 (6%)

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Other

Total

7 (6.48%) (25.92%) 6 (5.36%) (22.22%) 5 (5%) (18.52) 9 (11.25%) (33.33%) 27 (6.75%)

108 112 100 80 400

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GENERAL DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FAMILY STUDIES In this study, I have shown that the level of education of Akan married couples living in the United States plays a significant role in their modes of address. In particular, I have shown that there is a relationship between couples’ level of education and their address patterns. As far as address with day-names and proper names are concerned, it has been shown that the more educated people are, the less likely they are to address their spouses by either their day-names or proper names. Of the 80 respondents who had little or no education, nearly 40% (38.8%) addressed their spouses by their day-names. On address by foreign names, it has been shown that the higher a couple’s level of education, the more likely they are in addressing one another by their foreign names. It was for example shown that of the 20 respondents who had completed tertiary education, 15 (75%) addressed their spouses by their foreign names. Only 6 out of the 80 (7.5%) who had little or no education addressed their spouses by their foreign names. The paper has also proved that the level of education of a couple is significant in deciding their use of proper names in address. Like the use of day-names, it has been shown that address with proper names decreases with an increase in the level of education. In most cultures, proper names are mere labels or indexical signs attached to the bearers without further description of the identifiable features of the referent. However, in Akan, proper names relate to family history and family traits, characteristics of people, of animals, of the supernatural, etc. Proper names are ‘heavy’ and are therefore not used in address as much as day-names. On address with professional titles, it has been shown that more women address their spouses by their professional titles than do men. It was also shown that apart from respondents with a second cycle education, differences in the use of professional titles by respondents in the remaining educational levels were statistically insignificant. The paper has shown further that of all the professional individuals, physicians and teachers are most likely to be addressed by their professional titles than any other professional category. This is not surprising since in Akan society people in prestigious professions (especially teachers and doctors) have always been described as the ‘eye and mouth’ of a village.

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Furthermore, since more men than women indicated that their modes of address were influenced by the content of the message inherent in the talk and the purpose of the discourse, it may be concluded that for men address forms are significant in managing information. Throughout this paper, I have argued that communicative context plays an important role in the couples’ address patterns. Specifically, how a person is addressed is decided, in part, by the context within which the discourse is held; a change of interactional context may demand a change in the modes of address even for the same addressees. The relevance of context in the choice of address helps to reveal how speakers exploit certain address forms to achieve ‘hidden’ agenda like expressing love, hatred, etc. Based on some of the comments by the participants, we also learn that address forms provide tremendous insights into relationships among couples. As one informant put it “When I’m mad with him (her husband), I do not address him, I just tell him what I want to say. Sometimes, I also mention all his names to show my anger. However, when I’m in good mood I address him as “Uncle” or Daddy” because that is what he is to me. Most of the time he performs a fatherly or kinship function. He is usually a good person.” We also learn from the data and from participants’ utterances that in their attempt to show politeness toward their spouses, couples address one another appropriately in the light of the nature of relationship between them, cognizant of the fact that inappropriate linguistic choices may cause offense or may be considered rude (Holmes, 1992). The study has also shown that address forms encode the social identities and the social relationships of married couples. The rules governing the choice of an address form differ considerably from one couple to another based on the age, level of education, occupation/profession, among others. The study has also supported Brown and Gilman’s (1960) claim that terms of address provide insights into the dynamics of power and solidarity. This paper agrees with Holmes’ assertion that men and women use language to achieve different things. Whereas women have the tendency to pay more attention to the feelings of other interactional participants men have the tendency to pay more attention to the content and outcome of talk. Like Holmes, I have shown that whereas most women may regard address forms as an important means of solidarizing, showing closeness, or establishing, nurturing and developing personal relationships, men see address forms as a means to an end, preparing the way for the production of a message that is ‘appropriate addresssensitive’.

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This paper has tremendous relevance for Hymes’ (1962), Gumperz and Hymes’ (1972), Saville-Troike’s (1982) ethnography of communication and for politeness theory. The paper has shown that close and systematic attention to all the components of communication provide valuable insights into social interaction. I have, for example, shown that by knowing who the addressors and addressees are, the social relationship between them, their educational background, their ages, their professions, the content of their messages, the purpose and intended outcome of their talk, the cultural norms of communication, the setting of the discourse, etc., we will be in a better position to know and fully understand their address patterns. Furthermore, the study has shown how an understanding of the Akan cultural systems and also of ‘foreign’ cultural influences (including education and religion) affect and shape Akans’ modes of address. By showing the connection between social relations and value systems, the paper has shown how important ethnographic knowledge is in helping us to fully understand an important issue in marriage—how married Akan men and women address one another. On politeness, I have argued that women pay more attention to such politeness determining factors as interactional context, socioeconomic status, education, age, respect for spouse, and profession than do men. Furthermore, I argued that because more women than men explicitly said that their address patterns are influenced by respect for the addressee, it may be concluded that married Akan women living the States were generally more polite than their male counterparts. Having said this, it is important to note that modes of address may not be the only factor or indicator of politeness for married couples. More significantly, the paper has shown that terms of address among Akan couples living in the United States have relevance for Brown and Levinson’s (1987) positive politeness phenomena (the desire for closeness and connection with others). Finally, a close observation of the literature on family studies reveals the dearth of knowledge about the how language informs marriage and how marriage informs language. Often emphasis is placed on social, political, and financial issues with language either being muted or completely obliterated. However, this paper has shown that interpersonal relationship between couples (done through how the couples address each other) is as important as the social, cultural, and financial aspects of marriage. This study, then, has important relevance to family studies.

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REFERENCES Aries, E. (1976). Interaction patterns and themes of male, female and mixed group. Small Group Behavior, 7(1), 7-18. Bean, S. (1978). Symbolic and pragmatic semantics. A Kannada system of address. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Brown, R., and Ford, M. (1964). Address in American English. In D. Hymes (Ed.) Language in culture and society. New York: Harper and Row. pp.23444. Brown, R., and Gilman, A. (1960). The pronouns of power and solidarity. In T. Sebeok (Ed.) Style in language. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. pp. 253-76. Also in P. Paolo Giglioli (Ed.) Language and social context (pp. 252-282). Penguin Books. Chambers, J. C. (1992). Linguistic correlates of gender and sex. English Worldwide, 13(2), 173-218. Edelsky, C. (1981). Who’s got the floor? Language in Society, 10, 383-421. Ervin-Tripp, S. (1972). On sociolinguistic rules: alternation and co-occurrence. In J. J. Gumperz, and D. Hymes (Eds.) Directions in sociolinguistics (pp. 213250). New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston. Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power (2nd edition). Language and Social Life Series (Series editor Christopher N. Candlin). Longman: London/New York. Fasold, R. (1984). The sociolinguistics of language. Oxford: Blackwell. Geiger, R. (1979). Third-person reference in German. Papers in Linguistics, 12(34), 535-552. Goodwin, M. H. (1980). Directive-response speech sequences in girls’ and boys’ task activities. In S. McConnell-Ginet, R. Borker, and N. Furman (Eds.) Women and language in literature and society (pp. 157-73). New York: Praeger. Gumperz, J., and Hymes, D. (1972). Directions in sociolinguistics: Ethnography of communication. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Holmes, J. (1995). Women, men and politeness. London: Longman Hymes, D. (1962). The ethnography of speaking. In T. Gladwin, and W. C. Sturtevant (Eds.) Anthropology and human behavior (pp. 13-53). Washington, DC: Anthropological Society of Washington. Maccoby, E., and Jacklin, C, N. (1974). The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

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Mehrotra, R. R. (1970). Terms of kinship, modes of address and reference in Hindi: A study in anthropological linguistics. Trilochanghat, Varanasi: Rajesh Printing Works. Mey, J. L. (1993). Pragmatics: An Introduction. Mass: Blackwell Publishers. Miller, C., and Swift, K. (1989). One small step for Genkind. In G. Goshgarian (Ed.) Exploring Language (pp. 162-174). Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foreman and Company. Nwoye, O. (1992). Linguistic politeness and socio-cultural variation of the notion of face. Journal of Pragmatics, 21, 37-65. Obeng, S. G. (1999). Apologies in Akan discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 31(5), 709-734. Obeng, S. G. (1997). From morphophonology to sociolinguistics: The case of Akan hypocoristic day-names. Multilingua, 16(1), 39-56. Paulston, C. B. (1975). Language and social class: pronouns of address in Swedish. Working Papers in Sociolinguistics, 29. Austin, Texas: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Pfeiffer, J. (1989). Girl Talk-Boy Talk. In G. Goshgarian (Ed.) Exploring Language (pp. 202-210). Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company. Romaine, S. (1994). Language and society: An introduction to sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Saville-Troike, M. (1982). The ethnography of communication. Oxford: Blackwell. Slobin, D., Miller, S., and Porter, L. (1968). Forms of address and social relations in a business organization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8(3), 289-93. West, C. (1984). When the doctor is a lady. Symbolic Interaction, 7(1), 87-106. West, C. (1990). Not just ‘doctors’ orders: directive response sequences in patients’ visits to women and men physicians. Discourse and Society, 1(1), 85-112. West, C., and Zimmermann, D. H. (1983). Small insults: a study of interruptions in cross-sex conversations between unacquainted persons. In B. Thorne, C. Kramarae, and N. Henley (Eds.) Language, Gender and Society (pp.102117). Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.

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Chapter 5

LANGUAGE IN TRADITIONAL YORUBA SOCIAL INTERACTION: INDIRECTNESS IN OLA RÓTÌMÍ’S THE GODS ARE NOT TO BLAME Ayo Opefeyitimi Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology Indiana University, Bloomington What is so wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote, and brings to birth in us also the creative impulse. (Forster, 1951)

INTRODUCTION What is curious and pleasantly intriguing is that, in the ambience of artistic criticism and performance aesthetics, the primus inter pares position of Ola Rótìmí’s The Gods Are Not To Blame is concealed in the ingenuity with which the Yoruba folkloristic lores are well selected and utilized for specific performance and rhetorical effects. Unfortunately, as Collingwood (1971, p. 243) has also noted, critics can only deal with these folkloristic elements as they appear on the printed pages, as against their sound and sight effects.

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The Gods Are Not To Blame, though an adaptation of Sophocles’ Oedipus rex, has been so artistically robed in Yoruba traditional and mythological garments as to hide its Greek source. Meanwhile, in the Yoruba cultural milieu, credit is given to speakers who are knowledgeable in the use of folkloristic materials. Most examples of the genres of folklore materials are usually in verse. This is because the belief is strong that “a short saying contains much wisdom,” much more than a long adroit verbiage, as Sophocles once said in his Aletes (Tripp, 1970, p. 392) It is in the light of the above observations that the discussion of Ola Rótìmí’s artistry in The Gods Are Not To Blame is predicated. Before the discussion is fully developed, two initial points are worth making. First, that folkloristic genres are many and varied in the storehouse of Yoruba orature. Our concern in this paper is with those employed by the author, Ola Rótìmí. Since “proper words in proper places,” in the words of Swift (Tripp, 1970, p. 617), “make the true definition of style,” one is forced to submit here that the soul of The Gods Are Not To Blame resides inalienably in the systematic unraveling of the plots in ways analogous to how repositors of native intelligence, verbal wit, and logic do in Yoruba culture. Second, that Ola Rótìmí is so faithful to the folkloristic materials used that he often has to write the original Yoruba words and poetic statements in the Yoruba language itself (e.g., The Gods, pp. 17, 18, 36). This is in spite of the fact that the play is essentially written in the English language. As a matter of brief comment, the lucidity and simplicity of Ola Rótìmí’s language in The Gods Are Not To Blame is the reason why he is considered primus inter pares amongst other playwrights in the culture. As Schwartz attests to the virtues of using simple language: People who use difficult, high sounding words and phrases which most folks have to strain themselves to understand are inclined to be overbearing, and stuffed shirts. And stuffed shirts are usually small thinkers. The important measure of a person’s vocabulary . . . is the effects his words and phrases have on his own and other’s thinking. (p. 392)

Ola Rótìmí’s style is so lucid, crisp, simple, and straightforward that one has no difficulty of comprehension.

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DISCUSSION Prologue

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When an exquisite poem brings tears to the eyes, such tears are not the sign of an excess of joy, they are rather a witness to an irritated melancholy, an exigency of nerves, a nature exiled in the imperfect which passes immediately on this very earth, a paradise revealed.

A close and systematic attention to Ola Rótìmí’s The Gods Are Not To Blame reveals that right from the prologue the reader is met with “dirges” and poetic verses about “the seed that life must crush so soon.” After King Adetusa “passed into the land of our silent fathers” (p. 4), Odewálé’s help to townsmen forced them to break tradition and made him king (p. 7). Since this act of breaking tradition fuelled the trouble in the land of Kútujè , Ola Rótìmí’s adroitness is found in this résumé of the situation at the end of the prologue: “But joy has a slender body, that breaks too soon” (p. 8). The mercurial mind of the author is shown in the flowery way through which the Yoruba proverb ayo abara tin-n-tin, meaning ‘the body of joy is slender,’ is employed here. One is particularly impressed by the translation and especially the way it is arranged on the printed pages for visual and aesthetic effects. We note with enthusiasm that, throughout The Gods Are Not To Blame, the folkloristic materials used are usually ‘verbalized’ by the kind of people who are known to possess the linguistic skill in Yoruba society (dirge singers, chiefs, the king, as the case may be). For instance, in the words of Kwesi Yankah (1989): Perhaps the greatest institution that envices the quintessnence of traditional rhetoric is chieftaincy. The chief, his spokesman, elders, and allied traditional artists constitute the repository of traditional intelligence, logic and verbal wit. (p. 334)

No wonder why the majority, if not all, of folkloristic statements in The Gods Are Not To Blame are written against the names Odewálé (the king), his chiefs, and the court ballads. In a similar work among the Akan people of Ghana, Obeng (2003) has rightly argued that most of what I call ‘folkloristic statements’ here are indeed linguistic strategies of indirection. In his words:

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Ayo Opefeyitimi The indirect persuasive communicative strategies involve the use of such speech forms as tales, riddles, proverbs, idioms, metaphors, and others. . . . Since they are believed to be cultural truisms by society, their use lends a measure of weight to the truth or falsity of a proposition being presented. . . . The truth is incontestable. . . . Such speech forms are ascribed to the sages and the ancestors, so anyone who employs them in the right pragmatic context is covered by their protective façade. . . . Since they are ascribed to the ancestors, an appropriate deployment . . . is a politeness strategy . . . hence an expression of humility. (p. 117)

This description encapsulates the majority, if not all, of the components of the devices of Yoruba language employed in The Gods Are Not to Blame and discussed in this study. To be sure, this article has taken an unalloyed inspiration from the works of Obeng (1994, 2003).

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ACT ONE, SCENE 1 In consonance with the mood of moaning resulting from sickness that has taken over the land of Kútujè , most of the folkloristic elements which feature in the “palace’s” premises where people gathered were specifically keyed to suit the occasion. First, the “second citizen” said that: “when the head of a household dies; the house becomes an empty shell.” This is an adage often realized in Yoruba rhetoric as, Baálé ilé kú, ilé dahoro. Stylistically, two functions are performed by this adage. First, it is to say that Kútujè is suffering because their original king Adetusa has passed away. The second, and more important, function is its indirect challenge for the new King Odewálé to take over the rescue-operational task as he did during the Ikolu-Kútujè conflict, which actually brought him to the throne. The “third citizen” is more direct in his reference to King Odewálé after metaphorically referring to him as a “camellion.” Both renditions are indirect; the first is nonconventional and the second conventional (see Obeng, 1994, 1997, 2003). Aesthetically, the adage which used to be realized in Yoruba as alagemo ti bimo re tan, aimo-onjo ku sowo omo alagemo is put in the form of a question by Ola Rótìmí. The rhetorical question with which the proverb is reduced is more technical and versatile because it has the effect of meaning that the king has perfomed his own civic duty. What is left is for individuals to ask himself or herself (as the child of the metaphorical camelion ) if s/he has danced his/her own dance properly; hence, the author’s linguistic dexterity.

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King Odewálé is up to the task of answering his people by displaying his own folkloristic know-how. He links sickness to rainfall. With three rhetorical questions, the Yoruba apothegm:

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Òjò ò bénìkan sore Ęni ejí rí lejí ń pa (The rain is nobody’s enemy, On whomever the rain sees, it rains).

is artfully foregrounded by a demonstration of the effect of the same “rain” in the palace to show that King Adetusa and his palace dwellers are not excluded from the metaphorical rainfall. The finesse of this folkloristic manipulation for dramatic effect is commendable (p. 10). The fact that the proverbs used a language of indirection is relevant because it is a further demonstration of the theme of irony upon which the entire play, as a riddle of the life of the people, rests. When Odewálé says that, “by trying often, the monkey learns to jump from tree to tree without falling” (p. 14), Ola Rótìmí has added one more axiom into the storehouse of Yoruba proverbs. It can be rendered in Yoruba as die die lobo n kogi gun laijabo. Thus, the creative agility of Ola Rótìmí is clearly seen here via a proverb woven in an analogical metaphor. Towards the tail end of this scene is another fascinating aphorism which is so contextually appropriate that it merits mention. To show that everybody should be involved in the rescue-operational task of saving the land from sickness, he argues that people need to be inspired and awed simultaneously. Hence the expression: Brother you better respond to the call of duty or you will have yourself to blame. (pp. 17-18) (Yorùbá: Bò o bá ń gbó gbé e, gbè è gbé e Tó ò bá won gbé e Ehìnkùnlé rę ni won ó gbé e sí)

ACT ONE, SCENE 2 Adéropò’s refusal to be detailed about his finding from Ile-Ife brought Ojuola into the scene. The latter uses the metaphor of the cow and its horn (p. 20) to ensure that her son gives details. This she did by reminding Adéropò about his status as one upon whose message from the gods the whole community depends

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for survival. Besides, it is to be noted by Adéropò that conspiracy between him and the diviner could be read into his silence. The apparent complication of solving the riddle of when, where, and how King Adetusa died gave birth to another ingenious statement of Yoruba folkloristic import from Odewálé. It states: When trees fall on trees, first, the topmost must be removed (Yorùbá: Bígi bá wó lugi, Tòkè là á ko o yàn)

Hence, he begins to unravel the riddle at stake with the question about “when,” as in “when was King Adetusa slain” (p. 22). When the “townspeople converged, Ola Rótìmí’s wisdom became more manifest in his report of the issue at stake. Odewálé’s initial belief that King Adetusa was probably murdered by his own men accelerates the irony of his fear as a supposed non-indigene. He uses yet another metaphor. This fear is put across in a rhetorical question as:

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When crocodiles eat their own eggs, what will they not do to the flesh of a frog?

The “crocodile” refers “to the people of Kútujè.” The “crocodile’s eggs,” which they ate, refers to “their king who was killed” by one of them. The “flesh of the frog” is the new king Odewálé himself. Thus, the author is an adroit user of Yoruba proverbial sayings to the extent that he creates proverbs from his knowledge of the extant ones in the culture. Closely allied to this kind of creativity is the way Ola Rótìmí artistically explicates Yoruba maxims for performance and rhetorical cleverness. For instance, the Yoruba will simply say that: Gbogbo alàngbá ló dakùn déle a kò mo èyí tí inú ń run. (All lizards lie prostrate; we do not know which suffers from belly ache).

It is the same adage which Ola Rótìmí has put in the following words: All lizards lie prostrate; how can a man tell which suffers from bellyache? In time, the pain will make one of them lie flat on its back, then shall that which has been unknown be made known.

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That it to say, the riddle which this proverb poses is solved by Ola Rótìmí with the addition of the lines “In time…made known.” The answer provided shows a deep sense of cause and effect. Here, to eventually lie “on its back” presupposes deadly pain which could lead to death. Incidentally, the dead is usually laid flat on his or her back. This explains the deadly implication of the issue in question, while humor is an intrinsic component of this proverb at the same time.

ACT TWO, SCENE 1

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The wit of folklore is demonstrated more artistically by Ola Rótìmí in this scene. Odewálé’s welcome address to Baba Fakunle is packed with examples from Yoruba proverbs and wise sayings, especially those emphasizing comparisons, i.e., similes and metaphors. For instance, in a single speech meant to say ‘welcome’, the following are observed: (i) Head downwards/like a bat, and like a bat/fully aware of the way/the birds fly (p. 26) (Yorùbá: Àdán doríkodò ó ń wòşe ęyę). (ii) A Partridge: you see with the face/you see with the whole body (Yorùbá: Tojú tìýę làparò fi ń rína) (iii) A chicken eats corn, drinks water, swallows pebbles/ yet she complains of having no teeth/if she had teeth, would she eat gold? Let her ask the cow who has teeth yet eats grass (p. 26) (Yorùbá: Adìyę ń jàgbàdo, ó ń mumi, ó ń ję werekùúta/ psíbe ó lóun ò léyín. Bó bá léyín, yóò ję góòlù ni?/ Ę jé kó bi mààlúù tó léyín tó ń jewéko.) Aesthetically, these metaphorical sayings are meant to hail the blind seer and prepare his mind towards unearthing the truth required of him. To quote J. O’Neill (n.d.), metaphor and simile, when they are well used, represent imagery at its most concise effectiveness[, which] is in the end, a matter for individual judgment” (p. 60). Our own judgment here is that the figures vivify the comprehension of Ola Rótìmí’s work through their appeal to the inner eyes, in their capacity as ornaments of imagery. As if to reinforce the innumerable multiplicity of these metaphoric references as the soul that gives life to this scene, two more examples will suffice. When the person of Baba Fakunle is being threatened because he has

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identified Odewálé as the erstwhile murderer of King Adetusa, the aged seer questions: Is it not ignorance that makes the rat attack the cat? (p. 28) (Yorùbá: Àìmo ko ló ń ję kékùúté pológbò níjà.)

Apart from the aesthetic quality of the rhetorical questioning technique by which this saying is realized, some other points are notable. For instance, the element of “ignorance” is semantically twofold. First, Odewálé is ignorant thus far about the fact that he is tirelessly and ironically looking for himself as the killer of King Adetusa. Second, those who are pushing Baba Fakunle up and down, disengaging his boy-aide from him, are ignorant of the fact that the baba could use his oracular power to cast some negative spell on them. At this point, therefore, the rat and cat metaphor is of interest in terms of its folkloristic association and performance aesthetics. Additionally, consider the saying by the “second chief” that:

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Our Elders say he who drums for the sick man is himself a sick man (Yorùbá: Asape fún wèrè jó oun wèrè ęgbera)

Ola Rótìmí has deliberately avoided a literal translation of that colored term wèrè, meaning “the insane.” Instead, he has used a down-toner or a more humane and accommodating phrase, “a sick man” (ęni tára e fà), apparently because the actor in reference is an aged seer. Notably, the euphemistic connotation of the use of the word used cannot be exaggerated because of the implication it has to the sensitive nature of the issue at stake. In fact, Obeng (1994) has said: The use of euphemism is another strategy through which indirectness finds expression. . . . Such delicate things as death, certain types of diseases, menstruation, as well as acts related to the sexual organs are not usually talked about directly. . . . Such tabooed events may be expressed through euphemistic expressions. (p. 60)

Besides, the phrase “Our elders say” is a corroboration of the claim in this paper that Ola Rótìmí has employed materials for Yoruba folklore believed to belong to the domain of the elder’s verbal repertoire in his play. The pre-proverb or opening formula serves not to impinge on the sensibilities of his audience and provides him with communicative immunity should he be questioned by the powers that be.

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ACT TWO, SCENE 2 In consonance with the spirit of the scene (i.e., Odewálé’s assumption that Adéropò is plotting against him in order to seize the kingship power of his late father from a supposed alien or ‘outsider,’ Odewálé), the linguistic materials employed are those akin to ‘intrigues’ and conspiracy. Three of these instances will suffice in this scene to avoid being cumbersome. First, Odewálé, immediately after his drum metaphor “for the downfall of the innocent,” went further to say, among other things, that:

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The hyena flirts with the hen, the hen is happy, not knowing that her death has come. (Yorùbá: Ìkòokò nawó aré sádìyę, adìyę ń yo sese, láìmo pé ikú òun ti wolé were.)

In the Yoruba cultural setting, the appropriateness of this metaphor in this context is doubtless. It befits the context in the sense that, according to Obeng (1994), for instance, devices such as proverbs, euphemism, and others are indirectness strategies, especially found in African political discourses, which not only make stories tellable, but form special ways by which traditional power can be indexed.. Hence, its artistic and performance treasury effect. Second, the fundamental reason for the title of this paper is clearly foregrounded in one of the speeches of Odewálé. It is illuminating to quote this eloquent question pair: . . . are you not a Yoruba man? must proverbs be explained to you when they are said? (p. 32)

This is corroborative and confirmative of our claim that the soul of this play is to be found largely in Yoruba folkloristic materials, which consist largely of the proverbial genre. In fact, the same speech continues as: Adéropò, if you think like a tortoise you can plot against me without my cutting you down first with my own tortoise tricks (p. 32)

Undoubtedly, in the genre of Yoruba folktales, the tortoise remains the most enigmatic character which embodies and personifies craftiness and wisdom. Ola Rótìmí’s use of this metaphoric entity (the tortoise) not only befits the context but also shows his deep familiarization with Yoruba folktales.

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Further still, Odewálé, in apparent conviction that he and Adéropò could not coexist together in the light of his (Odewálé’s) suspicion, says that: Two rams can not drink from the same bucket at the same time . . . (Yorùbá: Àgbò méjì ò lè mumi ní koto…)

We note that, apart from its suitability to the point in context, Ola Rótìmí goes further to explain what the effect of this conflict would be. He says, “They will lock horns.” We should note the educative importance of this statement because the Yoruba do not normally expand the adage to the extent that Ola Rótìmí has done. This kind of explanatory endeavour by the author can best be explained in the light of the fact that he was a university teacher. And, of course, the major duty of a teacher, is to explain until his students understand him. It is precisely this skill that is brought to bear here on Ola Rótìmí’s writing.

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ACT TWO, SCENE 3 The Yoruba folksong of “Olurombi” is rendered verbatim in the Yorùbá language without any attempt at its translation into English (p. 36). This further buttresses our claim that reasoning, which informs this playwriting, is that of Yoruba culture and folklore, for all intents and purposes. The Royal Bard declared at one point that an eagle does not go to the market place/unless there is something there (Yorùbá: Àsádì kì í lo sojà láìnídìí)

to show that Odewálé’s visit to the town on that day is not a jolly stroll, but “to see his sick people” (p. 37). And, the Royal Bard links Ojuola and Odewálé with the phrase: two parts of the same calabash spill equal by the gods (Yorùbá: Igbá táwon Irúnmole fúnraa won pín sí méjì dogbandogba)

to demonstrate, though ironically, that the two people are compatible.

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Essentially, however, apart from the rhetorical effects of the metaphorical statements as contained in the bard’s words, the Yoruba normally refer to such sayings as oriki (descriptive poetry). This is another important genre of Yoruba folklore which Ola Rótìmí has employed to literal and dramatic advantage.

ACT TWO, SCENE 4 In this short scene, we discover that the author is not only resourceful, but highly creative. For, one can not but marvel at the creative impulse which informs his stretch of a Yoruba adage almost ad libitum. The common proverbial saying normally rendered in Yoruba language as: The tallness of the toad; The toad is a bit taller than the lizard The lizard itself is a bit taller than the ground (Yorùbá: Ìgańga opolo; Opolo ga díe ju àmùrè Àmùrè náà ga díe jule lo)

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is manipulated, with new ideas added, and finally realized as: The tortoise is not tall but it is taller than the snail; the snail is taller than the frog; the frog is taller than the lizard; the lizard is taller than the fly; the fly is taller than the ant; the ant is taller than the ground on which it walks

Here, Ola Rótìmí’s creative proficiency is displayed in his survey of creatures slightly taller than each other to demonstrate a single point he is trying to make, namely, that everything has it’s own place, level, and standing. Secondly, we have “the touch of palm oil is cool to the body” with reference to the cool spirit desired by Odewálé. This, again, demonstrates the author’s sense of observation which finds expression in a statement of folkloristic connotation.

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ACT THREE, SCENE 1 In driving home the point made by Alákàá that he is being rough-handled because the “bodyguards” do not know the relationship he (Alákàá) has with King Odewálé, he said: Ignorance makes the rat call the cat to a fight (Yorùbá: Àìmo ló mékùútè pológbò níjà)

Otherwise, he ought to have been given a warm reception on his initial arrival. Next is another folklore genre of panegyrics (Yorùbá oríkì). Alákàá refers to Odewálé in the following praise salute:

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Scorpion, one that must not be vexed smooth on the surface like a woman’s jewel; poison at the tail son of my master the hunter, who squats playfully to kill a lion…

The salute is so revealing that the tragic flaw in Odewálé’s character is known. He is a scorpion (àkèekèé) who is intolerant and therefore capable of committing crimes and other atrocities in the face of impatience. Again, our conjecture that this play relies heavily on Yoruba folklore, chief among which is the proverbial genre, is confirmed by Ola Rótìmí through his protagonist character, Odewálé. At one point in this scene, Odewálé states equivocally that: The elders of my tribe have a proverb… (p. 26)

A saying of this type is known to precede the verbalization of an adage in Yoruba culture, especially in recognition of the elders as being the custodians of such wise sayings. It is often rendered as àwon àgbà ló ń pa á lówe pé… (“the elders put it in proverbial saying as...”). Meanwhile, the proverb that follows runs thus: Because the farm-owner is slow to catch the thief, the thief calls the farm-owner thief (Yorùbá: Àìtètè mole, olè ń mólóko)

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This proverb serves as the best résumé of the argument between Odewálé and King Adetusa in the context of their farm dispute. That is to say, Ola Rótìmí was an accurate user of the proverbs employed in The Gods Are Not to Blame. Dramatically, the conflict which ensued between King Adetusa and Odewálé on the farm was so serious that it had to be decided by a more serious genre of Yoruba folklore. This genre is known as ofo (incantations) in Yoruba culture. In his contribution to this area of scholarship, Olabimtan (1974) wrote that: the incantations are properly rooted in Yoruba culture and have in them elements of myth, occultism, magic, religion and science. . . . The movement described in the incantation is carried out or initiated by the performer [sic] and substance which produce effects analogous to those desired are handled and mentioned. (p. 37)

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We note with interest that the scuffle between King Adetusa and Odewálé followed the above theory of incantatory usage. Odewálé was victorious in the contest because he backed up his incantatory demands with action. This is often necessary because, in How to Do Things With Words, Austin (1962) partly wrote to support the need to back up powerful words with actions, stating that “it is very commonly necessary certain other actions, whether ‘physical’ . . .” (p. 8). Therefore, Odewálé’s success in killing Adetusa resulted from his use of the hoe in accompaniment of the incantations.

ACT THREE, SCENCE 2 To drive home the point that an ìjekùn may live in Kútujè for long, but it does not make him a Kútujè, Odewálé says: the monkey and the gorilla may claim oneness but the monkey is Monkey and the gorilla, Gorilla (p.51) stretching distinctiveness in spite of similarities.

This is a demonstration of the fact that a stranger cannot be fully accepted whereever he finds himself, and it gives birth to another proverbial saying of rhetorical questioning techniques: Can the cockroach be innocent in a gathering of fowls? (p. 53) (Yorùbá: Áayán ò leè faso odùn wole gęręgęrę nísojú ęlęyę)

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Here, cockroach refers to Odewálé and the fowls wanting to get rid of him are the people of Kútujè. Another beautiful demonstration of the insincere friendship which Odewálé believes to exist between himself and the people can be found in the statement about the friendship between “he-goats” and “cocoyams”. He said, “You all love me. We are all close friends (sneering), like he goats and cocoyams.” The irony is so effectively revealing here that, besides the rhetorical aspect of the idea of opposites (human beings intended, lower animals mentioned), the imagery is also humorous. The he-goats-cocoyams analogy as used here is a euphemistic way of revealing the king’s belief about the relationship existing between himself and the people. Here the “he-goats” connote the townspeople capable of eating up king Odewálé and his household are connoted by the metaphorical cocoyams. Spectators cannot help laughing at this point in the unraveling of the plot. The same effect applies a fortiori, of course, to the following statements of Akilapa. The humor here is stressed not so much by the description of Degelu, but by the colloquial characteristic of Yoruba descriptive, habitual protocol.

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Liar, My brother, Degelu, saw him on his farm in Ipetu only last market day. . . . Don’t you know my brother, Degelu, the son of my mother’s brother who married Motárá, the sister of your wife’s mother, Niniola, who sells palmwine and pounded yam at the market. . . .

The essence of humor is created by the sheer fact of longevity of description, the local connotations of the human and material names mentioned, and essentially by the act of having been cut short by Odewálé. In Yoruba rhetorical practice, the effects of humor is so greatly enjoyed to the extent that speakers who are naturally humorous are usually loved for the talent to create humor. This is because humor releases tension through the laughter which it generates.

ACT THREE, SCENE 3 Without mincing words, what one may refer to as dexterousness of this scene can be found in four major maxims selected for analysis below. In order to dismiss as flimsy the idea that it was too much wine in the head of Odewálé’s supposed “father’s brother” that made him call Odewálé a butterfly, the latter advanced these two sayings in succession:

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(i) it is what is in the heart when there is no wine in the head, that comes out when there is wine in the head (Yorùbá: Ohun tí ó bá wà níkùn logoro ń pani mo) (ii) A bush does not sway this way or that way, unless there is wind (Yorùbá: Igbó ki í mì síhìn-ín sohùn-ún ayàfi báféfé bá ń fé) In fact, the last saying also implies that Odewálé’s father’s brother had a concealed reason for calling him a butterfly. One is, however, impressed by the appropriateness of the use made of these sayings from the repertoire of Yoruba maxims. This is because the issues are too complex to warrant direct references, hence the use of metaphors and saying requiring some wisdom to decode. To justify the fact adduced by the “Voice” that “to run away could be foolish,” he corroborates and drives his point home by the following metaphorical and folkloristic reference: “The snail may try, it cannot cast off its shell.” Of course, the truth of this fruitless trial fits Odewálé’s case more vividly. However, in response to the advice of the voice which Odewálé did not abide, he uses another metaphor for his refusal to stay where he was. He said, “Oh no, the toad likes water, but not when the water is boiling,” in apparent reference to his future fate as a kind of boiling water which he (the toad) never likes to swim in. Finally, in order to ensure the secrecy of Odewálé’s historical truth, Alaka put this fact to him more pungently in the following lines: “secrets of the owl must not be known in daylight.” The relevance of the owl metaphor employed here is highly effective. For one, the owl is a nocturnal bird. Consequently, it is less active during the day. In the context of this discussion, daylight would refer to the presence of other people in attendance, as well as the fact of Odewálé’s ominous secret; just as the owl is an ominous bird in the Yoruba folkloristic worldview.

ACT THREE, SCENE 4 H. F. Amiel (cited in Tripp, 1970) said: How true it is that our destinies are decided by nothings and that a small imprudence helped by some insignificant accident as an acorn is fertilized by a drop of rain, may arise the trees on which perhaps we and others shall be crucified. (p. 151)

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The truth of this assertion and its relevance at this point of our discussion can be found in the metaphysical suggestiveness and connotations as revealed by the concluding scene of The Gods Are Not To Blame. Before the discussion is closed, one more point is crucially relevant at this point. This concerns the very close statement of Odewálé, the erstwhile powerful but cursed King of Kútujè . After all suspicions, searchings, revelations, and counter-revelations, he did justice to himself. He, therefore, had to cap the whole episode with the fact that, as the cause of the entire problem, he had to bear the punishment solely. This situation is put clearer in Yoruba incantation which states: Bi àrígisegi bá segi orí araa re ló fí ń rù ú

which is translated by Ola Rótìmí himself as:

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When // the wood insect // gather sticks // on its own head it carries them.

This is an idea which not only portrays the true nature of the issue at stake, but also confirms the essence of the oath taken by King Odewálé in reference to the murderer of former King Adetusa. The language itself is incantatory in its rendition, i.e., what Njoku (1972, p. 19) has described as “mythropodic language.” Njoku further comments that “Rótìmí has interspersed the dialogue with proverbs and idioms from the Nigerian environment which are themselves reflections of traditional wisdom.” Apparently, this is part of what I have been demonstrating in this paper.

CONCLUSION In this study, I have established that, like a human being, the play The Gods Are Not To Blame has a body, soul, and spirit in terms of the use made of the Yoruba genres of proverbs, simile and metaphorical references, blessings and curse chants, incantations, praise panegyrics, and humor. This is so much the case that one may contend that, if these elements are removed from the play, what remains would be no less than a skeletal ghost of the original, which can neither be read with enthusiasm nor acted upon with any iota of zeal.

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REFERENCES Austin, J. L. (1962.) How to Do Things With Words. London: Oxford University Press. Collingwood, R. G. (1971.) The Principle of Art. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Njoku, T. V. (1972.) Influence of Sophocles’ Oedepus Research on Rótìmí’s The Gods Are Not To Blame. In G. Asiwaju (Ed.). Njoku, T. (1984.) The Influence of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex on Rotimi’s The Gods are Not to Blame. Nigeria Magazine. Part 151, 88-92. Obeng, S. G. (1994.) Verbal indirection in Akan Informal Discouse. Journal of Pragmatics, 21, 37-65. Obeng, S. G. (1997.) ). Language and Politics: Verbal Indirection in Political Discourse. Discourse and Society, 8 (1), 49-83. Obeng, S. G. (2003.) Language in African Social Interaction: Indirectness in Akan Communication. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Olabimtan, A. (1974.) Symbolism in Yoruba Traditional Incantatory Poetry. Lagos Notes and Records: A Journal of African Studies, Vol. V. Schwartz, D. J. (1965.) The Magic of Thinking Big. New York: Rolls Offset Printing. Tripp, R.T. (1970.) The International Thesaurus of Quotations. New York: Crowell. Yankah, K.. (1989.) Proverbs: The Aesthetics of Traditional Communication. Research in African Literature, 20(3), 325-346.

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Chapter 6

DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES AT THE PALACE OF THE YAA NAA (A NORTHERN GHANAIAN KING)1 Abdulai Salifu

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Tamale Polytechnic, Tamale, Ghana Folklore Department, Indiana University

INTRODUCTION The essence of verbal art has been variously viewed from its informative function (Jakobson, 1960; Stankiewicz, 1960) to its concern with the form of expression (Bascom, 1955), thus relegating the communicative function to the background. It is in line with Havranek’s (1964, p. 10) perception that the quality of verbal art is found in the “use of the devices of the language in such a way that this use itself attracts attention and is perceived as uncommon” that I presently look at the discourse at the palace. Also, in order to capture the live exchanges, a context-centred approach will be relied upon in order to capture the salient points, linguistic and paralinguistic, with a view to identifying where one speech event begins or ends and where another takes over.

1

This article is based on Salifu (2000).

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In Dagbọŋ, it is believed that age brings with it wisdom in the many experiences one encounters. The aged is perceived as witty and more oratorical. One would expect the older folk to be the speakers of proverbs and metaphor. There is, however, the adage that “the child whose hand is well-washed shall mash the elder’s dawadawa porridge” (that is, the well-cultivated youth shall parley with elders). The word kpema (‘elder’; kpamba, plur.) means both one who is advanced in age and an elder, young or old, at the chief’s court. Discourse at the palace is geared toward maintaining order within the ethnic group, carrying a sense of responsibility and of continuity. The language used here comes to be viewed as the global value system of the entire community. Language is the key to unlocking the culture of a people—culture being whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and to do so in any role that they accept for any one of themselves. Culture then is the total way of life of a people, the social legacy one acquires from his group—i.e., his social heritage (Goldthorpe, 1986). Such knowledge, according to Wardhaugh (1990), is not inborn, but acquired in the person’s daily quest to be part of his society. It was this close relationship between language and culture that led Sapir and Whorf to formulate the popular Whorfian hypothesis that the structure of a language determines its speakers’ way of viewing the world. This paper leans more towards being identified as a study of ‘verbal’ or ‘spoken’ art than as a sociolinguistic or anthropological piece, because it is concerned more with a way of speaking, which unifies the aesthetic genres as well as the other spheres of verbal behaviour. The performance act links the various members of the performance situation in culture-specific ways.

DISCUSSION On Defining Royal Discourse Royal discourse as a form of verbal art involves the exchanges that take place, spoken or played on musical instruments in the palace setting of Dagbọŋ. It encompasses speech which attracts attention because of its uncommon nature. This echoes Leech (1969) and Stankiewicz (1960), who view uncommon language as being one that deviates from norms which we, as members of society, have learnt to expect in the medium used. Gossen (1972) says political oratory is characterised by parallel syntax, metaphorical couplets, redundancy of message, and verbatim repetition.

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Appreciating discourse in terms of a ‘metaphrasis’ in performance (Hymes, 1975), where a particular speech act is interpreted (or re-interpreted) by another, is crucial to an analysis of what royal discourse is. One needs to have prior knowledge of a previously performed genre in order to better appreciate the current one. This is why the palace griots (lunsi/baansi) are of paramount importance to the communicative needs of royalty in Dagbọŋ in their ability to provide a backdrop to present events. Historical allusions to exploits and appellations of the king’s forebears are relied upon in praising and exhorting him. The proverbs and metaphorical language that pervade discourse at the palace also derive validation from this appeal to tradition. Performance, as stipulated above, determines and represents an interpretative frame within which the messages being communicated are to be understood. Guidelines are provided for discriminating between orders of message within which communication may occur. Spoken verbal communication, like any other performance, comprises the assumption of responsibility to an audience for a display of communicative competence, that is, the knowledge and ability to speak in socially accepted ways. The performer is evaluated for his skill and effectiveness (Bauman 1978). One quality of royal discourse that distinguishes it from other speech acts is that each event is clearly bounded. This fits into Saville-Troike’s (1990) observation that formal ritual events in a speech community have more clearly defined boundaries than informal ones because there is a high degree of predictability in both verbal and non-verbal content of routines on each occasion, and they are frequently set off from events which precede and follow by changes in vocal rhythm, pitch, and intonation. (pp. 16-17)

Principal Communicative Court Officials Communication at the palace is a formalised, bureaucratic process which is carried out by a host of officials. By and large, communicating with the chief involves a process of surrogation either through a musical instrument (drum, fiddle, or flute) or an elder. In addition to performing a communicative role, the elders also act as advisors, judges, and patrons who intercede for specific chiefs within the Dagbọŋ state.

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Musical Instruments Praises are drummed on musical instruments, and the messages are decoded by the chief. Some messages can only be passed on to the Yaa Naa by way of drumming. The lunsi (‘drummers’) use the drum to wake the chief up on Mondays and Fridays. Also, when some people close to the chief or any of his high officials or sub-chiefs die (called Ku’titali, ‘big death’), the drummers are informed, and they in turn come to drum the message to the Yaa Naa. This informs the townsfolk as well of the bad news at the palace; it is only those who are ‘literate’ in drum language though who may interpret this coded message. At the entrance to the palace are two talking drums which drum the chief’s as well as the his elders’ praises and appellations, and which summon the people to assemble in times of strife or war. The word lunsi, as the plural of the word luŋa, refers to the hour-glass shaped drums and to the caste of drummers. They constitute a major source of communication at the Lion’s court. Indeed, the luŋa is so attached to Dagomba royalty that there can be no chief without a drum or drummers. Drummers are the court historians as well as those who spice words to please the chief in their daily drumming. On nights preceding festivals (there are five in the Dagomba calendar: Buγum (‘fire’), Damba, Kpini (‘guinea fowl’), Konyuri (‘post-Ramadan/fasting’), and Chimsi (‘Ed-il-Adha’)), the griots come to recount the histories and genealogies of the Kings, often with an accompaniment of drum music. The court musicians, collectively called baansi (baaŋa, sing.), engage in the art of praise-singing, baantali. Their instruments, which range from acoustic to stringed and wind instruments, include the luŋa (‘hour-glass drum’), timpani (‘talking drum’), goonje (‘fiddle’, jinjeliŋ), mọγulo (‘single- and three-stringed local guitars), and the yua ‘flute’. The two most important symbols of royalty in Dagbọŋ, though, are the luŋa and the goonje. The drum is the principal communicative tool used by the griot to drum appellations, to send messages, and to assist in recounting the exploits of their patrons’ forebears. The latter is reminiscent of the epic poetry decantation sessions of the Serbo-Croat lyrical bards (see Lord, 1960) and the Mandinka griots. The griots also have the license to lay bare any form of message to the chief without the risk of sanctions. This privilege was won for them by Lunžiẹγu (‘the red drummer’) during the reign of Naa Luro (1554-1570). The drummers’ music entertains the chief because of their pleasing, memorable musical forms. Talking of speech surrogate drumming, Neeley and Seidu (1995) remark:

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An important part of the drummers’ repertoire are the appellations for important people, the genre of salima. These drummed proverbs teach truth to the community, focus public attention on particular patrons, and provide income for the drummers who are charged with remembering them all.

Salima (‘stories/praises’) comes from the root n- salim (‘to tell a story’ or ‘to praise’). This tends to give the patron a sense of where he comes from, and then where he should go thence. The flutist (yu’piẹbira) blows messages to praise the Yaa Naa and also to announce to those outside the entrance hall that the Lion is emerging from his palace. The flutist is positioned just outside the zọntua (‘the inner reception hall’), and, when the chief sits in state, the flutist stands behind him to blow his instrument. The fiddlers are popular in Dagomba tradition, though not on the same scale as the drummers; and they can be found often in an ensemble with a number of rattles. They provide music for dancing, as well as singing the chiefs’ praises. They accompany the Yaa Naa wherever he goes, and he will neither dismount nor sit down if they and the drummers do not ‘persuade’ him to do so. They tell him to sit gently, lest chaos descends on the land. Elders at the Yaa Naa’s court are responsible for the day-to-day business of the state. They are the chief’s ears, eyes, legs, and most of all, his tongue. His movements and speech are restricted by numerous taboos. Government of the kingdom is carried out from the court through the council of elders who include: Kuγu naa, Zọhinaa, Malli, Kumlana, Balonaa, Gulana, Tuγurinam, Gomli, Duγu, Daambale, Buŋa, Gagbindana, and the Naazonima (literally, ‘chief’s friends’; Naazo, sing.) Lately however, the Yaa Naa’s secretary is an integral part of the speech functionaries of the Yani skin (Yaa Naa’s court) because he is literate and deals with ‘foreign’ issues which are of a formal nature or situations in which there is the need to use the English language. These officials are most important in judicial matters. According to Staniland (1975), the general role of the elders [is] to maintain, protect, and enhance the authority of the royal court, both in day-to-day government and in supervising arrangements for the succession. The more specific functions of the elders . . . [are] judicial, others ceremonial, and others again domestic. (p. 30)

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Speech Functionaries Mba Duγu is the most important of the officials in the palace. An informant observed that Duγu is the seniormost as well as the most junior in rank among the elders. He is the Yaa Naa’s principal linguist and treasurer, and the latter cannot be seen in public without the former. Duγu deputizes for the Yaa Naa when he does not appear for any function. Instituted during the reign of Niŋmitooni (1506-1514), Duγu conducts all audiences of the Yaa Naa; so, all persons seeking royal audience must route it through him. He, together with Kulaalana, Malli, Gulana, Kpahigu, Zalinkolana, Balonaa, Kumlana, Zọhinaa and Buŋa are the Namọγiliba (‘court counsellors’). They take part in adjudications. Closely associated with Duγu is Mba Daambale, the Yaa Naa’s staff-bearer and spokesman. He receives instructions from the Yaa Naa through Mba Duγu. He greets for the chief and asks guests to come for kola, which is given out by Mba Duγu. Daambale delivers information to the assembly after receiving it from his ‘father,’ Mba Duγu. All announcements at court are made by the Daambale. He is not one of the namọγiliba, but a wọrizọhi (‘ceremonial official’). Kuγu Naa is the primus inter pares of the court elders. Established under Naa Shitọbu (circa 1400), the Kuγu Naa is the principal advisor to the Yaa Naa, and he administers the state during interregna. His major speech function is found in his intercessory role for those who wrong the Yaa Naa. He is the nayili sandaan’ timdigu (‘palace intercessor’). Started during Shitọbu’s reign, the Zọhinaa is another high officer. Regarded as the chief’s elder brother (Naa biẹli), the Zọhinaa is chief to the Zọhi quarter of Yendi. He is counsellor to the Yaa Naa and an intermediary for the archdukes of Savulugu, Kariga, Miẹŋ, and Kumbuŋ. Kumlana (literally, ‘owner of death’) attends funerals on behalf of the Yaa Naa. In addition to being a counsellor, he also sees to the burial of a deceased Yaa Naa. Balonaa is a counsellor and attends chiefs’ funerals for the Yaa Naa. He is chief of the Balọγu quarter of Yendi and also oversees the market. Training of royal children is the duty of Mba Malli. As counsellor and personal attendant to the Yaa Naa, he resolves disputes and officiates at enskinments, especially those of Muslim clerics. The Nayili fọŋ (‘palace quarter’) of Yendi is under his charge. He oversees relations with the Muslim clerics as well.

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Lastly, Gulana is a personal attendant as well as counsellor to the chief, and he plays an important role in conflict resolution/mediation. Another important group of communicative officials are the Naazonima (lit. ‘friends of the chief’). They are with the chief in private and at gatherings. The Yaa Naa never sits alone, and, therefore, the Naazonima keep him company. They run the chief’s errands and conduct commoners, i.e., Ban pa yulinima (‘untitled people’), to the chief. Wives of the Yaa Naa channel their requests through the Naazonima. Finally, the post of the Yaa Naa’s secretary, as already mentioned, is a recent creation to cater for matters outside normal traditional routine. Visitors and matters of national concerns are channelled through him.

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Keying of Performance Wardhaugh (1990) cites Whorf as saying that it is the analogies of the linguistic formula in which the situation of a verbal art form is performed that gives a cue to a particular line of behaviour. These also serve as frames within which the situation is analyzed and interpreted. The frame, thus, is a defined context within which orders of messages are interpreted. A communicated message is understood, for example, as a joke when placed within a performance context (a frame). This is what contrasts the message carried in a jocular vein from that which is serious. For example, the drummers’ address of the Yaa Naa as their ‘husband’ is interpreted within a frame where their service is akin to a wife serving her husband, and not taken in a literal sense. Keying, according to Goffman (1974), is a way in which framing is accomplished—that is, how these frames are brought up and modified. This draws on Bateson’s insight that a frame should be metacommunicative; that is, it should give the receiver instructions or aids as to how other messages being carried should be interpreted (Ruesch & Bateson, 1968, p. 209). Following from this Bauman (1978), infers that each speech community uses a structured set of distinctive communicative means from among its resources in culturally conventionalised and culture-specific ways to key the performance frame, such that all communication that takes place within that frame is to be understood as performance within that community. (p. 16)

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To Hymes (1972), key is introduced to provide for the tone, manner, or spirit in which the act is done. It is of paramount importance in the interpretation of the communicative event and overrides other elements. Saville-Troike (1990) maintains that, if a compliment is made in a sarcastic key, then the sarcasm overrides the form and literal content of the message. Like other components of communication, the key is interpreted by means of culturally specific perceptions. For example,, whereas doffing off one’s hat/cap before an elder in Akan cultures sets off a deferential key, in Dagbọŋ, it is not removing the cap, but the way it is worn, that communicates one’s deference. Key, therefore, is the emotional tone of an event. Communicative means that key performance include: special codes, figurative language, parallelism, special paralinguistic features, special formulae, appeal to tradition, and a disclaimer of performance.

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Special Codes There are special linguistic usages characteristic of poetic verbal art. At the start of all palace speech events is a greeting formula which begins with soft claps, a stylised form of finger-snapping and the use of honorific addressives directed at the Yaa Naa; then comes the Daambale’s (linguist’s) surrogate role of conveying greetings to and from the king before the message is delivered. The specific event dictates the code to be used. To start his intermediary role, Mba Daambale (or whichever elder is involved) opens with a code, Naa, Wuni ni a dalibarika (‘King, by God’s and your grace’) or N duuma n dana (‘my lord my master’). This sets the tone for the message, which invariably is pithy. Such grandeur is as a result of the traditionality and esoterism of royal discourse. It also sets the tone for the choice of a persuasive key to frame his presentation. It is the content of the message that shapes the register. Notice of a funeral is given in a sympathic key with a lot of euphemistic devices (see Salifu, 2000). If the occasion is a social call, the linguist chooses an appropriate code that shows solidarity. On my second visit to the palace to collect data for this study, he put it thus: Naa, Your uncle says it has been long Since he last came to see the compound (outside) And has come to visit the compound ...

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This code ends with a pause, then a resort to praises.

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RHETORICAL FEATURES One is said to be making use of figurative language when he intentionally departs from the normal form of expression and draws analogies between otherwise dissimilar things with a view to creating a pictorial effect. Figurative language is also referred to as metaphorical language. This is by far the most prominent characteristic of verbal art, often involving an intentional resort to the use of words in order to gain strength and freshness of expression. Koch (1983, p. 53) cites Stankiewicz (1960) as saying that “poetic discourse is characterised, among other things by its emphasis on form as opposed to content.” Figurative language becomes appropriate as a persuasive strategy because of the semantic density as well as the foregroundedness (Bauman, 1978, p. 17) that comes to the fore as a result of the departure from the normal order. This is how discourse at the palace comes to be ‘sacred.’ The griot at the start of a samban’ luŋa, a session where they sing the genealogies and histories of the chiefs, uses the metaphor of coming ‘to cook’ (mmọni). An assistant precedes the main decanter by coming to ‘prepare the soup’ (n- to žẹri) in preparation for the main performance. The event itself is ended by the griot telling the audience that he will pause and continue the following day (Man yẹn chẹla lala n- sa naai biẹγuni), which actually is at the next festival. When an elder came to court with a suppliant prince to intercede with the chief for the latter, who had transgressed, after the initial greetings the following figurative language was observed: Bẹ daa dari gindila gọhi ni ka di ti kuhi ba ka bẹ labina soli ni They were wandering through thorns And they got pricked And they have returned to the path

This metaphor of tarrying through thorns is used to depict one who has deviated from the norm. The court elders were then told, Kpamba, yihimiy’ o kpaŋa Elders, send him to the side.

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This is a form of asking the elders to fine him outside the chief’s main reception hall. Outside, the suppliant pleads with the elders thus, Man’ bọrigiya Yinim’ n- ni gbaai naa gbali n ti ma. I am lost It is you who can hold the chief’s leg for me.

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The elders will then prescribe an appropriate fine to be ‘put on the skins.’ The appellations that dominate the realm of praise poetry are full of figurative language. They are “allusive and have the form generally recognised as proverbial” (Dakubu & Read, 1985). Such proverbial eulogies of ancestors serve as targets for present rulers. They are also devices meant to transform leaders with shortcomings and also to maintain the status quo. Naa Yakubu Andani, the Yaa Naa at the time of recordings for this study, now deceased, has the appellation: Alibarika bini din pọr’ ni niŋ kpaam, Saha gari daŋ yibu N daŋ ba nyabu Bẹ ku niŋ shẹli. The blessed thing that is small shall become big Good fortune is better than earliness I have seen them first They cannot do anything.

The key used here is one that elevates the Yaa Naa to a higher pedestal. One of his forebears, Pigulana Ziblim, had the appellation: Noo bundana, O di lari sulig’ nandana Tarim’ bundana, O di lari nabi’ nandana O pa ni ti su o Tabli o buni The wealthy fowl, He shouldn’t laugh at the poor hawk The wealthy commoner, He shouldn’t laugh at the poor prince He (the prince) shall own him In addition to his wealth.

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This obviously enjoins the common citizens to revere the institution of chiefdom. The status quo must be maintained.

PARALLELISM Parallelism is a repetitive device that keys artistic verbal performance. It often involves the use of a systematic variation of sound, grammatical, semantic, or prosodic structures. It is so vital to spontaneous performance that Jakobson (1960, p. 358) suggests it is “the empirical linguistic criterion of the poetic function” which serves as a mnemonic aid to the performer and also facilitates the fluency of the performance. The introductory greetings of the linguist, which are formulaic in nature, are framing devices for speech. For example:

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Naa puhira o zo Balonaa Naa puhira yidan’ Gunu Naa puhira --Chief greets his friend Balonaa, Chief greets husband Gunu, Chief greets ---, etc.

The use of the parallel construction and mention of each chief/elder’s name indicates that their patron both recognises their respective presence and also addresses them on that occasion. Events emerge as the discourse progresses and only need a background upon which they should be built. This background could be a previous statement or something from traditional lore. Ochs (1979) observes that the high degree of parallelism in unplanned, spoken discourse instils a sense of identification with the point of view of the speaker in the audience. While agreeing with this view, Gossen (1972) describes Chamula verbal behaviour as using repetition and parallelism to key performance. Saanchi (1992) identifies synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic (or constructive) parallelism in the Dagaaba dirge. In synonymous parallelism, there is a sameness of sense, expressed in different terms. For example:

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Nyọγu yẹlimmi ni deei bọbri nọm ka tiŋ maai Tituγuri zuu nọmi ka tiŋ maai The broad chest that fits into the adornment tread calmly to cool the earth. Tituγuri’s first son tread calmly to cool the earth.

There is synonymous parallelism in these lines. The noun phrase (NP) nyọγu yẹlim’ ni deei bọbri (‘the broad chest that fits into the adornment’), which is an appellation of Zanjina (1648-1677) means (‘the leader who carries the burden of all’). Tituγuri zuu (‘Tituγuri’s first son’) is also a noun phrase and refers to the same person as the first NP mentioned. The two NP’s, which are synonymous, are placed in this parallel construction for rhetorical or poetic effect. This parallelism juxtaposes a leader who carries his subjects’ burdens with the venerable son of Naa Tituγuri; and its appropriateness arises from the implied analogy between the present ruler and his forebears, whereby this Yaa Naa is invested with qualities associated with Naa Zanjina, whose reign, as observed by Ferguson (1973), marks “the transition from the first to the second kingdom,” because of the radical changes he brought about. Antithetic parallelism involves an opposition in the corresponding lines by means of either sense or expression variations. For example: O zaŋ o bayili n dir’ nam ka zaŋ o mayili n puhiri jiŋli He has used his patrilineage to become king And has used his matrilineage to be a Muslim.

Antithetic parallelism abounds in this conjoined structure above. The first part of the sentence is conjoined to the second by ka (‘and’) to show some form of complementarity between the two component parts of the king’s lineage. Whereas he is ‘King’ by virtue of belonging to a specific patrilineage; he is a Muslim because of a Muslim matrilineage. Bayili (‘patrilineage’) stands in opposition to mayili (‘matrilineage’) just as dir’nam (‘being king’) is contrasted with puhiri jiŋli (‘being a Muslim’). Both kingship and being religious are qualities the Yaa Naa would like to be associated with. The speaker of these lines achieves his goal by persuading his patron to identify himself with the content of his message.

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Synthetic parallelism, on the other hand, entails a repetition of similar forms of construction (of the entire sentence and its constituent parts). The verses here are attended by a correspondence between the different propositions. For example. a noun answers to another, while verbs also correspond, etc., as in:

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Ŋun mali ŋun’ dima O ba nyẹla Naawuni Ŋun kọŋ ŋun’ žiya O ba nyẹla Naawuni. One who has should eat God is his father One who lacks should sit God is his father.

Both lines are similarly constructed. They are declaratives. In the first line, the relative pronoun ŋun (‘who’) precedes the verb mala (‘have’) just as it does the verb kọŋ (‘lack’ or ‘have-not’) in the third line, and it transforms them into noun phrases , i.e., the haves and have nots, respectively. Further correspondences occur in ŋun’ dima (‘he (emph.) should eat’) and ŋun’ ziya (‘he (emph.) should sit’), where this second ŋun’ (3rd pers., sing. emphatic pronouon) refers back to the homophonous relative pronoun, thereby giving the meaning that he who has or lacks should eat or sit, respectively. Table 1 presents the paradigm of these constructions. Table 1. First half Second half mala ŋun

dima o ba nyẹla Naawuni

ŋun’ kọŋ

žiya

There is a syntactic correspondence between the two matrix sentences in Table 1. The second half of the lines, o ba nyẹla Naawuni (‘God is his father’), is a verbatim repetition. It is introduced by the possessive pronoun o (‘his’), which also anaphorically refers to the subject of the matrix sentence. This is what makes a construction synthetically parallel. Again, there is a correspondence between the verbs mala (‘have’) and kọŋ (‘have not’) and dima (‘eat’) and ziya (‘sit’). This is a case of contrastive parallelism. Another example of synthetic parallelism is found in, the following appellation of Naa Zọŋ-ŋmọŋ (1486-1506):

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Abdulai Salifu Zọŋ ŋmaya kun she mia Nyevili naaiya kun da n tuγi The entrance hall of the palace is broken (cracked) and cannot be sewn with rope/thread. Life has ended and cannot be bought and joined (i.e., extended).

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Zọŋ (‘entrance hall’), a noun, corresponds with nyevili (‘life’), another noun, while the verbs ŋmaya (‘is broken’) and she (‘sew’) correlate with naaiya (‘has ended’) and da (‘buy’), respectively. The repetitive as well as rhyming devices used elevate the language into the poetic realm, which also keys the performance. In its function as a key to royal discourse, parallelism in the Yaa Naa’s palace indicates the power matrix, pitching one image either in opposition or in solidarity with another to either elevate the chief in the first instance or identify him with his subject in the latter. Where it is to play a mediatory role, parallelism is structured in order to sway the audience to one’s line of thinking; and where it is used in the normal traditional politics, it serves to highlight the king’s superior but benevolent nature. The Daambale illustrated this last point in an interview thus: Duγu n- nyẹ kpamb’ maa zaa kpẹma Ŋun’ mi n- lahi nyẹ bẹ zaa bia Duγu is the most senior of all the elders It is he who is again the most junior.

This is because his functions are so vital that he must always be near the king and also act in his stead whenever the Lion decides to delegate that duty. He is junior because he is always at everybody’s beck and call. Parallelism thus, makes use of both comparisons and series, and it entails correspondences in grammar, punctuation, and logic. This lends speech clarity, conciseness, and emphasis.

Paralinguistic Features Paralinguistic features are peculiar to live performances. They are visible elements that cannot be readily captured in transcribed texts yet are so vital to the discourse. Primarily, it is the visibility factor that makes the audience know that the performance is on. After escorting the chief out, Mba Daambale stands up to greet or perform his surrogate role of an intermediary. The same holds true for

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Sampahinaa (‘Chief drummer’) or his lieutenants, who also move to take up a position directly opposite their husband. These are all important markers of the start of the particular speech event. There is a pause, then a moment of glorification follows before the beginning of another speech event. To qualify as a royal speech act there is the need for some form of surrogation. This is an important keying device so that the royal ego bounds may not be transgressed. This quality cuts across many African cultures, where the intermediary, who is an expert in his lore, subjects words to a literary treatment in order to create a distance between the patron and the addressee. In his treatise on the ọkyeame, Yankah (1995) presents the function of the Akan King’s linguist as one of an animator who exists between the addressor and audience to voice out the words of the superior and also to listen for him. Mba Daabale, in speaking for the Yaa Naa, uses reported speech as an act of distancing. Various spatio-temporal devices, including the use of drum language, histrionics, claps, posture, and the use of silence, go to complement the use of euphemism, among others, to avoid affront to royal face (see Keenan, 1991). An effective use of the paralinguistic feature as observed by Okpewho (1990, p. 163) attracts praise for the griot as a positive evaluation of his “skill in manipulating traditional turns of phrase and the histrionic resources of speech and act to good effective account.” Such appreciation is exhibited by the audience slapping money onto his forehead, the firing of muskets, and ululations by women, who chant the bard’s praises. For example: Ayyooi! Balimbalim siγiri ni tọbu baaŋa Ayyoo! (ululation) Slowly, slowly bard of the powerful one.

There is a clear difference between the performance here, in the royal setting, and other ways of speaking in the wider community. It is these differences that indicate the key that discourse at the palace of the Yaa Naa takes.

Special Formulae The tag nayili (‘palace’) in Dagbani conjures an image of a hierarchical setting and the presence of rituals of deference and avoidance. This image has accompanying rules and formulae to mark it. The colonial policeman was referred to as Naa n’a kana (‘Chief says you should come’). They came to be referred to

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thus because that was their catch phrase. This line, like the ‘once upon a time’ opening of English fairy-tales, are markers that serve to key performance. The rituals of greeting, Naa puhiri --- (‘Chief greets ---’), calling guests to come for kola, Naa booni --- (‘Chief calls ---’), the use of addressives clothed in deferential garb, N duuma n dana, Wuni ni a dah libarika ni (‘My lord, my master, by God’s and your grace’), are repetitive formulae used to mark the start of particular speech events in the same speech continuum. The message that is communicated is punctuated with Naa (‘Chief’), just as a debater would address the chair. The entertainer-cum-court archivists (the drummers) have catch phrases they use to shape and set the tone of their performance in the palace. At the start of their craft, they invoke the spirit of oratory by chanting Yẹligu, which could mean ‘words,’ ‘speech,’ ‘language,’ or ‘traditional verbal lore.’ They also utilize ideophonic sounds to key and to facilitate their delivery. These include the use of yee!, wọi!, yooi!, mm! The whistle or drum is also used to signal a performance key during royal speech acts. This often involves a ‘language’ which can be repeated over and over again. The drum has been used to persuade, to announce an arrival or departure, and to send messages.

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Appeal to Tradition We come to accept a past practice as a standard of reference in traditional society (Bauman, 1978) so that, in addition to the assumption of responsibility for aesthetic quality, the oral artist relies on an appeal to tradition to authenticate what he says or does. An appeal to culture “has evocative and allusive significance, and is perceived as a veracity that cannot be questioned” (p. 20). This open or implicit attribution to ancestral wisdom gives the performance its credence and rhetorical power. The King’s griot enjoins him to ‘listen attentively to the message from his father’s house.’ He is also told that Yẹlkurli n- nyẹ li Pa nyini n- yẹn piligi li A yaannima mini a banima N- piligi li ka zali a ... It is a tradition You are not the initiator Your grandfather and your fathers Started and left it as a legacy for you ...

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This reminds the King that the performance is neither a figment of the bard’s imagination nor is he, the addressee, to interpret the present as his sole property. It keys the performance as one that has been bequeathed to the king by his forebears and not that the poet has decided to make it up for personal gain. This sends the message that he is both serious and sincere in what he is saying. In arguing his case out when accused of shirking his duty unto the wife by not performing her father’s funeral, an Islamised prince retorted with a rhetorical question, M bi maali n yiŋ baγyuli So yiŋ baγyuli ka n ni ti maali? I haven’t sacrificed to my ancestral god Is it to somebody else’s ancestral god I should sacrifice?

Even though his religion forbids his sacrificing to ‘idols,’ he uses the metaphor in appealing to tradition to sway his audience into accepting his position. Also, when a litigant resorts to swearing an oath, he is appealing to tradition to communicate his seriousness and the veracity of his claim.

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Criticizing the King There is no open criticism of the chief or elders in Dagbọŋ as happens in halo poetry, the Nzema Kundum festival, or the Apoọ of the Bono (see Yankah, 1998). This does not mean there is no means of critiquing them. The chief is counselled in private by his elders. He is not contradicted in public. The only group that has the privilege of throwing challenges to and mildly criticizing the king are the griots. This function is especially important because the king is the one to lead the Dagomba people to greater heights. At enskinment, the new chief is challenged to be up to the task when he is admonished thus, When you become a chief You become a rubbish dump Good things, you collect Rubbish, you collect, ...

In challenging his chief to rise up and see to nation-building, a praise-cantor chanted the following:

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Abdulai Salifu Mani Bizuŋ bia yẹn yẹl’ a mi Bẹ kaanila doo tuma Bẹ žin kali doo yuuibu Man’ nyẹla paγa Amaa doo ti naγi pa doo Dama m puγisi biẹγu maa Ka n nyee nyọni Paγa yi di lẹbigiri doo N naan lẹbigi doo ka a lẹbigi paγa Bọ n- di yẹli ni A yaba Naa Luro nim’ žemaŋa la m-bọŋọ? Yiγisim’ tum a yaannim’ kali N- tum a banim' kali5 I Bizuŋ’s son am going to tell you It is man’s exploits that are counted Man’s longevity has never been counted I am a woman But the man may not be man enough For, I have waited in vain for daybreak And am fed up If a woman could transform into a man I would have become the man and you the woman Why isn’t this Your grandfather Luro’s era? Rise and follow the tradition of your grandfathers And your fathers’ tradition.

The challenging tone is not taken as an affront, but rather as a positive key for the enhancement of traditional craft. When the father or grandfather is remembered, it is a reminder that the king should also leave a legacy as these venerable ones have done. He should not only bask in the glory of his forebears. Being effeminate (i.e., ‘woman’) does not befit a chief. He should be ‘manly,’ one who chalks success after success, so that under his guidance the state will prosper.

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Jokes Jokes at the royal setting are set up by the superior, who uses them as a way of accommodating to his audience. A speaker attempts to accommodate through speech when he tries to modify or disguise his persona in order to make it more acceptable to the person addressed (Giles & Powesland, 1975). The laughter that greets jokes cracked while the serious business of royal political discourse is on-going shows the key in which they are communicated. The Yaa Naa, in welcoming me to his palace, told me, (i) Mbapira, yi daa puhi yi chuγu ka bi boli ma. (‘Uncle, you celebrated your anniversary without inviting me.’) (ii) A yi nyẹ dakoli a lahi jẹrigiri mi? (If you are a bachelor, does that make you a fool?)

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These are not meant to be taken literally. In (i), the king was referring to the University of Ghana’s golden jubilee celebration, and in (ii), he was alluding to the fact that he is a ‘bachelor.’ He seldom has the company of females, as other men do. He also needs wives to procreate more royal children. The poet-cantor, while rendering his art, chips in to say to his patron, Mir’ ka a tir’ pini ka samli ka a yọra. Don’t make your gift seem it is a debt you are paying

to indicate that he is not satisfied with the reward he is being given. It should be increased to show the king’s benevolence. He again tells another, Ka nyin’ ni tir’ ka di nyaγisi shẹm ŋọ Ka man’ ŋun deeiri ŋọ fa? The way you are giving in happiness What about me the one who is receiving?

While jocular in character, the lines quoted above seek to prod the auditors to motivate the singer to perform his art.

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Disclaimer of Performance While elevating their patron, the linguist is simultaneously showing his humility when he ascribes all that is aesthetic to him (the patron). It is always ‘The King says ...’ and not he the surrogate. The elders’ role is so important that it is their patron alone who can overturn what they say. Mba Duγu, for example, ‘is the Yaa Naa himself.’ Ordinary citizens always disclaim their oratorical ability at the palace. This is in conformity with traditional etiquette and decorum, where the court functionaries (elders) are those accredited with artistic verbal wit and are also those who intercede on others’ behalf. A non-titled person who found himself in such a situation remarked thus, N ka yẹm tọγisiri yẹtọγa nayili Yinim’ n- ni gbaai Naa gbali ni n-ti ma. I lack wisdom to talk at the palace It’s you who can intercede for me.

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If the chief finds it necessary to invite the non-titled to speak in court, one can hear such attempts at denying verbal wit, as in: N nyẹla bu’bila Ka di zaŋ bu’kurigu mia pir’ ma. Ni n kuhi bu kurigu kumsi. I am a kid And have been roped like a goat To bleat like an old goat.

This is to paint a picture of an immature person being given a daunting task, which he promises to try performing, not because he is the most suitable, but because he has been charged to do it.

CONCLUSION The Dagomba metalinguistic inventory clearly indicates that native speakers view speech as a key to reading others’ thoughts and character. The intent of a speaker is interpreted my means of culturally conventionalised means, with a view to finding out the spirit in which he communicated his message.

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REFERENCES Bascom, W. (1955.) Verbal Art. Journal of American Folklore, 68, 245-252. Bauman, R. (1978.) Verbal Art as Performance. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Dakubu, M. E., & Read, C. (1985.) Language and Music in the Luŋa Drumming of Drumming of Dagbon: A Preliminary Study. In M. E. Dakubu, & E. N. A. Mensah (Eds.), Papers in Ghanaian Linguistics, No. 5, 20-31. Legon: Institute of African Studies. Ferguson, P. (1973.) Islamisation in Dagbon: A Study of the Alfanema of Yendi.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Giles, H., & P. F. Powesland. (1975.) Speech Style and Social Evaluation. New York: Academic Press. Goffman, E. (1974.) Frame and Analysis: An Essay on the Organisation of Experience. New York: Harper Colophone. Goldthorpe, J. E. (1986.) An Introduction to Sociology (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gossen, G. H. (1972.) To Speak with a Heated Heart: Chamula Canons of Style and Good Performance. In R. Bauman, & J. Sherzer (Eds.), Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking (2nd ed., pp. 36-39). New York: Harper and Row, 36-39. Havranek, B. (1964.) The Functional Differentiation of the Standard Language. In P. L. Garvin (Ed.), A Prague School Reader on Esthetics, Literary Structure, and Style. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University. Hymes, D. (1972.) Models of Interaction of Language and Social Life. In J. J. Gumperz, & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in Sociolinguistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Hymes, D. (1975.) Breakthrough into Performance. In D. Ben Amos, & K. Goldstein (Eds.), Folklore: Performance and Communication. The Hague: Mouton. Jakobson,R. (1960.) Linguistics and Poetics. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Style and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Keenan, E. (1991.) Norm Makers, Norm Breakers: Uses of Speech by Men and Women in a Malagasy Community. In R. Bauman, & J. Sherzer (Eds.), Explorations in Ethnography of Speaking (pp 125-143). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Koch, B. J. (1983.) Presentation as Proof: The Language of Arabic Rhetoric.Anthropological Linguistics, 25(1), 47-60. Leech, G. (1969.) A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry. London: Longmans.

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Lord, A. (1960.) A Singer of Tales. London:Oxford University Press. Neeley, P. and Seidu, A. (1995.) Pressing Patrons with Proverbs: Talking Drums at the Tamale Markets. Research Review Supplement 9. GILLBT Academic Seminar Week:Proceedings of 1994 Seminar. Tamale, Ghana: GILLBT Press. Ochs, E. (1979.) Planned and Unplanned Discourse. In T. Givon (Ed.), Discourse and Syntax (pp. 51-80). New York: Academic Press. Okpewho, I. (1990.) The Oral Performance in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books Ltd. Ruesch, J., & G. Bateson. (1968.) Communication. New York: Norton. Saanchi, J. A. N. (1992.) The Dagaaba Dirge: A Study of its Structure and Style. Unpublished M.Phil. Dissertation. Linguistics Department, University of Ghana, Legon. Salifu, A. (2000.) Speaking with the Chief: An Ethnography of Royal Discourse in Dagbon. Unpublished M.Phil. Thesis. University of Ghana, Legon. Saville-Troike, M. (1990.) The Ethnography of communication. New York: Basil Blackwell. Staniland, M. (1975.) The Lions of Dagbon:Political Change in Northern Ghana. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Stankiewicz, E. (1960.) Poetic Language and Non-poetic Language in Their Interaction. In Poetics, pp. 11-24. The Hague: Mouton. Wardhaugh, R. (1990.) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd. Yankah, K. (1995.) Speaking for the Chief: Okyeame and the Politics of Akan Royal Oratory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Yankah, K. (1998.) Free Speech in Traditional Society. The Cultural Foundations of Contemporary Ghana. Accra: Ghana Universities Press.

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INDEX

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A abstinence, 2 academic, xi, 2, 57 access, 14, 28 accidental, 8 accidents, 8 acoustic, 102 adaptation, 82 adjudications, 104 adolescents, 25 adult (s), 15, 25, 45 adulthood, 47, 49 aesthetics, 81, 88 Africa, ix, 2, 6, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 41, 120 African culture, 28, 39, 113 age, x, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 61, 62, 64, 66, 67, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 100 agent, 33 aid, 38, 109 AIDS, ix, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 alien, 33, 89 alienation, 36 alternative, 5, 24 ambiguity, 37 ambivalence, 34 American Psychological Association, xi anger, 58, 63, 73, 77

animals, 76, 94 annihilation, 38 anthropological, 80, 100 anxiety, 58 apathy, 5 application, 64 appraisals, 39 archeology, 39 argument, 2, 93 aromatic, 38 arrest, 54 artistic, 81, 89, 109, 118 Asian, 1, 24, 60 associations, 67 assumptions, 2, 14 asymmetry, 73 atmosphere, 56 atrocities, 92 attacks, 15 attention, 4, 6, 10, 14, 28, 37, 49, 55, 57, 58, 61, 70, 74, 75, 77, 78, 83, 99, 100, 103 attribution, 114 authority, 34, 56, 63, 103 avoidance, 113 awareness, 57, 63

B background information, 65 bargaining, 55

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Index

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behavior, 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 20, 54, 56, 57, 63, 64 behavioral problems, 20 benevolence, 117 betrayal, 36 Bible, 32 biological, 8, 56, 58 birds, 87 birth, 4, 31, 37, 47, 81, 86, 93 black, 35 blame, 6, 85 blaming, 11 blood, 31, 38 boiling, 95 borrowing, 52 Boston, 22, 40, 59 Botswana, 18 bounds, 113 boys, 79 breakdown, 39 British, 32, 34, 36 business, 36, 56, 80, 103, 117 butterfly, 94, 95

C California, 22, 79 Cameroon, 20 candidiasis, 15 capacity, 21, 40, 87 capital, 37, 38 capitalist, 38 cast, 27, 88, 95 categorization, 65 category a, 52 Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 22 channels, 36 chaos, 34, 35, 103 Chicago, 23, 24, 79 chicken, 87 children, 20, 22, 30, 31, 32, 33, 38, 48, 50, 104, 117 cholera, 13, 20, 21 Christianity, 31, 33, 47 Christians, 32, 33, 52

chronic, 15 chronically ill, 16 circumcision, 16, 17, 31, 32, 39 citizens, 56, 109, 118 classified, 65 classroom, 40 clinical, 15, 21 clinical presentation, 15 cockroach, 93, 94 codes, 106 cofactors, 24 cognition, 2, 3, 4, 5 cognitive, 2, 3 cohort, 19 college students, 5 colleges, 65 colonial, 27, 28, 33, 36, 37, 39, 113 colonialism, 27, 37, 38, 41 colonisation, 29 combat, 14, 15, 21 commodity, 38 communalism, 64 communication, ix, xi, 36, 57, 62, 78, 79, 80, 101, 102, 105, 106, 120 community (ies), 2, 16, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 43, 45, 51, 52, 56, 57, 64, 66, 67, 85, 100, 101, 103, 105, 113 compassion, 2, 6 competence, 101 complement, 113 complementarity, 30, 110 complementary, 36 complexity, 33 components, 78, 84, 106 comprehension, 5, 82, 87 concentration, 36 concrete, 3, 30, 36 condom, 20 conflict, 84, 90, 93, 105 conformity, 64, 118 confusion, 14 conjecture, 92 consciousness, 31, 35 conspiracy, 86, 89 construction, 109, 110, 111

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Index contempt, 8, 29 continuity, 30, 31, 39, 100 contracts, 19 control, 6, 21, 32, 33, 63 convergence, 30, 32 conviction, 90 corn, 87 correlation, 44 corruption, 37 cough, 15 couples, 19, 61, 62, 63, 65, 68, 69, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78 creativity, 40, 86 credibility, 28 credit, 82 crimes, 92 criticism, 28, 40, 81, 115 crocodile, 86 cross-cultural, ix cultural, vii, ix, xi, 16, 28, 29, 32, 39, 59, 62, 69, 75, 78, 80, 82, 84, 89 cultural beliefs, 32 cultural influence, 78 cultural norms, 62, 78 cultural practices, 16, 59 cultural values, 32 culture, 27, 29, 30, 63, 67, 79, 82, 86, 90, 92, 93, 100, 105, 114 curriculum, 40 customers, 55, 57, 58

D danger, 14, 29 death (s), 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 34, 38, 39, 48, 52, 87, 88, 89, 102, 104 debt, 117 decay, 11 deceit, 35 decision-making process, 5 decisions, 24 defense, 5 deficiency, 7 definition, 15, 16, 18, 29, 82 degradation, 64

degree, 16, 21, 27, 62, 74, 101, 109 delivery, 35, 114 demand, 38, 77 denial, 14 density, 107 derivatives, 47 dermatitis, 15 desire (s), 33, 34, 78 destruction, 34 developing countries, 21 diarrhea, 13, 15, 20 direct observation, 45 disability, 64 disaster, 9, 20 discourse, vii, ix, xi, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 21, 29, 41, 47, 49, 54, 61, 62, 63, 73, 74, 77, 78, 80, 99, 100, 101, 106, 107, 109, 112, 113, 117 discrimination, 12, 24 diseases, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 21 displacement, 35 disputes, 104 doctor (s), 53, 54, 76, 80 dream, 32 drinking, 49 drought, 38

E ears, 103 earth, 31, 83, 110 eating, 94 economic, 51, 55, 73, 74 economic status, 73, 74 education, vii, x, xi, 22, 30, 32, 33, 39, 40, 45, 51, 54, 61, 62, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78 educational background, 67, 68, 78 educational system, 38, 65 efficacy, 27 eggs, 86 ego, 113 elderly, 55, 56 elders, 52, 56, 67, 83, 88, 92, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 107, 108, 112, 115, 118

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Index

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emotional, 57, 58, 64, 106 empathy, 57 energy, 36 English, 4, 39, 44, 47, 51, 52, 59, 64, 79, 82, 90, 103, 114, 119 enterprise, 28 entertainment, 10 enthusiasm, 83, 96 environment, 96 epidemic (s), 2, 6, 10, 13, 20, 21, 23 equality, 73 equating, 35 erosion, 34, 38 etiquette, 118 European, 28, 39, 43, 44, 61, 63 evidence, 4, 5, 19, 22 evil, 7, 13, 39 excision, 17 exclusion, 21, 41 exercise, 2, 54, 63 experimental design, xi expert, 113 exploitation, 37, 38, 39 exposure, 21 eye (s), 28, 76, 83, 87, 103

F face threatening act (FTA), 58 failure, 32, 36 family, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 46, 47, 48, 51, 63, 65, 67, 76, 78 family history, 76 family members, 34, 48, 67 family studies, 78 famine, 31 farm, 47, 92, 93, 94 farmers, 52 fasting, 102 fear (s), 12, 27, 36, 58, 86 feelings, 57, 58, 63, 77 females, 62, 66, 70, 71, 117 feminism, 31 fever, 15 financial problems, 66

fire, 37, 38, 102 flashbacks, 35 flight, 34 fluid, 67 focusing, xi, 2, 22 folklore, 82, 87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93 food, 21 Ford, 44, 59, 64, 79 foreign language, 39 forgiveness, 37 formal education, 66 fowl, 108 fragmentation, 32 framing, 3, 5, 24, 105, 109 freedom, 27, 34, 35, 37, 38 Friday, 46 friendship, 94 frog, 86, 91 fulfillment, 33 funding, xi funds, 2 fusion, 30

G gender, 79 gene, 16 genealogy, 47 general knowledge, xi generalizations, 16 generation, 30 Geneva, 24, 25 genre, 89, 91, 92, 93, 101, 103 gift, 36, 117 girls, 79 glass, 102 God, 7, 8, 13, 30, 47, 106, 111, 114 gold, 87 government, 54, 103 grandparents, 48 grass, 38, 87 greed, 35 groups, 5, 67, 72, 75 growth, 11 guidance, 116

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Index guilt, 16, 35, 36, 37 guinea fowl, 102

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H hands, 32 happiness, 117 harvest, 38 head, 84, 94, 95, 96 health, 1, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 21 health care, 21 health problems, 1, 21 hearing, 49, 58 heart, 30, 95, 119 height, 35 hemophiliacs, 17 herpes zoster, 15 heterogeneity, 23 high blood pressure, 14 hip (s), 44, 45, 78 HIV, ix, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 HIV infection, 7, 14, 18, 20, 23 HIV test, 15 HIV/AIDS, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25 HIV-1, 23 holistic, 20 host, 45, 47, 101 hostility, 63 House, 40, 80, 119 household, 31, 84, 94 human (s), vii, ix, xi, 6, 10, 16, 23, 28, 29, 35, 38, 79, 94, 96 human behavior, 79 human condition, 28 human experience, 29 human immunodeficiency virus, 23 human sciences, vii, xi human struggle, 38 humane, 88 humanity, 10, 29, 36 humility, 84, 118 humorous, 94 hunting, 52

husband, 36, 45, 48, 50, 51, 73, 77, 105, 109, 113 hybridity, 39 hypocrisy, 38 hypothesis, 100

I iatrogenic, 22 identification, 54, 57, 109 identity, 10, 39, 40, 45, 65 Illinois, 1, 80 illusion, 35 imagery, 87, 94 images, 2, 3, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 21 imagination, 115 immune cells, 13 immune system, 13, 14, 21 immunity, 7, 13, 14, 88 immunosuppressive, 24 imperialism, 35 in situ, 54 inclusion, xi income, 103 independence, 35, 36, 37 India, 24, 62, 64 Indiana, xii, 40, 61, 81, 99, 120 indication, 19, 35, 69 individual differences, 64 individualism, 33 industrialized countries, 21 Infants, 23 infection (s), 14, 18, 19, 21, 23 infectious diseases, 21 inferiority, 63, 64 initiation, 39 insane, 88 insecurity, 21 insight, 105 inspiration, 30, 84 institutions, 53, 54 instruments, 100, 102 insults, 80 integration, 24, 37 integrity, 27, 38

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Index

intelligence, 82, 83 interaction (s), ix, x, 36, 43, 45, 48, 56, 59, 69, 78, 79, 80, 81, 97, 119, 120 intermediaries, 52 interpersonal communication, 62 interpersonal factors, 62 interpersonal relationships, x, 62, 69, 74 interpretation, 3, 4, 5, 106 interview, 112 intimacy, 48, 53, 54, 56, 63, 64, 69, 72 intonation, 101 intrinsic, 63, 87 intrusions, 33 investment, 38 isolation, 36 Ivory Coast, x

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J Japanese, 60 Jerusalem, 38 jobs, 66 judges, 101 judgment, 87 justice, 28, 96

law (s), 33, 38, 48, 50 lawyers, 54 lead, 16, 39, 64, 87, 115 lens, 5, 28 lesions, 16 liberation, 29, 34 lifestyle, 32 linguistic (s), vii, ix, xi, 64, 77, 80, 83, 84, 89, 99, 105, 106, 109 links, 21, 85, 90, 100 literacy, 39 literature, 24, 28, 78, 79, 81 location, 47 locus, 30 London, 25, 40, 41, 79, 97, 119, 120 long period, 16 longevity, 94, 116 love, 11, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 36, 49, 77, 94 lover, 12, 37, 49 lubricants, 64 lying, 8

M

K Kenya, ix, 20, 23, 36, 37, 38, 40 killing, 5, 35, 93 King, x, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 92, 93, 96, 99, 106, 110, 113, 114, 115, 118 Korea, 22

L land, 30, 31, 32, 34, 83, 84, 85, 103 language, ix, 24, 30, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 54, 56, 57, 60, 62, 64, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 79, 82, 84, 85, 90, 91, 96, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 106, 107, 108, 112, 113, 114 laughing, 94 laughter, 94, 117

magazines, 2, 10 mainstream, ix, 29 maintenance, 67 malaria, 6, 9, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21 males, 29, 62, 66, 68, 70, 71 malnutrition, 3, 6, 13, 14, 21 manipulation, 33, 85 manpower, 7, 10 mapping, 3, 4 market, 39, 47, 55, 57, 58, 90, 94, 104 marriage (s), 16, 36, 39, 62, 63, 66, 78 married couples, 70, 76, 77, 78 married women, 70 Marxism, 41 Massachusetts, 40 mathematical, 24 matrix, 111, 112 meanings, 3, 4, 29, 62 mechanics, 66 media, 9 mediation, 105

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Index medical care, 2 medication, 1, 9 medicine, 38 men, 12, 28, 31, 35, 37, 39, 49, 50, 61, 67, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 86, 117 menstruation, 88 messages, 78, 101, 102, 103, 105, 114 metaphor (s), ix, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 20, 23, 24, 38, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 95, 100, 107, 115 microcosm, 34 mirror, 34, 74 modernization, 11 mole, 92 money, 37, 55, 73, 113 monkeys, 16 mood, 77, 84 moral code, 11 moral judgment, 14 morality, 2, 9, 14 mothers, 20, 35 motion, 29, 33, 36 mouth, 76 movement, 33, 93 multidisciplinary, xi multiplicity, 87 music, 102, 103 musicians, 102 Muslim, 104, 110

N naming, 32, 67 narratives, 27, 28 nation, 34, 37, 115 national, 10, 35, 37, 105 nationalism, 64 nation-building, 115 natural, 20 nerves, 83 neuroses, 29 New Jersey, 41, 65, 66 New York, 23, 24, 40, 79, 97, 119, 120 newspapers, 2 Niger, 43

Nigeria, ix, 97 non-biological, 58 normal, 17, 45, 47, 105, 107, 112 norms, 100 Northeast, 17 nurse (s), 2, 66, 73 nursing, 65 nutrition, 24

O observations, 82 occupational, 8, 44, 46, 59, 66 Oedipus, 82, 97 open markets, 55 opposition, 110, 112 oppression, 35, 38 optimism, 35 oral, 28, 29, 30, 39, 114 oral tradition, 39 oral transmission, 30, 39 organic, 36 organization, xii, 54, 80 orientation, 28

P pain, 31, 86, 87 palm oil, 91 pandemic, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22 paper, xi, 1, 2, 16, 27, 29, 40, 43, 45, 46, 53, 59, 62, 64, 76, 77, 78, 82, 88, 89, 96, 100 paradox, 19 parallelism, 106, 109, 110, 111, 112 parent-child, 45 parents, 31, 44, 48, 63, 67 particles, 58 paternal, 50 pathogenesis, 21, 24 pathogens, 21 patients, 14, 15, 80 peer group, 48 peer review, xi

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Index

percentile, 75 perception (s), ix, 2, 4, 5, 12, 99, 106 performance, 81, 86, 88, 89, 100, 101, 105, 106, 107, 109, 112, 113, 114, 115 permit, 59 personal, 13, 28, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 54, 55, 59, 77, 104, 105, 115 personal relationship, 77 philosophical, 47 phone, 67 phylum, 43 physicians, 66, 70, 76, 80 pitch, 58, 101 plague, 13 play, 33, 45, 64, 82, 85, 88, 89, 92, 96, 112 poison, 92 police, 53 politeness, 55, 56, 58, 62, 63, 74, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84 political, vii, xi, 33, 35, 51, 57, 78, 89, 100, 117 politicians, 54 politics, 40, 112 polygamy, 31 poor, 32, 108 population, 10, 20 posture, 113 poverty, 20, 24 power (s), 5, 6, 27, 34, 35, 40, 44, 45, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 62, 63, 64, 70, 73, 74, 77, 79, 88, 89, 112, 114 power relations, 44, 45 pragmatic, 57, 58, 59, 62, 75, 79, 84 predictability, 101 pregnant, 38 prejudice, 2, 3, 12, 15, 16 premium, 66 preparation, 107 pressure, 36, 39 Pretoria, 40, 41 prevention, 13, 18 prior knowledge, 101 private, 105, 115 probability, 5 problem-solving task, 5

production, 77 profession (s), 51, 52, 54, 61, 62, 66, 76, 77, 78 program, 5, 45 propert, 115 proposition, 84 prostrate, 86 protocol, 94 psyche, 30 psychology, vii, xi, 24, 58, 79 puberty, 16 public, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 21, 36, 49, 56, 103, 104, 115 pulse, 30 punishment, 96 pupil, 38, 44 purification, 35

Q questioning, 88, 93 questionnaires, 65

R race, 44, 64 radical, 110 radio, 43, 57 rain, 85, 95 rainfall, 85 Ramadan, 102 range, ix, x, 102 rash, 15 rat, 88, 92 raw material, 38 reading, 27, 29, 32, 40, 118 realism, 37 reality, 39 reasoning, 20, 24, 90 reception, 92, 103, 108 reciprocity, 69 recognition, 92 reconcile, 36, 38 reconciliation, 33, 37

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Index reconstruction, 36, 38 redundancy, 100 reflection, 50, 55 regeneration, 30, 35, 36, 37, 38 reincarnation, 39 rejection, 39 relationship (s), 28, 29, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 43, 44, 45, 48, 50, 53, 56, 59, 62, 63, 73, 74, 76, 77, 92, 94, 100 relatives, 2, 14, 50, 52, 67 relevance, xi, 62, 77, 78, 95, 96 religion, 33, 52, 62, 64, 78, 93, 115 religious, 7, 13, 31, 33, 38, 52, 61, 110 reproduction, 41 research, 21, 41, 65 Research and Development, 40 researchers, 6, 19, 21, 64 resources, 7, 16, 28, 29, 105, 113 restaurant, 64 returns, 36 revolt, 34 rewards, x rhetoric, 83, 84 rhythm, 101 righteousness, 14, 38 risk, 16, 20, 102 romantic relationship, 28 routines, 101 royalty, 101, 102 rubrics, 51 rural areas, 66 Russian, 59

S sacred, 30, 31, 33, 107 sacrifice, 31, 36, 115 safeguard, 7 sample, 11 sanctions, 102 sarcasm, 106 Saturday, 46 scholarship, 40, 93 school, 37, 53, 65, 72 science, vii, xi, 16, 29, 40, 93

129

scientific, 16, 22 search, 33 secondary education, 70, 71 secondary school education, 65 secret (s), 12, 95 seed, 38, 83 selecting, 57, 63 self-discovery, 37 self-image, 39 semantic (s), 5, 22, 53, 62, 63, 64, 70, 79, 107, 109 sensitivity, 15 sentences, 111 separation, 30, 53 series, 5, 39, 112 service provider, 55 services, 56 sex, 1, 7, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 79, 80 sex differences, 79 sexual behavior, 8, 18, 19, 20 sexual behaviour, 22 sexuality, 2, 3 sexually transmitted diseases (STD), 23, 24 shame, 35 shape, ix, 78, 114 shaping, 5 shares, 15 shoulders, 37 siblings, 50, 63, 74 sign (s), 13, 15, 58, 76, 83 similarity, 15, 16 singular, 44, 45 skills, 52 skin, 35, 103 social, vii, ix, xi, 29, 41, 43, 44, 49, 51, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 67, 69, 73, 75, 77, 78, 79, 80, 100, 106 social class, 80 social context, 63, 79 social distance, 49, 53, 54, 58 social factors, 53, 62, 63 social group, 64 social hierarchy, 64 social indicator, 43, 44, 57 social network, 73

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Index

social organization, 62 social relations, 41, 59, 62, 63, 77, 78, 80 social relationships, 59, 62, 63, 77 social sciences, ix social status, x, 43, 51, 54, 56, 62, 63 social structure, 63 socialist, 37 socially, 56, 58, 101 society, 16, 29, 35, 52, 56, 66, 72, 76, 79, 80, 83, 84, 100, 114 sociocultural, 62 socioeconomic status, 61, 62, 66, 78 sociology, vii, xi soil, 31 solidarity, 32, 44, 53, 56, 57, 63, 64, 72, 75, 77, 79, 106, 112 solutions, 6 sounds, 11, 114 South Africa, 20, 22, 27, 29, 40, 41 species, 16 specificity, 15 speech, 45, 57, 58, 61, 62, 79, 84, 87, 89, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 109, 112, 113, 114, 117, 118 spheres, 100 spiritual, 30, 36 spirituality, 30 sponsor, x spouse, 55, 62, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 78 squatter, 34 stages, 39 standards, 16 statistics, 16, 18 stereotypes, 3 stigma, 2, 15, 24 stigmatized, 1, 15 stimulant, 38 strain, 82 strategies, x, 53, 75, 83, 84, 89 strategy use, 58 strength, 64, 107 stretching, 93 strikes, 11 students, ix, 5, 57, 90 sub-Saharan Africa, 15, 19, 23, 24

suffering, 2, 14, 84 suggestiveness, 96 Sunday, 46 superiority, 63, 64 supernatural, 76 supervisor, 53 suppression, 21 surveillance, 15, 25 survival, 9, 36, 86 Sweden, 41 Switzerland, 24 symbolic, 62 symbols, 63, 102 sympathetic, 36 symptom (s), 8, 15, 16 syndrome, 11, 21 syntactic, 111 syntax, 100 synthetic, 109, 111 syphilis, 19 systematic, 78, 82, 83, 109 systems, 5, 29, 43, 44, 49, 64, 78

T tactics, 57 talent, 94 Tanzania, v, ix, 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15, 21, 22, 24 targets, 108 tariffs, 5 tea, 33 teachers, 65, 66, 76 teaching, 52 teeth, 87 temporal, 35, 113 tension, 94 territory, 59 tertiary education, 65, 71, 76 Texas, 80 theft, 49 theoretical, xi theory, 20, 23, 24, 78, 93 thinking, 4, 5, 6, 82, 112 thorns, 107

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Index threat, 10, 31 threatened, 87 threatening, 10, 21, 38, 58 time, 2, 4, 14, 16, 17, 27, 29, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 50, 51, 54, 57, 74, 77, 86, 87, 90, 108, 114 tin, 83 title, xii, 44, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 64, 68, 70, 73, 89 Togo, x, 43 tomato, 58 tonic, 39 trade, 5, 38 tradition, 17, 28, 39, 83, 101, 103, 106, 114, 115, 116 traditional authority, 51 traffic, 5 traits, 76 trans, 11, 20, 49 transformation, 39 transition, 36, 110 translation, 7, 83, 88, 90 transmission, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 traumatic experiences, 27 travel, 4 treatable, 10, 16, 21 trees, 86, 95 trend, 70, 75 trial, 95 tribal, 30, 31, 32, 33 trust, 37 tuberculosis, 6, 13, 15 twins, 47 typhoid, 13, 20, 21

U Uganda, 34 uncertainty, 27 uniformity, 64 United States, ix, 24, 61, 62, 65, 67, 75, 76, 78 United States Agency for International Development (USAID), 24 urban, 23, 24 users, 75

V vaginal, 16, 17 validation, 101 validity, 22 values, 29, 38 variable (s), 64, 65, 66, 75 variation, 12, 64, 80, 109 vein, 105 venue, ix victims, 5 Victoria, 47, 59 vignette, 5 village, 31, 76 violence, 27 violent, 34, 35 virus, 7, 13, 16 visible, 112 visual, 83 vocabulary, 82 voice, 95, 113

W war, 6, 7, 13, 14, 22, 34, 102 Washington, 24, 25, 79, 119 waste, 15, 16 water, 64, 87, 95 weakness, 36, 64 wealth, 108 weight loss, 15 West Africa, 17 Western Europe, ix WHO, 7, 15, 18, 25 wind, 95, 102 wine, 94, 95 wires, 8 wisdom, 21, 27, 82, 86, 89, 95, 96, 100, 114, 118 witness, 83 wives, 31, 34, 58, 117 women, 16, 20, 28, 31, 32, 35, 39, 49, 50, 51, 55, 57, 58, 61, 66, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 113

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Y young men, 16, 32

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wood, 38, 96 workers, 19, 66 World Bank, 2, 25 World War, 32 worldview, 95 writing, 28, 39, 90

Index

Intercultural Communications, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central,