African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

References
Akong’a, Joshu J. 1987. Rainma king Rit u als: A Comparative study of Two Kenyan Societies. In
African Study Monographs 8, no. 2: 71–85.
Fedders, Andrew, and Cynthia Salvadori. 1998. Peoples and Cultures of Kenya. Nairobi:
TransAfrica.
Osogo, John N.B. East Africa’s People in the Past. Nairobi: Longman.
Schmidt, Phillip. 1963. Superstition and Magic. Westminster, Md.: Newman Press.
Wagner, Günter. 1970. The Bantu of Western Kenya: With Special Reference to the Vugusu and
Logoli. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
——. 1976. The Abaluhyia of Kavirondo. In African Worlds, ed. Daryll Forde. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Werner, Alice. 1968. Myths and Legends of the Bantu. London: Frank Cass.
BENSON A.MULEMI
See also Dreams
See Cosmology; Religion
African folklore 908
SUPREME BEING
SURROGATE LANGUAGES:
ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION
A surrogate language is defined as a method for communicating through a spoken
language but by means other than speaking. In contrast with speaking, which is the
uttering of words or the articulation of sounds with the human voice, a surrogate
language involves the uttering of words or the articulation of sounds through an
alternative or surrogate voice. Through the use of instruments, a surrogate language
employs sounds that substitute for spoken words. In exceptional cases, a surrogate
language may even substitute written text (Nketia 1971, 699). Instruments that produce
surrogate languages include the “talking drum” (which may or not be an actual skinheaded
membranophone), gongs, horns, the lips (for whistling), hand-made whistles, and
even guitars (Carey 1949, 74–80). These surrogate language instruments have been found
in the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Nigeria
(Carrington 1949, 26–29), and Cameroon (Finnegan 1970, 484).
Surrogate languages communicate actual speech by sounding out the stress and tones
of syllables. As technologies, they may be described as a cross between the telegraph and
the radio. They transmit information by being beaten, blown, strummed, or tapped upon.