Kamau Brathwaite’s Linguistic Experimentations in Born to Slow Horses

Clement Tayo Abegunde and Oderinde Adedayo Obafemi
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Clement Tayo Abegunde: Department of English and Communication, Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin.
Oderinde Adedayo Obafemi: Department of English and Communication, Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 2023, vol. 7, issue 7, 245-258

Abstract: Language and identity debate has been one of the focal points in postcolonial discourse. The contact between the colonial master and the colonized has, in no small measure, aided English language prominence in the world at large. It has unarguably contributed to its development. In Africa, question on status of English language and its usage continue to generate controversies without any conclusion. Thus, the search for the authentic linguistic expression for African literary writers continues. The aim of this paper is to examine how Kamau Brathwaite deploys unconventional use of English language to assert the Caribbean experience in Born to Slow Horses where he questions the authority of English language by violating most of its structural and lexical rules. It employed descriptive method with review of language situations in Brathwaite’s works. Through the method Brathwaite creates a truly Caribbean English that is capable, to an extent, to represent the Caribbean psyche and literary concern. This paper proposed that African writers can also engage in this effort to deanglisize the English language using it to create an entirely African postcolonial English language that is capable of representing our African cultural and historical experiences.

Date: 2023
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