Akan, Yorùbá, Kiswahili, mdw nTr and the Afrikan Worldview: Body Part Expressions and Fundamental Interrelation

Date – 6 February 2020

Time – 12 noon

Venue – 1st African Pragmatics Conference

Language is a manifestation of the culture and worldview of a people. In this crosslinguistic study, we will focus on similarities (and differences) between body part expressions of Akan, Yorùbá, Kiswahili and mdw ntr, which express emotions, thoughts, concepts, and feelings. Okunini Kambon and Okuninibaa Dzahene-Quarshie (2016) created the PPP framework to show similarities between the proverbs (and concomitant worldview) of two culturo-linguistic groups: the Akan and the Waswahili.  Okuninibaa Dzahene-Quarshie (2018) also uses a conceptual metaphor framework in her examination of thoughts, feelings, and emotions manifested in Akan and Kiswahili body part expressions. Building upon these and other works, in this study, we draw from a variety of sources to examine body part expressions in Akan, Yorùbá, Kiswahili, and mdw nTr as exemplifications of what we term “fundamental interrelation” in the context of a shared Afrikan worldview.

Duration 33 minutes, 53 seconds

46 Slides!