The Place and Value of Metaphors and Idioms in the Socio-cultural Development of a People: A Comparative Survey of Language Development in East Africa

Azaveli F. Lwaitama (Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)

Email:

 

ABSTRACT:

The paper will critically examines the place and value of idioms in the cultural expression of a people, illustrating the arguments being put forward by making a comparative survey of idioms of a number of languages in East Africa and the roles they have played or could potentially play in the development efforts of the relevant communities. The cognitive and affective skills contained in these idioms in the natural, the social sciences as well as the humanities are explained. The running thread in the critical discourse analysis of the uses these idioms are put in the relevant language communities is to demontrate the extent to which the domination and rule of European powers over African territories during the colonial period (from the 1880s to the 1960s), has had an adverse, sometimes crippling, effect on the creativity and potential for increased self determination of these communities in the post-colonial era. Ample examples are provided to show the dilemmas these communities have faced in relating to the official national language policies and practices of the countries in which the communities are located. Some illustrative examples are offered of the pontial uses to which the rich idioms of the local indegenous languages could have been put in promoting the exploitation of local indigenous knowledge systems for technological mastery and adaptation or taming foreign innovations for local use. Some discussion is also offered on the failure of school curricula to transform learners into a knowledgable, creative and self confident workforce due the undue emphasis they place on the learning of the languages of former colonial nations and the decision to implement these school curricula through the use of these languages of former colonial power as media of school instruction.