Ritual Language: Soyinka’s Contributions to the Debate on Language Use in "Death and the King’s Horseman"

Abstract

There is an agelong debate on the issue of language in African literature. Many African countries were colonised by the West and they enforced their languages on the colonised. African writers are, however, divided over which language that best conveys their thoughts, culture and tradition. While Ngugi wa Thiong’o advocates the use of indigenous languages, in this case, Gikuyu and Swahili, Chinua Achebe promotes the use of the language of the colonialists in so far as it is used creatively to express the African worldview. This paper examines Wole Soyinka’s use of ritual language in Death and the King’s Horseman as a unique contribution to the controversy about the ideal language for African literary expression especially in drama. The paper is a theoretical analysis of the language debate in which Soyinka’s text is considered as an exemplification of Achebe’s position. Nonetheless, references will be made to instances of ritual language such as the use of chants, rites, incantations, drumming and dancing. Analysis of the play reveals that Soyinka’s usage is ritualistic yet dramatic but also couched in African imagery and anecdotes even as it is accessible to the world. The paper concludes that although Soyinka has been accused of difficulty, complexity and inaccessibility in his use of words (Jeyifo xviii) in many of his creative works, his use of language in Death and the King’s Horseman encapsulates creativity, an index of ritual language of African identity and culture.