Afrikan

[Salikoko Mufwene]

An important reason is that in graphic representations of African
languages the sound [k] is typically represented with the letter /k/,
regardless of the etymology of /Africa/. The particular connection to
Swahili sounds dubious.

Sali.


On 3/5/2013 5:39 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> The Afrocentric spelling of "Afrika(n)" was popularized by Haki R.
> Madhubuti (formerly Don L. Lee), who used it as early as 1979 in _From
> Plan to Planet_. Some discussion here:
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=hfh4psuMeRYC&pg=PA161
> http://books.google.com/books?id=2AsNjx0FmwoC&pg=PA13
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 5:54 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>> The naming was deliberate. I've already inquired about that, but no one
>> seems to be able to tell me why. On the other hand, "Amerika" has come
>> acquire some rather negative connotations. Then, there's Kalifornia...
>>
>> On 3/5/2013 5:13 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>> Th CNN crawl mentions an "Afrikan Heritage House" at Oberlin College.
>>>
>>> What's this "Afrikan" business? I can remember when radicals were using
>>> "Amerika" and even "Amerikkka." But they were being critikal. So what gives?
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

--
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Salikoko S. Mufwene                    s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
The Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics and the College
Professor, Committee on Evolutionary Biology
Professor, Committee on the Conceptual & Historical Studies of Science
University of Chicago                  773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
Department of Linguistics
1010 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene
**********************************************************

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org