Abstract

This study illustrates how the rhetorical functionality of the drum languages, through the conventions of classical rhetoric (i.e., invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery) persuade and evoke human agency, emotion (pathos), and literacy by means of rhetorical forms of discourse within the basic vernacular systems of African rhetoric. It corroborates the need to broaden the conceptual framework from which to examine the rhetorical function of the drum in Africa and broader African diaspora. The notion of “languaging” and “translanguaging,” dynamically creative and reproductive processes—not constrained to only speaking or writing to create meaning, seen through the lens of “semiotics”—the study of sound, words, body language, and culture is explored. In sum, the African drum languages have been shown to be an influencing academic, psycho-social/linguistic, and metaphoric idiom. Discussion of their contribution and implications for the fields of African studies, psycho-social linguistics, bilingualism, multicultural education and comparative rhetoric is compelling.