Martina Jurikov, MAAJm09

Language in Okaras novel The Voice

Gabriel Okaras novel The Voice is interesting not only for its content but also for its unusual language, meaning the syntactic and grammatical structure of sentences. For me as an enthusiastic reader it was quite surprising an experience. Reading this novel was unlike reading any other book I am used to or which I have read so far. But I would not describe it as more demanding or difficult. The sentences in the text are rather simple in meaning and straightforward, which makes it quite easily understandable. In spite of the unusual sentence structure it reads quite smoothly. However, there happen to be many repetitions and re-phrasings of the same phrases. But what is the most unusual about it is the frequent violation of the typical order of sentence elements. Yet the experience of reading it was perceptibly different, in a positive way, from other books; I would say refreshing. This effect is, in my opinion, created by the way how the story is narrated as a whole. It has somewhat exotic feel in it; the feel of a foreign culture. And knowing the setting of the book, we can say it is specifically the feel of Africa.I think, this is exactly what the author wanted to achieve by the unusual use of language to grasp and provide the reader with the spirit of African tribes during the period decolonization and establishment of society in which the black people are more or less accepted by the whites; a time of confrontation of the African and European culture. I assume that the unusual word order is a result of a literal translation of the language of Okolos tribe into English. This claim is supported by the fact, that when Igonzos adviser speaks in front of the meeting for the first time, the narrator mentions, that he spoke in English that time. So supposedly, the rest of the communication in the book was held in some other language. This would also explain the use of some special vocabulary, as obviously the African dialect does not have as many words as English does, and on the other hand, English may not have appropriate equivalents of some African words. In fact, the reversed word order reminded me of the way how Master Yoda speaks in the Star Wars series.As for the repetitions of certain phrases, I think that their purpose is to increase the dramatic effect of the text and create some tension. It also hints on Okolos feelings as it may possibly symbolic of his desperation and loneliness.