F.A. Soyoye and L.O. Adewole, eds.,1991. In Honour of Professor Ayo Bamgbose
(Ile-Ife, Nigeria: African Languages and
Literature, No 3) Pp. vii+183; Department of African Languages and
Literatures, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, $25.00[1].
This special edition of this occasional publications brings together 24 essays
as a festschrift for Professor Ayo Bamgbose who recently retired from the
University of Ibadan after crowning it with the Nigerian National Merit Award,
the highest honour fo a Nigerian academic.
Ayo Bamgbose is a towering influence on the study of
linguistics in Nigeria. With over a hundred publications, he is a household
name in Yoruba linguistics.
One of the editors of this volume, Dr. L.O. Adewole, is
moving in the intellectual direction of Ayo Bamgbose. Dr. Adewole has completed
three book-length works in the last five years. His annotated bibliography, The Yoruba Language, has become a
welcome addition to the literature.
The 24 essays in this book are written by the established
new names in Yoruba literature and linguistics. The topics are varied, perhaps
a reflection of the scholarship of Bamgbose himself.
There are three essays on the contributions of Yoruba
scholars like Isaac Delano and Joseph Odumosu. There are new critiques on
verbs. As usual, aspects of literature dominate the volume, with essays on
Oladapo, the poet, songs and novels.
The quality of the essays is uneven and several of the
contributors are not rigorous in the formulation of concepts and application of
theories. Nevertheless, this is a good book: it is an excellent tribute to the
fine career of Ayo Bamgbose and a good source of information to assess the
development of the study of Yoruba and
literature.
[1]
This review was published as Toyin Falola (1992), ‘F.A. Soyoye and L.O.
Adewole, eds., In Honour of Professor Ayo Bamgbose’, Languages of the World 1: 68.
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