Language and Meaning in Gabriel Okara’s The Voice

Abstract

Relationships and interrelationships form the foundation of human society, and language is essential to both human nature and societal existence. Our societal view and the artistic expressions of our humanity are fundamentally shaped by the dynamics of language. Through his odd linguistic experiment, Gabriel Okara cleverly captures the living imagery of African speech patterns in The Voice. Through a process of interference, he modifies English language resources to precisely suit the requirements of his creative vision. Traditional African speech patterns are translated into English using their rhythms, visuals, nuances, and metaphors, which have the effect of making them more acceptable in society. This paper therefore, looks at language and meaning with a view to revealing the distinctiveness of the indigenous use of language as a medium of communication in Okara’s The Voice. To achieve this purpose, linguistic benchmarks were applied to the literary work. The descriptive system of data analysis, primary and secondary data collection and analysis method and the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) were employed. Additionally, this essay emphasizes and raises awareness of this crucial literary art technique that uses a foreign language to successfully accomplish Nigeria's socio-cultural reformation in all respects.