Grounding Spirituals

Negro Spirituals,as an African-American tradition, owes its roots and existence to the native African-American slave composers to carry meanings that may not be explicit to the first-time listener. The apparent challenge of grasping the message of the Spirituals is not too strange, as language in itself is a delicate tool, the communication of which can elude the most learned of people. This is one reason why the effort has gone into producing a book that will aid its readers in beginning to understand how the messages in the Negro spirituals were constructed with the aid of linguistic foregrounding. The book, thus, employs a stylistic approach to present analyses of linguistic foregrounding employed in Negro Spirituals, taking cognizance of the favoured linguistic processes of foregrounding-parallelism, paradigmatic associations and enveloping as used in the Negro Spirituals. Hence, the book establishes linguistic foregrounding as the mechanic needed for the listener to attain comprehension of the Spirituals. This book will be a guide to any lover of music, especially the Spirituals, to appreciate the beautiful nature and technique of composition that liaises melody with reality.

Autorentext

Judith O. Som is a teacher, editor, researcher and singer. She completed the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, as best graduating student of English in 2014.She has a growing fascination for the constantly changing world, wanting to explore and understand the dynamics of past, present and future human interactions.