Appropriation of Colonial Languages in Postcolonial Literature

Appropriation of Colonial Languages in Postcolonial Literature

Postcolonial writers have this thing they like to do. They take the language of their colonizer (English or French, for example) and turn it on its head. A writer from the Caribbean, for example, may write a novel or play in English, but he or she may twist the English around, write in dialect, make the language sound spoken instead of written, pepper it with native phrases and terms. It's still English, but it's a different kind of English.

Why do postcolonial writers do this? Because it's a way for them to challenge the authority of the colonial language. "You want English?" they say, "Oh I'll give you English." And then they go off and do all these crazy things with it. In fancy postcolonial theory jargon, they "appropriate" the colonial language (source). They take the language that was used to subjugate them and use it to challenge their oppressors.

Chew on This

See how Chinua Achebe incorporates proverbs and indigenous Igbo vocabulary in these quotations from Arrow of God.

Marlon James twists English into Jamaican dialect in The Book of Night Women.