African Syntactic Structure Not A Function Of Cartesian Logique: A Study Of Malinke Interference In

ABSTRACT

Ahmadou Kourouma is an Ivoirien writer of Malinke origin. He has written FOUR novels, THREE children novel and a drama. His French is acclaimed to be original and reflects a lot of Malinke idiolects. His syntactic construct has both French and Malinke features. Using functionalist approach, we analysed his works for translation purposes. We found out that beyond ordinary "significant" his constructs demand the consideration of "significant superieur" or super significant that is, meaning derived from syntagmatic chain of more than a word. For example: "il est fini", "Les solei Is des independances' e.t.c. are syntactic constructs that are very specific to the Malinke though they conform to French structure. His works thrive also in the recognition of nucleus elements as against virtual identities or features. In all, we established the fact that his works or each of the novels has three in-built components, universal admissible component, alternative admissible component and, component peculiar to the Malinke and calls for Malinke sensitivity for its understanding and appreciation. His works debunk partially a universal grammar as proposed by Chornsky but align totally with functionalist approach of "noyau" (nucleus elements of syntactic construct).