African Languages and Cultures

Nici Nelson

Representations of Men and Women, City and Town in Kenyan Novels of the 1970s

20世纪70年代肯尼亚小说中的男性和女性、城市与乡村的呈现

Previous studies of ijald, notably, Babalola (1966) and Ajuwon (1981) have concentrated mainly on analysis of text, providing information about thematic points and stylistic devices in language use. The studies, among other things, establish the literariness of ijild, and furthermore proffer knowledge and understanding of the content and form of ijlli. Despite their usefulness, however, the studies neglect the sociological import of i j l poetry. Like any other form of literature, i jld poetry is part and product of society. Its nature is essentially social. Sociology of literature postulates that literary works do not exist in isolation from the society that produces them. Neither the artist, his language, nor his ideas are independent of his society, each of these affecting and being affected by the others. Thus, in order to provide a fuller and richer understanding of i jil the tripartite relationship between the art, the artist, and the society should be studied. Few studies exist on women in Yoriuba oral literature. Among such studies are: Oguinsina (1982), 6gunsina (1984) and Oyesakin (1989). Ogunsina (1982) reveals that women are among the most important characters in Yorubai oral prose narrative and that in many instances they are the protagonists. Among the features of women depicted in the prose narratives are physical beauty, envy and jealousy, high propensity for childbearing and child-rearing as well as an intense capacity for love. In Ogunsina (1984) Yoriuba proverbs are depicted as veritable mines of information and knowledge about women. Thus, various aspects of women as conceived in Yoruba proverbs are highlighted: their physical, mental, moral and behavioural attributes as well as their weaknesses. Oyesakin (1989) discusses images of women in the I f literary corpus: their physical beauty, moral attributes, weaknesses and mysterious powers. Useful as the studies are, their portrayal of women is more descriptive than analytical, and their studies are based purely on text alone rather than on any specific theoretical framework. No study has, to our knowledge, examined Yoruba ijald within the perspective of literary sociology, thus it is from this perspective that this paper attempts to examine the portrayal of women in ijila. This will provide us with a deeper understanding and advance a clearer view of the portrayal of women in ijAld, and, more importantly, increase our knowledge of the concept of women in traditional lore. Literature as a social fact, has links with various aspects of the society that produces it. As Goldmann (1977) rightly observes, literature is holistic. It is a social reality that should be seen as a totality; this is because a work of

Bisi Ogunsina

Gender Ideology: Portrayal of Women in Yoruba i jala

性别意识形态：约鲁巴伊贾拉中的女性形象

Names in Yoruba, whether of things, places or persons, are known to be 'usually meaningful and significant' (Awe 1970/1:85). Of the names given to newly born children during naming ceremonies, the Yoruba say: I16 la wo ka t6o s'omo 1'oruko1 'circumstances in the family are often studied before a child is given a name.' There is no doubt that the circumstances in towns or the state of affairs in communities in Yoriuba Land were considered

Benjamin Oyetade

Some place-names in Akoko-land: an etymological inquiry

阿科科地区的一些地名：词源探究

20世纪70年代肯尼亚小说中的男性和女性、城市和城镇的描绘

性别意识形态：约鲁巴伊贾拉中女性的描绘

Tesfaye Gebre Mariam

A structural analysis ofGädlä TäkläHaymrnot

《Gädlä Täklä》海姆诺特的结构分析

B. Akíntúndé Oyètáté

Some place‐names in [Agrave]kóó land: an etymological inquiry∗

[Agrave]kóó 地区的一些地名：词源学探究∗

Philip Adédòtun Ògúndèjí

The communicative and semiotic contexts of árokò among the Yoruba symbol‐communication systems∗

约鲁巴符号交流系统中árokò的交际与符号语境∗

In this paper, I intend to make a comparative description of the structural patterns and pragmatics of greeting, felicitation and condolence expressions of four Ethiopian languages. The languages are Amharic, Oromo, Wolayita and Nuer; the first three belong to the Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic sub-groups of the Afroasiatic phylum respectively, whereas the last one, Nuer, belongs to the Nilotic sub-group of the Nilo-Saharan phylum. The purpose of the description is to see whether there are features in the expressions to be examined which are shared by these languages and also whether the the shared features distinguish the languages as a whole from other languages outside the Ethiopian region.' Since the languages represent all the four genetic groups in the country, any shared features

Baye Yimam

The pragmatics of greeting, felicitation and condolence expressions in four Ethiopian languages∗

埃塞俄比亚四种语言中问候、祝贺和哀悼表达的语用学∗

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Research for this paper was carried out with the support of a grant from the Belgian National Science Foundation (NFWO‐FKFO). I am indebted to Saida Yahya‐Othman, Mugyabuso Mulokozi, David Parkin and Ariel Crpzon for comments on previous versions of this paper, and to Haroub Othman for the extensive discussions I had with him during a visit to the University of Dar es Salaam (April 1996). A preliminary version was presented at the 4th Anglo‐French Swahili Workshop: 'Leadership and power in the societies of Coastal East Africa' (Paris, LACTTO, 30 March‐1 April 1995).

Jan Blommaert

Intellectuals and ideological leadership inUjamaaTanzania∗

坦桑尼亚乌贾马中的知识分子与意识形态领导∗

Publication Information	Publisher: University of London，Publishing cycle: ，Journal Type: journal，Open Access Journals: No
Basic data	Year of publication: 1988，Proportion of original research papers: ，Self Citation Rate:， Gold OA Rate:

African Languages and Cultures

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Representations of Men and Women, City and Town in Kenyan Novels of the 1970s

Gender Ideology: Portrayal of Women in Yoruba i jala

Some place-names in Akoko-land: an etymological inquiry

Representations of Men and Women, City and Town in Kenyan Novels of the 1970s

Gender Ideology: Portrayal of Women in Yoruba i jala

A structural analysis ofGädlä TäkläHaymrnot

Some place‐names in [Agrave]kóó land: an etymological inquiry∗

The communicative and semiotic contexts of árokò among the Yoruba symbol‐communication systems∗

The pragmatics of greeting, felicitation and condolence expressions in four Ethiopian languages∗

Intellectuals and ideological leadership inUjamaaTanzania∗