ARTICLE
THE
CONCEPTUAL EQUIVALENCE OF
LITERATURE IN INDIGENOUS AFRICAN SETTING DEVOID OF ANY CONTACT WITH THE WEST: A STUDY OF THE ORAL PERFORMANCE
OF OKPOSI, OHAOZARA IN NIGERIA
By
Godswill Chukwuemeka
INTRODUCTION: Is Oral Performance Literature?
Jim
Meyer, in his article, “What is Literature,”
made a brilliant effort to present a definition of literature based on
prototype. In his use of the prototype approach, he focuses on establishing the
meaning of literature via characteristics that are peculiar to it:
I suggest, then, that prototypical literary work:
*are written texts
*are marked by careful use of language, including
features such as creative metaphors, well-turned phrases, elegant syntax,
rhyme, alliteration meter.
*are in a literary genre (poetry, prose fiction, or
drama)
*are read aesthetically
*are intended by the author to be read aesthetically
Contain many implicatures (are deliberately somewhat
open in interpretation)
(http://www.und.nodak.edu/dept/linguistics/wp/1997meyer.htm)
I do not have problem with the above yardsticks he
outlined for measuring what should be called literature. But the statement that
follows, gives me a headache:
