On African English Variety And The Linguistic Features Of African English Literature

Since the second half of the 20th century, English has become a global language. English is used all around the world by professionals, academics as well as ordinary people in both international and domestic encounters. Crystal (2002: 360) describes the wide use of English in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language like this:"English is used as an official or semi-official language in over 60 countries. It is the main language of books, newspapers, international business, academic conferences, science, technology, medicine, diplomacy, sports, international competition, pop music, and advertising. Over two-thirds of the world's scientists write in English. Three quarters of the world's mails are written in English. Of all the information in the world's electronic retrieval system, 80% is stored in English. People communicate on the Internet largely in English."With the spread of English to many countries, it has nativized with multiple regional colors. We often read and hear British English, American English, Australian English, Japanese English, and African English in publications, broadcasting, and electronic media. According to Kachru (1992c), the spread of English may be viewed in term of three concentric circles; the inner circle, the outer circle and the expanding circle. The inner circle represents the traditional bases of English, which includes USA, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In these countries, English is the first language and its spread is largely because of the migration of English speakers. The outer circle includes countries like Singapore, India and Nigerian where English is used as a second language and spread around mainly through the official recognition and the country's education policy. In these countries, English is largely a result of colonization but plays an important role in multilingual setting. Countries like China, Japan, Greece, and Poland belong to the expanding circle where English is looked at as an important foreign language for international communication and hence is studied as a compulsory foreign language for most students. What should we do to deal with these different types of varieties of English? The trend today is to accept the different forms and varieties within English.In Africa, a lot of writers of non-native English speakers who are fluent in their mother tongues have begun to write in English and gotten successful. Is it right that a man should abandon his mother tongue for someone else's? Is it a dreadful betrayal or just a choice of oneself? What is African literature? Is it the literature written in Africa or about African? Must the subject be an African one? Should it include all the African countries or only those on the South of the Sahara or those of Black Africa? Must the languages be native African ones or should it embrace English, French, Portuguese, etc? There are lots of disputes on these questions. This thesis will discuss the background of the English variety, African English variety, language attitude in general, and linguistic issue of African Literature in English in particular, that is, it focuses on the issue of the languages of African Literature in English.This thesis is designed into six chapters.Chapter One Introduction gives a brief view about the globalization and localization of English, objective, literature review and the structure of this thesis. English is the most widely used language in the world which is used not just by native speakers but also by non-native speakers. With the development of globalization of English, it has gradually become nativised. English is widely used in different kinds of countries and many new varieties of English (new Englishes) come in being with typical nativised colors. This chapter will make a survey of other researchers'work on the varieties of English and New Literatures in English in order to make a solid foundation for this research.Chapter Two is a discussion about English variety which is the background of this thesis. Three topics will be discussed here; they are the emergence of English variety, terminological terms, national varieties and regional varieties.Chapter Three, Four and Chapter Five is the main body of this thesis.Chapter Three gives a general introduction to the English in Africa, and the focus is placed on the features of African English about which four points will be dealt with. The author analyzes the language features in African English literature in chapter four. Four linguistic types of African literature in English will be discussed in this chapter. And among the African writers who purposefully deviate the Standard English in their works,some people are good commanders of English and are able to freely use English when they are writing; while some ones have just received little education and are poor in this language. But all the works are excellent embodiment of African cultures and society.Different people have different attitudes to the language used in African Literature,this issue will be analyzed in Chapter Five. Writers like Ngugi and Wali do not agree to write in English. These writers hold the opinion that any true African literature must be written in African languages, because the European languages were imposed on Africa by the colonial power, it is time for Africans to fight for complete independence and get rid of all the remnants of colonialism, of course including the European languages. But Writers like Achebe and Soyinka encourage the use of English in African Literature. They think that English is just a medium for literary writings. They feel that the English language will be able to suit its new African surroundings and express the African experience perfectly.Chapter Six serves as the conclusion of this thesis. It explores the relationship between English and African cultural identity in African English Literature, predicts the future of English as a medium in African Literature and points out the limitation of present study and suggestions for future research.