The Linguistic Strategies of Alteration in Contemporary Neo-Slave Narratives: The Case of Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing (2016)

The incorporation of local lexica in diction is one of the cornerstone of the African style in prose fiction. It carries specific cultural loads related to African authenticity, yet it requires the alteration of English structure. The present study aims to examine the linguistic strategies used to Africanise English in contemporary neo-slave narrative in a Ghanaian context. It relies on a mixed methods approach that borrows theoretical insights from the dynamic modelling of context and indexicality. The results showed that with recourse to the linguistic strategies of code-switching and transcoding, Yaa Gyasi has squarely mediated the Akan experience to a global English-speaking audience in her debut novel Homegoing (2016). By switching to the Akan code, the narrative preserved the semantic value system of the Akan culture. On the other hand, transcoding Akan lexica into the English language evoked stances of blame, shame, revolt, glory and ethnic reconciliation between the Fante and the Asante.