Sierra Leone Krio: Language, Culture, and Traditions

Author:   Selase W. Williams ,  Tom Spencer-Walters
Publisher:   University Press of America
ISBN:  

9780761874508


Pages:   308
Publication Date:   26 July 2024
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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Sierra Leone Krio: Language, Culture, and Traditions


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Overview

This book offers a comprehensive, holistic, and systematic description and analysis of the language, culture, and traditions of the Sierra Leone Krio people. Through this multifaceted approach, the authors bring significant new insights into the history and the establishment of Krio society, a better understanding of the syntactic structures and semantic elements in the Krio language, and greater recognition, use, and role of oral traditions in the everyday lives of the people. The Krio folktales, parables, and riddles presented in the book represent the centuries’ old West African wisdom and communal lessons for young and old. The authors celebrate Krio creativity as reflected in their fashion, music, and poetry. Featured here are some previously unpublished Krio poems, as well as Jamaican Patois poems that have been translated for the first time in Krio and English. These latter poems reveal the similarities in the themes, social commentary, and African continuities witnessed across the diaspora. Refuting the claims that the linguistic foundation of Krio is English, the authors provide concrete evidence that its underlying structure of Krio is based in languages belonging to the Kwa language family, represented by Yoruba, Igbo, and Akan. Unique in our analysis of Krio language is the demonstration of substantive linguistic contributions from at least one indigenous local language, that being Temne, and opens up a whole new area for future research.

Full Product Details

Author:   Selase W. Williams ,  Tom Spencer-Walters
Publisher:   University Press of America
Imprint:   Hamilton Books
Dimensions:   Width: 14.90cm , Height: 1.70cm , Length: 22.80cm
Weight:   0.413kg
ISBN:  

9780761874508


ISBN 10:   076187450
Pages:   308
Publication Date:   26 July 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations List of Tables Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: History Chapter 1History of the Krio People and Their Language Part II: Krio Language Chapter 2Language Basics Chapter 3Greetings and Simple Sentences Chapter 4Complex Sentence Structures Chapter 5African Linguistic Foundations in Krio and the Diaspora Part III: Krio Culture and Traditions Chapter 6Elements of Krio Culture Chapter 7Krio Traditions Chapter 8Krio Folk Wisdom: Parables and Riddles Chapter 9Krio Stories and Trickster Tales Chapter 10Poetry in Sierra Leone Krio and Jamaican Patois Afterword Glossary Krio Words/Expressions and Their Meanings Some Krio Names and Their Meanings Appendix Bibliography Additional Reading List About the Authors Index

Reviews

Inspired by a wide range of historical literature of the foundation of colonial Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Krio sheds new light on the diverse demographic ecology in which the language emerged. Underscoring the significance of substrate influence on its grammar, Selase W. Williams and Tom Spencer-Walters' interpretation of Krio's genesis is provocative, inviting the informed reader to find solid arguments if they should disagree. Their discussion is comprehensive, lucid, and engaging. This is a must-read for anybody working on the emergence of creoles. --Salikoko Mufwene, Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity, University of Chicago


Author Information

Selase W. Williams was Director of African American Studies at the University of Washington, where he taught Krio for a decade and Chair of the Pan African Studies Department at California State University-Northridge, where he received the Distinguished Faculty Award from the California Faculty Association. In addition to being appointed Dean of Arts and Sciences and Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs, Williams was elected two-term President of the National Council for Black Studies. Tom Spencer-Walters is Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) where he taught writing and African and Caribbean literatures. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa and a Visiting Professor at the University of Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe.

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