I like this quote: Language reckons as a vital factor in the maintenance, sustenance; and moulding of a people’s culture. A people without a bonafide language, a people who is no longer proud of its own language, a people in the process of losing its language, a people without a language which is stable and expressive of its essential being is a people in danger of cultural chaos, or death… ( Idowu 1975: 79).
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My thoughts: I do take it literally. I love African languages and how they help us keep our identity. Unfortunately, a lot of Africans think that speaking English with the wrong pronunciations of the words is a way of showing our Africanness. By "wrong," I mean not following the Oxford Dictionary phonetic notation. Note: I am not talking about accents. I am speaking of the basic BBC pronunciation of a word. This is entirely different from accents. What do you say about this? No sugar-coating. Feel free to share your views and experiences.
I completely agree with your view on the importance of language.But I don't know much about English.Maybe I can talk about Chinese. In fact, Chinese has different pronunciations in different places, such as Cantonese. Cantonese doesn't pronounce according to the pronunciation in Chinese dictionaries, but it is also beautiful. I think this diversity of pronunciations also reflects the richness and inclusiveness of our Chinese language.And it also reflects the local culture.I hope my answer can be useful for you.
Du Yifan I think you are referring to a totally different concept. Mandarin and Cantonese have developed into different languages. I guess Okafor is talking about English as a second language, in which people are still learning the language. Africans already have beautiful native languages which pronounce words diffently. But If an African learns Cantonese, it is reasonable to try to pronounce like native Cantonese-speakers do or like in a Cantones dictionary. Same goes for Mandarin. Why is it that when it comes to English, the dictionary should be neglected? So when a Chinese learns English, is their desire to speak like a native (UK, USA, Canada, etc), or is their desire to speak English like a Chinese?
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