Product Description
African American language is central to the teaching of linguistics and language in the United States, and this book covers the entire field--grammar, speech, and verbal genres. It also reveals the various historical strands that must be identified in order to understand the development of African American English. These are the social and cultural history of the American South, the urban and northern black popular culture, as well as policy issues. The current heated political and educational debates about the status of the African American dialect are also addressed. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is the first general introduction to African languages and linguistics to be published in English. It covers the four major language groupings (Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Afroasiatic and Khoisan), the core areas of modern theoretical linguistics (phonology, morphology, syntax), typology, sociolinguistics, comparative linguistics, and language, history and society. Basic concepts and terminology are explained for undergraduates and nonspecialist readers, but each chapter also provides an overview of the state of the art in its field, and as such will be referred to by more advanced students and general linguists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

for students of linguistics
This book has been generally well compiled, and well written. Be aware, though, that while it is a good introduction for "undergraduate students" it is still intended for college students of linguistics, as you will find much terminology relating to linguistics and little attempt to explain that terminology. If you are interested in a hair-splitting comparison-based analysis of african languages according to their lexical, syntactical, and morphological features, this book is for you. If you're interested in actually learning one of these african languages, this book isn't for you.

The book does claim to have something for everyone (intersted in african languages), such as a section on socio-linguistics. And that may be true. In the end, though, it would probably serve most people as an only-occasionally-consulted reference book for the library, as it does have an extensive index of languages by name, and a subject index, allowing you to locate, for example, the page discussing ergativity.

I have to admit that I'm not in the best position to critique "scholarly publications" on linguistics.I am only passively interested in the science of linguistics. However I am very interested in languages, and I still found most sections of this book a little too tedious for my background. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the only book currently on the market that addresses African American issues in education, special education, and related human service fields. With the increased demographics of children of color in schools and the decrease in African Americans pursuing teaching careers coupled with the social and political changes and the overrepresentation of minorities in special education and the court system, this is the book that brings and enlightening and broad perspective on student-teacher mismatches; clashes and misrepresentations of behavior, language and learning differences.This new resource describes the language of African American children, contrasts it from disordered communication, and recommends practical applications for working with African American children in the classroom. It discusses the controversial language of Ebonics and concludes that it is a separate language.All educators and speech-language pathologists, and anyone working with African American children in an educational setting. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Relevant!
I decided to get this book because I'm in a culturally-focused SLP program, and besides this, it's important to consider the issues that are relevant to the diagnosis and treatment among this demographic.The book contains information regarding culture, bias and educational concerns.It's been a great resource for many-a research paper, and I know that it will come in handy in my clinical practice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Africans and Native Americans
The used book looked new,excellent condition.Arrived in timely manner.Well worth the price.I am Native American of mixed blood.I am hoping this book will help me understand the historical use of terms related to race and the verify my beliefs of circumstance under which the two races mixed. I see this as a side door geneology book. ... Read more

Product Description
Providing an introduction to the linguistic study of African languages, the orientation adopted throughout this book is a descriptive-structural-typological one, as opposed to a formal-theoretical approach. Formalisms are not eschewed per se but rather are invoked when they aid the central thrust of the book, which is to describe and characterize the languages of Africa in a succinct and concise manner, and to make the facts accessible to the unfamiliar reader. To say that the approach is typological means that a given structure is compared to structures of the same type (typically ones familiar to the readers), set within an established range of variation, and characterized as usual or unexpected. Further detail is also provided, where possible, in terms of the structure's synchronic distribution and diachronic origin. The text assumes at least some knowledge of language structure on the part of its readers, but nothing beyond that acquired in a first-year linguistics course. The book is organized by linguistic domain or sub-field within linguistics, and each of the chapters can be read independently.Readers can thus read selectively or read the book sequentially from cover-to-cover. Instructors can use the book as a text for a course in African languages or even language typology. There is generous indexing by topic, language and author; appendix two contains widely used alternative names for the languages discussed and directs readers to listings in the language index. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A fun presentation of what makes the languages of this region special
George Tucker Child's AN INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN LANGUAGES, published by John Benjamins in 2003, presents the unique and peculiar features of this region's languages. The book is accessible to undergraduates, but it does demand prior courses in phonological and morphological theory and a willingness to follow references (Childs keeps things generally simple, but he'll pique your interest with lots of citations to theories too detailed to go into in this book).

The book covers the entire continent, not just Sub-Saharan Africa, but North Africa as well. It falls roughly into five parts. This first discusses the genetic grouping of African languages, with a good overview of the polemics and the major figures. The second portion is a look at the phonological peculiarities of African languages, such as click sounds, vowel harmony and insanely complicated tone systems. The third portion is morphology and syntax, covering e.g. Afro-Asiatic's non-concatenative morphology. The fourth part concerns typology, while the fifth part is the sociolinguistic aspect. The book comes with a CD that is very useful to really understand the phonology.

My own field is Indo-European, Uralic and Altaic linguistics. I found Childs' book an accessible and entertaining introduction to the interesting features to be found on the African continent, and I certainly learnt quite a lot (talking drums!). ... Read more

Product Description
This book focuses on the languages and linguistics of Africa. Covering the major themes that are dealt with in university courses, and making extensive use of linguistic symbols and diagrams, this is an essential text for undergraduate and postgraduate linguistics students in South Africa and Africa as a whole, as well as for students of African studies worldwide. Its topics include general descriptions of African languages, the nature of languages in contact and in competition, language in education, and the need for governmental intervention in linguistic issues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good introductory text
This is an introductory text to African languages and linguistics written by a Kenyan and a South African from their conceptual framework and perspective. The book gives a fairly decent overview of some of the problems that occur in Africa due to language barriers; that is many of the languages of power are English, French and Portuguese which most African's don't speak and the low esteem of native African languages among their speakers.

The authors state in their introduction that the book is:

An introductory text
It is written from an African orientation
It is aimed at students of linguistics and emphasizes the technical discipline
It presents a holistic picture

The book comes at the subject from a general point of view in order to provide a broad framework and as you get into the book the subject becomes more narrowly focused.

If you have an interest in linguistics and Africa, this text will provide you with an interesting perspective that you may not have thought of with regards to language development, power and cross communication problems. ... Read more

Product Description
This highly readable collection draws together Smitherman's ost important articles and essays, spanning a period from 972 to the present day, and includes an autobiographical iece entitled From Ghetto Lady to Critical Linguist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Explains that English is more than just words in a dictionary
I checked this book out of a library to do a report and found a wealth of information on communication, culture, the history of English and how languages change over time. ... Read more

Product Description

"As an introduction to how the history of an African society can be reconstructed from largely nonliterate sources, and to the Swahili in particular, . . . a model work."—International Journal of African Historical Studies

Customer Reviews (4)

unnecessarily incomprehensible academese
Some academics think that if they write something simply, readers will not take them seriously. Pity the poor students who must memorize the writings. The book is incomprehensible in countless ways.It mixes up time periods, assumes that everyone knows the location of small towns in east Africa, has no maps and only a few completely inadequate sketches. It offers no explanation for basic concepts like the Sabaki languages, and so on.I ordered one to give one as a present, and I returned it.

A Manual On Method In African History
This slim volume is more than just a survey of the East African coast.It is actually the foremost text on the methods and sources available for understanding the continent's remote past.With the Swahili as a test case, Nurse and Spear discuss the major categories of primary sources, along with sound methods for using them.Their findings support the scholarly consensus about the coast: despite significant external contacts, notably from the Indian Ocean, the Swahili (both language and people) are fundamentally African in origin and character.Linguistic data gets special attention, but those sections are less scary than they first appear, since the authors generally succeed in clarifying this complex material and its role in reconstructing African history.T. Spear,"Kenya's Past" achieves the same goal for a whole country, and with greater time depth.But since that work is OP, "The Swahili" is a good option.

Concise and Informative
The Swahili is a concise and informative book.It is dry and somewhat boring, but the authors do not drag it on longer than it needs to be.If you are looking for a "quick read" on the Swahili, this is it.

The Swahili
The Swahili, by Thomas Spear and Derek Nurse, is a very boring book with extraneous amounts of unnecessary detail.Though the book contains adequate information dealing with the African Swahili, it will not catchany reader's eye, unless they are forced at gunpoint to read it. Sentenceslike, "The distinction between Mwani-Mgao and the others farther northsuggests that the earliest settlement may have been at an intermediatelocation, such as Kilwa."There are just so many different tribes andthe authors make it difficult to distinguish between them.The Swahilifocuses onthe lives of the African dwellers of the eastern coast ofAfrica.The book gives good information about the lives of the Swahili,but the information is not positioned right.The authors make it difficultto understand some crucial points at times. ... Read more

Product Description
Here's an exciting new resource for anyone interested in African music and culture. Songs of West Africa by Dan Gorlin contains over 80 traditional African folk songs and chants in 6 languages along with extensive translations, annotations and performance notes. It may be the most complete collection of African songs ever published.

The book highlights traditional songs from the Anlo-Ewe, Lobi, Ga-Adangbe, Egu, Foh, and related ethnic groups from Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. There are sacred songs from Afa, Agzogbo, Gadzo, and Yewe traditions. Also major secular and historical music including Agbekor, Kinka, Atsia, Gahu, Takada, and more.

Many of the songs are simple to learn, and can be easily taught to grade school students or adapted to other styles of music. But the scope of this book goes far beyond children's songs. Each song is explained in terms of cultural context, and translated in a way that helps you form your own interpretation of its meaning. You'll discover that singing the songs of Africa is a superb way to learn about her people, culture, and history -- and it's fun!

The text includes music fundamentals, a pronunciation guide, and useful introductions to West African society, sensibility, and spirituality. Using the companion audio CD (included) you learn by singing along like young Africans do - or just listen and enjoy. The CD was studio-recorded especially for this book, so vocals and harmonies are easily heard over the supporting drums. With insightful perspectives and a wealth of information, this book is a must-have for students, teachers, and libraries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A really helpful song source to have!
I recently purchased this after having it on my list for a while - wish I'd done so earlier.Dan put a lot of time and thought into the collection, with a diverse representation of various traditions in West Africa.Personally, I bought this to learn more Ewe (Ghanaian) songs for some of the music my students are playing - the songs were ones I'd never heard, and the recordings made it easy to loop/learn by listening.A pronunciation guide for the various languages is within every section, along with contextual information about the people and the music the songs accompany.

Highly recommended, especially for those like me who have a grasp of the music already and are looking to further their repertoire of songs - nice job Dan!

Crucial Information
As a student of West African music and dance I highly recommend this book and cd. The book in itself is a valuable resource regarding Ewe music. It goes into depth in its description of the social environment from which this music comes. The recordings are of very good quality and include some of the drum music that accompanies the songs. The fact that C.K. Ladzekpo was consulted in the writing of the book indicates that the information is accurate.

If you want to enjoy listening to Ewe songs and especially if you want to learn to sing them yourself please order this book immediately.

Songs of West Africa" by Dan Gorlin is perfect for me.
I have studied in Ghana and continue to study and teach this music here in Philadelphia, and this book has enough substance to feed a small country of song hungry drummers.Also, it seems the Author also sings and plays the support drums, lead vocal and chorus (overdubbed); which is really incredible because the CD sounds so Ewe~!A must have for anyone who values beauty and hard work!
Shawn Hennessey, Leana Song.

At last - a great way to learn some African music!
I wasn't sure what to expect when I bought this, but this book turned out to be really fun to read! Part storytelling, part anthropology, part language lessons, the book introduces not just songs from six different tribal groups but a sense of how they see the world. The songs are translated, plus the pronounciations written out, and you can play the CD and read along with it - a great help if you want to try singing or drumming the music. ... Read more

Product Description
'African American Women's Language: Discourse, Education, and Identity' is a groundbreaking collection of research on African American Women's Language that is long overdue. It brings together a range of research including variationist, autoethnography, phenomenological, ethnographic, and critical. The authors come from a variety of disciplines (e.g., Sociology, African American Studies, Africana Studies, Linguistics, Sociophonetics, Sociolinguistics, Anthropology, Literacy, Education, English, Ecological Literature, Film, Hip Hop, Language Variation), scientific paradigms (e.g., critical race theory, narrative, interaction, discursive, variationist, post-structural, and post-positive perspectives), and inquiry methods (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, ethnographic, and multimethod) while addressing a variety of African American female populations (e.g., elementary school, middle school, adults) and activity settings (e.g., classrooms, family, community, church, film). Readers will get a good sense of the language, discourse, identity, community, and grammar of African American women. The essays provide the most current research on African American Women's Language and expand a literature that has too often only focused on male populations at the expense of letting the sistas speak. ... Read more

Product Description
How do children acquire African American English? How do they develop the specific language patterns of their communities? Drawing on spontaneous speech samples and data from structured elicitation tasks, this book explains the developmental trends in the children's language. It examines topics such as the development of tense/aspect marking, negation and question formation, and addresses the link between intonational patterns and meaning. Lisa Green shows the impact that community input has on children's development of variation in the production of certain constructions such as possessive -s, third person singular verbal -s, and forms of copula and auxiliary be. She discusses the implications that the linguistic description has for practical applications, such as developing instructional materials for children in the early stages of their education. ... Read more

Product Description
This book focuses on one of the most persistent and controversial questions in modern sociolinguistics: the past and present development of African American Vernacular English (AAVE).

Despite intense scrutiny of the historical and current development of AAVE, a number of issues remain unresolved. Most prominent among these is the development of African American English during the antebellum period and the trajectory of change in twentieth-century AAVE. This book addresses both of these issues by examining an unparalleled sociolinguistic situation involving a long-standing, isolated, biracial community situated in a distinctive dialect region of coastal North Carolina. This unique environment provides a venue for dealing with questions of localized dialect accommodation and ethnolinguistic distinctiveness in earlier African American English.

The conclusions drawn challenge the Creolist, Anglicist, and neo-Anglicist positions with respect to the history of AAVE and offer insights into the development of African American speech in the twentieth century. ... Read more

Product Description
You can use Teach Yourself Zulu Complete Course to learn at your own pace or as a supplement to your classwork. This complete course utilizes the very latest learning methods in an enjoyable and user-friendly format.

The new edition also features:

• Engaging visual materials such as menus, photographs, signs, and tickets
• Two CD recordings allowing quick and easy access to individual lessons and exercises
• A clear, accessible new page design
• Strong, striking cover photography

Customer Reviews (4)

After reading this book, I find that Zulu is still Greek to me
I have read several books in the Teach Yourself language series, and have found most of them very helpful. I give especially high marks to the ones covering Norwegian, Dutch and Afrikaans. I can now read books reasonably well in all those languages.
This one, however, turned out to be almost a total waste of my time. I thought I was following the lessons well enough, but when I was finished I found that I was still almost totally ignorant of the Zulu language. My grasp of the grammatical points and my command of the vocabulary were next to nil.
This could be at least partly my fault, of course. Maybe I didn't work hard enough. Or it may be that, for me at least, Zulu is too different. Certainly it is a tough language for an English speaker to learn.
When I had finished the book and had seemingly come up empty, I went back over every chapter, and made meticulous notes of the principal grammatical points. I kept my notes handy as I tried to read Zulu material -- including Zulu newspapers available on the Web and a Zulu-language novel.
Zilch! I could scarcely get through a single sentence, even with the help of a good Zulu-English dictionary. Despite my gloss of the key grammatical points in the book, there seemed to be many more grammatical devices that hadn't been covered. I found them impenetrable.
Maybe Zulu and I were just not cut out for each other. But I feel obligated to say that it's also possible the teacher did an inadequate job.

Some niggling peeves
Overall, this is not a bad course but, unfortunately, I do have a couple of niggling peeves I'd like to get off my chest that will hopefully be of some help to others considering purchasing it.
Generally the TY series is very good at balancing its presentation of functional language (phrase-book style "chunks") and grammatical explanations.This course however, leans too much in the "phrasebook" direction.It teaches a lot of good and useful language but too much of the structure of the language is explained in too cursory a manner or not at all.I am an experienced learner of languages with some linguistics training so I found myself able to "read between the lines" and deduce some of the rules from context but a beginner learning a foreign language for the first time would surely get lost.
The other matter, that I would consider an especially important point for a book teaching a South African language, is the illustrations.The illustrations invariably depict white, European-looking people who for some bizarre reason, chat with each other in Zulu.Is it really that hard to draw black people, or, if you want a more "rainbow nation" feel at least make fewer whites than blacks!
Some people may see this last point as "politically correct niggling" but anyone who knows anything about the history of apartheid in South Africa and the struggle of the black majority for basic human rights will surely see my point. Zulu is a native, black language not the everyday idiom of whites who mostly speak English or Afrikaans among themselves, and to depict white people going about their daily lives in Zulu is just plain misleading if not offensive.

Decent book, be careful to buy the one with the audio!
I've just gotten into the book, and it seems fine to me. Definitely a beginners book, but that's what I wanted. I was under the impression it came with a cassette or CD (the book even refers to listeningexcercises on the cassette), but this one doesn't come with it. There is another item on Amazon (same book or at least the same general title and authors) that says Audiopackage specifically in the title - buy that one.

A Good Start
As a student of various languages, I have always been intrigued by the languages of South Africa; in particular, their click consonants.I was looking for resources in Xhosa, and instead came across this book.Zulu, I have been told (and can affirm), is easier than Xhosa.This book begins with a decent introduction to Zulu's phonology and orthography; but I think it could have been more detailed and with more examples (especially on the CDs).The course is decently structured and seems to cater to both serious students and casual students (ie, those going to South Africa or a neighbouring country).It goes beyond the language itself, into topics such as some aspects of the Zulu people's culture.This book is a great reference for beginners of Zulu; and worth the price. ... Read more

Product Description

African American Music: An Introduction is a collection of thirty essays by leading scholars whch survey major African American musical genres, both sacred and secular, from slavery to the present. The work brings together, in a single volume, treatments of African American music that have existed largely independent of each other. The research is based in large part on ethnographic fieldwork, which privileges the voices of the music-makers themselves, while interpreting their narratives through a richly textured mosaic of history and culture. The book is replete with references to seminal recordings and recording artists, musical transcriptions, photographs, and illustrations that bring the music to life as expressions of human beings. At the same time, it includes the kind of musical specificity that brings clarity to the structural, melodic, and rhythmic characteristics that both distinguish and unify the music of African-Americans.

Customer Reviews (2)

Comprehensive book
This book was very comprehensive I can't think of anything it has left out

A college-level introduction perfect for classroom text use or library reference
Co-edited by Mellonee V. Burnim and Portia K. Maultsby for a college-level introduction perfect for classroom text use or library reference, you can't go wrong with African American Music: An Introduction - it gathers thirty essays by leading scholars to survey major Afro-American musical genres both sacred and secular over the extent of American history, uses studies from both ethnographic fieldwork and recordings, and adds biography, photos and illustrations, and references which bring the scholarly focus to life. The blend of scholarly research, field research and cultural observation makes African American Music: An Introduction the perfect text for study.
... Read more

Product Description
Drawing together scholars from communication, literature, philosophy, linguistics, and other fields, this edited collection examines the current thinking on African American literature and language. Some of the most significant writers and thinkers in the field have contributed their views on all major aspects of the topic. The widespread debate over the canon in American literature, the issue of cultural diversity, and the need to have books with critical inquiry into African American culture make this collection suitable for scholars and students in diverse fields. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is a selection of significant and previously unpublished essays and short stories by the influential critic of German and American literature and popular culture, James A. Snead. The volume contains innovative essays and notes about African American popular culture, literary criticism and five pieces of short fiction. Published posthumously, the volume attests to Snead's unique intellectual commitment to a critical engagement with the interconnections between European and African American cultural formations.
... Read more

Product Description
A new edition of the definitive collection of modern poetry from Africa

"Poetry, always foremost of the arts in traditional Africa," writes Gerald Moore, "has continued to compete for primacy against the newer forms of prose fiction and theatre drama." Now revised and expanded, this comprehensive anthology features the work of ninety-nine poets from twenty- seven countries; thirty-one of the poets appear here for the first time. War songs, satires, and political protests jostle with poems about love, nature, and the surprises of life, offering a rich and wide-ranging body of creative work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent anthology. Do not be fooled.
This anthology is perhaps the most incredible anthology of poetry that I have on my shelf. I did expect it to be so fantastic, but it blew me away. It consists of poetry from the modern era (1930s up until the 80s or so, with a couple of newer pieces here and there). The poets represented here are masters of skill and technique. Whoever thinks that Africa cannot produce poetry needs to read a few pages from this volume. There are poets of meter, free verse, and even hints of language poetry here and there. The imagery is sharp, the language is fluid and the messages are clear: in other words, if you love poetry, there's something in here for you. I especially enjoyed the poems of Lenrie Peters and Kofi Anyidoho.

This brings me to the flaws of the anthology. First, it is old, and the only anthology of its kind to date. The 4th edition was printed in 1998, and it's time for something new and more updated, perhaps to see where the poets in this anthology have ended up. Second, this book is in dire need of footnotes. Anyone outside of Africa won't get any of the language references or the cultural nuances. That being said, there are only a few instances where I felt completely lost; but footnotes would have been invaluable.

It is shameful that this is the only anthology of modern African poetry. With such talented poets living in a continent filled with violence, political despair and such pride and love, the poetry of Africa is just as relevant and important to our soul as the poetry from Europe and the US. I applaud Penguin for choosing to support the efforts Gerald Moore and Ulli Beier, but this is not enough. ... Read more