内容摘要：语言作为一个系统并非独立的抽象存在，而是植根于精神、文化与社会框架中。在文学创作中，作家的语言使用与其身份密切关联，因而非洲社会语言多样、文化多元的复杂语境对于讨论非洲文学至关重要，同时语言成为核心问题。殖民主义历史致使语言在非洲不仅是语言事件，同时也是政治事件。作家选择域外語言进行书写，在双语/多语之间斡旋，将殖民者的语言转化为可资利用、以对抗殖民主义的武器;或者利用多语现象携带的复杂意义，采用翻译的双语写作，运用多语言策略达到颠覆文化和语言层级的目的，并以此建构自己的话语权。后殖民文本以一种新建构的语言，既能挑战自身本土的传统文学模式，又能挑战殖民者的主导文学结构和传统，以此实现双重运动。如此，后殖民双语作家得以避免后殖民文本沦为西方文学样式和标准的囚徒。
关键词：非洲语境;语言;文学;后殖民双语/多语作家
Abstract： Language is not just an abstract linguistic system that exists independently but is deeply rooted in the mental， cultural and social framework. In creative writing， the usage of language（s） is closely linked to writers’ identities. Therefore， it is crucial to pay attention to the complex African context of linguistic diversity and cultural multiplicity when critics approach African literatures. And language becomes core issue in the discussion as well. The history of colonialism in Africa renders the debate on language not only an issue of itself， but a political event. Those who choose to write in foreign languages are actual mediator between two or more languages in attempt to transform the colonial languages into weapons against colonialism; or they take advantage of multilingualism with complicated meaning， introduce a way of bilingual writing when translation operating in mind， and apply a multilingual strategy to reverse both cultural and linguistic hierarchies， so as to construct their own discourse and subjectivity. With a newly appropriated and restructured language， the post-colonial texts are not only capable of challenging its traditional model of indigenous literature， but also of subverting colonists’ mainstream literature structure and tradition. In this way， a double movement is effectuated and the post-colonial bilingual writers are thus enabled to deviate their creation from being enslaved by Western literature paradigm.
Key words： African Context; Language; Literature; Post-colonial bilingual/multilingual writer
Author： Kwaku A. Gyasi is associate professor of French at the university of Alabama in Huntsville. He holds an MA in International Affairs from Ohio University and MA and PhD in French from Ohio State University. His research interests are in translation and cross-cultural texts， language in African literature， and the interface between religion， culture and literature.
Translator： Sun Xiaomeng is the executive director of the China-Indonesia Humanities Exchange Research Center in Beijing Foreign Studies University （BFSU） （Beijing 100089， China）， dean， professor， and doctoral supervisor of the School of Asian and African Studies in BFSU and visiting scholar of St. Anthony"s College in Oxford University. She is currently the vice-chairman of the Chinese Academy of African Historical Studies， vice president of the China’s Non-Universal Language Teaching and Research Association， member of the Non-Universal Languages Professional Guidance Committee of the National Advisory Committee on Foreign Language Teaching in Higher Education under the Ministry of Education， and communication review expert of the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Project and the National Social Science Fund Project of the Ministry of Education. In 2013， she was selected as a member of the “Youth Elite Project” of Beijing Colleges and Universities. She won the first prize of Beijing Higher Education Teaching Achievement and the second prize of National Teaching Achievement. Her main research direction is the history of colonialism. E-mail： suwaiba@126.com