National Integration and Language Nativization in Edward Brathwaite’s The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy

Abstract

Language as a means of communication, culturally denotes a vehicle for achieving ontological wholeness - a sense of connectedness and seamless relationship amongst individuals in a community; a means towards the creation of an essence in a people. Even though the Caribbean society is inherently culturally and politically disparate, cultural sociologist and linguists have sought to create the basis for unity through the medium of language. Despite the colonialist's seperatist policies in the Caribbean, language remains the most significant feature of ethnic identity. Edward (later called Kamau) Brathwaite's novel concept of 'Nation Language' is a linguistic initiative towards the achievement of the sense of cultural and political wholeness in a people. This study identifies and establishes the socio-cultural link that exemplifies the import of language as an indispensable tool of National integration.