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A SYSTEMATIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF PROVERBIAL EXPRESSIONS IN OLA ROTIMI THE GODS ARE NOT TO BE BLAMED.
ABSTRACT
The English language is a living and dynamic language and because of this, it is flexible and open to changes that occur everywhere it is used. This is exactly the case with English in Nigeria. The socio-cultural setting and the values of the Nigerian people have influenced the use of English language in the country. Many researchers have noted that proverbs form a formidable part of both the spoken and written discourse in the English speaking world, especially Nigeria where English is used as a very important second language. This explains why this study focuses on the systematic functional analysis of the Proverbs in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame. In the Yoruba Speech Community of Nigeria to which Ola Rotimi belongs, proverbs are considered as multifunctional and flexible instruments of language. They are employed for social relationships, for performing routine activities and for reflecting awareness of the environment. Viewed from a sociolinguistic perspective, Yoruba proverbs exemplified by those used by Ola Rotimi in The Gods Are Not to Blame, reveal the values of good conduct, respect for elders, the place of royalty, cordiality and cooperation for peaceful co-existence among the Yoruba. Using Dell Hyme’s Ethnography of Communication as a theoretical framework and the S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model as the data analysis tool, the investigation showed that proverbial usage cuts across cultures and races; Africans use proverbs more than other people in the world; there is male dominance in the use of proverbs in Africa; elders and leaders are more disposed to proverbial expressions than young and common individuals in Africa and proverbs are conditioned by circumstances. The researchers recommend that the study of African proverbs be introduced into the school curriculum to help growing children appreciate their culture and those of other people and avail themselves of the moral lessons that proverbs offer since such proverbs guide the behaviour of young people.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Proverbs are used by people from all parts of the world for the transmission of their wisdom, knowledge, experiences and feelings. As Carter puts it, “every language has its thesaurus of proverbs” (63).This, in turn, has made proverbs to become current and innovative. In every speech community proverbs are used to achieve certain purposes or objectives. In the words of Fanany Rebecca and Ismet, “Proverbs in many societies are used to offer advice, resolve problems between individuals, and indicate comradery and good will” (122). English proverbs may be seen as closely related to English folk wisdom even though many of them have literary origin. In Africa, proverbs are of immense importance to the people. This explains why African proverbs have origin or background and explanation that are rooted in the sociocultural life of the people. That is possibly why Onuigbo maintains that the beauty of Achebe’s literary genius is not based only on what Abdul Mohammed calls sophisticated primitivism of the language but also on the proverbial wisdom with which he ties the language. Coker states,
Among Africans particularly, proverbs occupy a strategic position given the pre-literate nature of indigenous African societies. In particular, among the Yoruba of south-western Nigeria, proverbs are regarded as a cherished form through which the worldview, philosophy and knowledge transfer across generation lie. The use of proverbs among the Yoruba, especially among elders, in everyday discourse ensures the sustenance, understanding and dissemination of traditional values (53).
The origin of proverbs has a very long history. By 595 B.C, the Book of
Proverbs in the ‘Holy Bible’ was already written. Its major author was the wise King Solomon, who has up to three thousand of the proverbs to his credit. Many of his proverbs are as relevant today as they were when they were first written. In the remote past, when the book of Proverbs was written, the proverbs were designed “to give subtlety to the simple and to the young man, knowledge and discretion” (1:4). Proverbs have been with humanity just like language. In Nigeria, some of the indigenous languages have been translated into English. The English Language has been with Africa, particularly West Africa and especially Nigeria, for quite some time. Gradually, it was seen that Nigerians and other second language users of English use the language in a special way. In other words, there exists certain distinctiveness in the way Nigerians use English. There appears to be no doubt that several of the proverbs in English used by Nigerian writers have been largely translated into English from some indigenous languages.
As in all cultures, proverbs function like moral codes, conventional wisdom and explicit rules of conduct. These proverbs describe and prescribe the patterns of behaviour. They state the experiences, moral intuitions and guidelines for living that people generally have found to be desirable and helpful. At the same time, they contain the wisdom of the sages in the form of prescriptions and counsel for a
successful life.
Another important feature of Nigerian proverbs is that, for a proverb to be appropriate when cited, the situation depicted in the primary meaning as well as its deeper meaning, must match the context of situation to which it is applied. Take for instance, the Bassa proverb: “An elder knows where to locate a crab’s heart”. The proverb is pointing to difficult and complex problems whose solution can barely be imagined. They are like a crab’s heart, which can hardly be located; yet, in all cases, an elder has the solution, which comes from his store of knowledge and experience. With these, he can locate a crab’s heart and from his experience and wisdom coupled with patience and careful scrutiny, he can get to the root of a complex problem and offer solutions.
Moreover, Nigerian proverbs are always stated along with figures of speech, (metaphors and images) rather than in plain language. Sometimes, things that are alike or antithetical are compared or contrasted. One needs to reason and use one’s imagination in order to understand the intended meaning of a proverb. That is why, to understand a proverb correctly is a task that calls for discernment; for those who hear the proverbs do not always understand them. As Dzobo states,
The truth is that, in its own context and particular situation, each may be apt, for in real life situations, there are paradoxes and apparent contradictions. For instance, in certain situations, the best thing to do is to be silent, while in others, speaking out is the wise thing to do (20).
Thus, although the counsels of silence and speaking out may appear to conflict when juxtaposed, in their appropriate distinct contexts, each is straightforward. It is no wonder then that since proverbs relate to real life situations, they sometimes seem to contradict each other. These apparent contradictions, however, are not substantive. This fact underscores the need to use proverbs in the right context and appropriate situation.
It is also important to note that one proverb can have several meanings and can therefore, be applied to different situations. For instance, the Idoma proverb, “If you want to send a message to God, tell it to the wind”, can be used in different situations. It teaches that God is everywhere. It also teaches the correct Idoma procedure when a person wants to see the chief (as in the use of appropriate titles of respect and authority). And it advises that when you have a worrisome matter about which you cannot speak out, you have to tell it to those who can pass it on. Some proverbs may differ in citation but teach the same moral lesson.
Nigerian proverbs can be used for several scholarly purposes. Historical information as well as the thought, customs, beliefs and values of a society can be obtained through their proverbs. Besides, Nigerian proverbs are a literary device used to embellish speech. This is because many of the idioms in Nigerian languages are embedded in proverbs. As it were, proverbs are used as sweeteners to communicate effectively. Proverbs are cited to confirm, reinforce or modify a statement, to heighten and attract attention to a point or message, or simply to summarize a speech. Sometimes, too, they are used to communicate a fact or opinion that might be impolite or even offensive to state in direct speech or in plain language. Proverbs are also used to make people appreciate speech, facilitate understanding, or generate conviction. This agrees with a Yoruba saying that: A proverb is the horse which can carry one swiftly to the discovery of ideas.
In the Nigerian society, proverbs are of great importance in day-to-day discourse. Little wonder Chinua Achebe describes proverbs as the palm oil with which words are eaten. Proverbs are usually based on the traditions of its users as cultural tools for transferring the traditions of a speech community, their values, beliefs and collective knowledge from one generation to another. In a typical Yoruba speech community, proverbs are considered as tools of sound analytical, creative and persuasive argument. A Proverb is considered the key to understanding words and expressions in Yoruba language. It is thus defined in the following ways: Owe ni esin oro, Oro ni esin owe, bi oro ba sonu, Owe ni a fi n wa, translated as “Proverb is the horse of an expression/word; word is also the horse of proverbs. When a word is lost, the proverb finds it out”. As the ‘horse’ or ‘powering machine’ of speech, it is the source of wisdom and knowledge for every aspect of man’s life experiences. In fact, it is an act of disrespect for a Yoruba child to interact with a more elderly person using proverbs without taking permission from him or her before doing so. This is because the elderly ones are considered the repository of all knowledge in a traditional Yoruba society.
Yoruba proverbs constitute an important aspect of language use in the Yoruba speech community. Better understanding of various aspects of Yoruba life as in Marriage, naming ceremony, chieftaincy, communal support, burial, vocations
(farming, hunting, fishing, goldsmithing, blacksmithing, weaving), nature of animals (dogs, cats, goats, birds), histories and stories (of families, human communities, of heroes and heroines and important past events), economy, polity (systems of government) and religions is enhanced through the use of proverbs. As a collection of the Yoruba knowledge and view about their politics, vocations, culture, and environment, and as a means of communicating the knowledge to others, proverbs can be the most memorable part of a language event. Consequently, a thematic study of Yoruba proverbs makes a very interesting and rewarding sociolinguistic study which will further strengthen the identity of the Yoruba cultural community in Nigeria. The Yoruba speech community is one of the language communities that descended from the Kwa language family in Nigeria. The Yoruba community is a versatile race that is well known for her high level of stratified social structure. The Yoruba speech community occupies a large area in the South-Western part of Nigeria, while others are found in some parts of Dahomey (Republic of Benin and Togoland).
These great people have a long history and they trace their ancestral home to Ile-Ife, where they believe, the act of creation began. They all claim to have had a common ancestor, whose name is Oduduwa. They speak the same language, with some dialectal variations. Among the dialectal groups are the Egba, Ekiti, Ijebu, Ijesa, Ilaje, Ondo, Owo, Ife, Ibadan and Oyo speech communities. In spite of the dialectal differences, Yoruba language is rich and laden with proverbs, folklore and folktales which provide the structure for their religious beliefs and practices. The more one understands these, the more one is led into the wealth of reality that has throughout the ages, served as the basis for the Yoruba culture and general conceptual framework.
Ola Rotimi, whose full names are Emmanuel Gladstone Olawale Rotimi, was born on April 13, 1938, in Sapele, Nigeria. He was born to an Ijaw mother and a Yoruba father. He was educated in Nigeria, in Port-Harcourt and Lagos. He travelled to the United States in 1959 to study at Boston University where he received a B.A degree in Fine Arts in 1963. He attended the Yale School of Drama where he obtained M.A. in 1966 with specialization in playwriting. On returning to Nigeria in the 1960s, he taught at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and University of Port-Harcourt. Partly because of the political conditions in Nigeria, Ola Rotimi spent much of the 1960s in the Caribbean and the United States, where he taught at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the year 2000, he returned to Ile-Ife and worked at Obafemi Awolowo University, until his demise on August 18th of the same year.
Ola Rotimi is particularly noted for the representation of monarchical tragedies in his dramatic works, and the three works under study in this research are both prominent and peculiar. Using the Aristotelian style, he creates royal tragic heroes who fall repeatedly due to personal flaws as well as societal and supernatural influence. Kurunmi (1971) and Ovonramwen Nogbaisi (1974), are Ola Rotimi’s original creations, while The Gods Are Not to Blame (also, 1971) is an adaptation of Oedipus Rex, a classical Greek tragedy by Sophocles. In all the three texts, the protagonists are energetic, ebullient natured kings who are endowed with strong linguistic abilities worthy of close examination.
In Kurunmi and The Gods Are Not to Blame, the Yoruba speech patterns and rhetorical prowess are obvious in the utterances of the characters even though they speak in the English Language. Ovonramwen Nogbaisi reflects Benin linguistic background. Noticeable in the linguistic habits of Ola Rotimi’s main characters is an authorial personal trait because even though the plays are tragedies of great monarchs, Kurunmi originates from Yoruba history, Ovonramwen Nogbaisi from Benin and The Gods Are Not to Blame from Greek Classical mythology. In all three plays, the kings exhibit habits that are similar to one another, especially in their use of proverbs.
Every culture codifies its values in its own language. Through systems of myths, anecdotes, stories and proverbs, values are defined and good/bad differentiations are specified. More formal systems are also evolved and represented by ethical codes and religious institutions. Communication, including communication through language, can be classified into different modes. That aspect of communication in which comment on behaviour, that is to say, which modifies or makes some definitions of other behaviours, is called “meta-communication” and the aggregate of its forms “meta-systems”. Meta-systems are the carriers of values and as an individual in any culture develops, he learns sets of meta-systems. In this way, the culture passes along its value systems, and continuity in the values of the culture is thereby maintained (Alger, 51).
Proverbs belong to the aspect of applied linguistics which comprises Semantics, Pragmatics, Stylistics and Sociolinguistics. Looked at from the point of view of meaning in language, proverbs can be studied from the perspectives of Discourse Analysis, Semantics and Pragmatics. Discourse Analysis examines the function of an utterance in a particular context as a specific contribution to a developing discourse.
Proverbs are sentential utterances, the meanings of which derive not from their lexical and syntactic values, but from the context in which they are uttered. Whereas the linguistic meanings of expressions in Semantics are often explicit, pragmatic meanings are implicit. Implicit meanings are those which are not clearly stated in words but which can be understood contextually if the speaker and the listener share a common cultural and mutual background. There are three fundamental factors that enable the hearer to discover the implicit meaning of a proverbial expression. The first factor is the situation in which the utterance is produced. Proverbial utterances are often uttered in a conversational situation where both the speaker and listener are physically present, and hence, the speaker does not provide too much detail.
The second factor is the shared previous knowledge or common cultural background between the speaker and listener, often referred to as interlocutors. The third is the linguistic context in which a particular proverbial expression is used. What precedes or follows an apparently vague expression might lead the hearer to the speaker’s meaning of the expression. In other words, implicit meaning is recoverable from the surrounding linguistic context of the discourse. Alo opines that “the term context encompasses a wide notion embracing linguistic and non-linguistics factors of language use. The linguistic context is primarily ‘seen in terms of what immediately precedes and what follows an expression in a text’. The social context which is nonlinguistic refers to the person or participants involved in a large activity and their social characteristics including social class, level of education, age, sex and relationship”(75).
Proverbs are best understood in context. Malinowski in Upah elucidates this view when he describes context as the immediate concrete circumstances about what was going on while words are said. It is the physical environment of a speech event, the participants involved in the discourse as well as the cultural norms which are the necessary guides for the interactants. The importance of the verbal context is obvious in every natural use of proverbs. Every proverb finds its real place in the specific environment that causes its appearance. A proverb serves its function best when it is used in its proper place. Sociolinguistics studies the variation in language or more precisely the variation within speech communities. It is interested in how and why diverse people speak and write differently. In other words, it is aimed at everyone. Anyone who has ever noticed an accent, or puzzled over a dialect phrase, or wondered why road signs are in several languages; anyone who adjusts their speech or writing in different situations, or cannot imitate the way that older people or younger people talk, or feels excluded by the way another group speaks; anyone who has ever tried to create an impression of themselves in an interview or e-mail, anyone who has ever made a snap decision on the basis of someone’s voice, anyone who has ever been in an argument – in all these situations, you have been involved in the field of
sociolinguistics.
Sociolinguistics focuses on the study of any or all aspects of the society, including cultural norms, values and beliefs. It investigates the relationship between language and the society for better understanding of the structure of language and how it functions in communication. This is what this study is all about. It aims to analyse proverbs in Ola Rotimi’s three tragedies: The Gods Are Not to Blame, from sociolinguistic standpoint so as to show how they reflect the social strata and cultural phenomena in the life of the people represented in the texts.
1.1.1PROVERBS
It is important to provide a background explanation of what we exactly mean by proverbs. Dougall views proverb as “…a saying popularly known and repeated usually expressing simply and concretely, though often metaphorically, a truth based on common sense or practical human experience” (1087 ). Mieder carried out a study, from which he summarized the meaning of proverb thus:
A phrase, saying sentence or expression of the folk which contains above all, wisdom, truth, morals, experience, lessons and advice concerning life and which has been handed down from generation to generation( 5 ).
In the words of Yusuf and Methangwane, proverbs are “relatively short expressions, which are usually associated with wisdom and are used to perform a variety of social functions” (408). Such functions often include the teaching of morals as earlier mentioned. In all, proverbs help to shroud some parts of one’s speech in secrecy, leaving only the “initiated” to decode the hidden message in the words.
The meaning of a proverb may not be fixed and so it can be modified. The user is free to reconstruct a proverb in order to make it appropriate for the particular context in which it is being used. To modify a proverb, one may delete, paraphrase, elaborate, or transfer elements in it and the hearer must be clever to interpret the meaning of the proverb appropriately. Kaiumova explains that when proverbs undergo modifications they can acquire new forms and meanings. Zykova, however, makes some categorization; the deep or conceptual stratum of proverbs is dynamic and subject to modifications while the surface or semantic stratum is static and contains the real meaning of the proverb.
In the view of Okoh, proverbs occupy a commanding position in the rhetorical arsenal of African cultures because in almost every African society, proverbs constitute a dominant device, whether in every day conversation or in more serious formal talk. This agrees with the view of Osani who asserts that proverbs have literary qualities in terms of structure, style and rhythm even though they do not exist as an independent literary product. He argues that proverbs represent an important aspect of the creative use of language by the robust imaginativeness that goes into their formation. Jegede’s observation, that focus on traditional proverbs in colonized writings and the nature, structure, form and context of proverbs in literature is the preoccupation of scholarship in proverb usage in the Nigerian literary scene lends credence to Osani’s assertion.
Okwelume states, “proverbs were used by an elder to advise, warn and to convey truism particularly if he intends that some of those present should not understand the kernel of his sayings” (ix).This view agrees with that of Methangwane who also believes that proverbs perform functions which often include the teaching of morals and that proverbs also help to shroud parts of the user’s speech in secrecy, leaving only the “initiated” to decode the hidden message in the words.
Okpewho, on his part, presents proverb from the structural angle; his approach was more literary than thematic. He opines,
A proverb is a piece of folk wisdom expressed with terseness and charm. The “terseness” implies certain economy in the choice of words and a sharpness of focus, while the “charm” conveys the touch of literary or poetic beauty in the expression. Proverbs, apart from encapsulating people’s philosophies and experiences, come in short lines that make their structure akin to that of poetic compositions (226).
Like other scholars, Okpewho stresses that proverbs are laden with wisdom and usually not long, giving it a characteristic similar to that of poetry. Agu, on her part, states that reverence is accorded the users of proverbs in African setting. She argues that “the Igbo, like the Yoruba, give pride of place to a speaker that is able to adorn his speech with suitable proverbs” (45). She observes that in the Yoruba society no one is considered educated or qualified enough to take part in communal discussion unless he or she is able to quote the proverbs pertinent to each situation or the issue at hand. Much of the idiomatic language and reflective thought of Nigerians is expressed in proverbs. For example, Opata asserts that women have been objects of discrimination since Biblical times; society either deliberately builds up a body of dispositions and attitudes to justify this discrimination, or a long period of such discriminations leads society to develop certain attitudes and dispositions about its women. These attitudes and dispositions become so accentuated, that a people goes so far as to link deity and woman with the same destructive principle and go still further to encapsulate such a linkage in a proverbial idiom as in the Igbo proverb Onyemma n’egbugi na nwanyi egburu, which means “One who is not killed by a deity is killed by a woman”(95). In many ways, Nigerian traditional proverbs are like those of the people of other cultures. The overwhelming majority of Nigerian proverbs are short, pithy statements that contain ancient wisdom and experience.
TYPES OF PROVERBS
Rhetorical Proverbs
Rhetorics, according to the Aristotelian definition is “the faculty of discovering all the available means of persuasion”. It is concerned with using language in an impressive way, especially to influence people to take a step or act in a particular manner. Rhetorical proverbs are thus those pithy sayings that are geared towards persuading or influencing people to do certain things. They are meant to encourage, motivate and advise people with the aim of making them adopt a worldview or act in a specific manner. An example is “By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from tree to tree without falling”.
Epistemological Proverbs
These are proverbs whose origins lie in history, stories, folklore, myths, legends and other oral traditional sources. They tell a story or narrate an incident at a glance. Some epistemological proverbs require commentaries for their meanings and imports to be understood. The proverbs “The young palm tree grows tall rapidly, and it is proud, thinking, hoping that one day it will scratch the face of the sky. Have its elders before it touched the sky? And “The Gabon ripper dies its children take up its habit, poison and all. The plantain dies, its saplings take its place, broad leaves and all. The fire dies, its ashes bear its memory with a memory of white fluff” are typical examples.
Didactic Proverbs
These are proverbs that teach moral lessons. They are meant to instill some moral training or discipline in the hearers, especially the children, by exhibiting virtues and extolling them and identifying vices as well as condemning them. They are teaching proverbs. Many Nigerian proverbs, just like folk stories, serve didactic purposes. The proverb “He who pelts another with pebbles asks for rocks in return” serves a didactic purpose.
Philosophical/Analytic Proverbs
These are proverbs that are rooted in the study of the cosmos, the universe and knowledge of the world. They portray self-evident truths – observable, discernible, empirical and philosophical – that are often used as a veritable instrument by which words are conveyed and for emphasizing words. They could serve didactic purposes too. In essence, philosophical/analytic proverbs accentuate communication through a close observation of, and allusion to, natural phenomena. An example is “Because of the deaf, the clouds blacken before it rains; because of the blind, thunder rumbles”.
FUNCTIONS OF PROVERBS
Proverbs perform a wide range of functions. Some of such functions are presented as follows:
Proverbs are a Vehicle for Personal Communication
Similar to other genres of folklore, proverbs perform the function of an impersonal medium for personal communication. Proverbs are used to guide and direct the behaviour or thought of a child or an individual. Once the proverb is quoted and the message is passed across, the responsibility is then shifted from the speaker to the anonymous coiner of the proverb. The addressee then becomes aware of the fact that the proverb did not originate from the speaker but has come from somewhere, sometime ago.
Proverbs Reduce Difficulties in Speech
Proverbs are discretely introduced into conversations at the decisive moment thus influencing the real decisions finally taken. Kirk-Greene explains that in social intercourse, proverbs smoothen out difficulties and adds pith to the well-known accomplishment of the African conversation. Proverb is very useful to preliterate people, because when words cannot be read, they are greatly appreciated when heard. The flow of the words that come out of the mouth gives pleasure in itself apart from the particular theme of the words themselves. The aesthetic value implied here is suggestive of the joy, which many audiences have in hearing a poem verbalized. It takes on a new life, affecting the audience more deeply through sound than it ever has affected-through sight. Merrick commenting on the Hausa use of proverbs in conversation noted that they enter into ordinary conversation to an extent of which one does not become aware in the routine of a provincial court, or of the orderly room.
Proverbs Comment and Persuade
Proverbs are used for commenting or persuading as the case may be. Again, the indirect and expressive natures of proverbs make it particularly effective for the proverbs to carry out this function. For instance, a speaker may desire to convey a message in such a way that the implication can be denied later, or so that only some among his audience may understand the point.
Proverbs are used as Stereotyped Sarcasm
The proverb can also be utilized as a stereotyped sarcasm, which is a culturally approved medium of expressing resentment without facing the risk of litigation. This empowers the proverb to function as an alternative for fistfights. Hence instead of engaging his fist to fight his opponent, the speaker punches him with sarcastic proverbs.
Proverbs are used as a Vehicle for Ridicule and Mockery
Proverbs serve the function of ridicule and mockery effectively. Smith et al demonstrated the effectiveness of this function on its victims when he observed that wit has a utilitarian aim, laughter is never far away, and because of their susceptibility to ridicule, the Ila-speaking people of Northern Rhodesia, like many others, can sometimes be laughed out of a thing more effectively than deterred by argument or force. Hence Pharisees are ridiculed as those who “spurn the frog but drink the water”, says Finnegan. Any kind of satirical or penetrating comment on behaviour may be made in the form of a proverb and used to warn or advise or bring someone to his senses.
Proverbs are a Basis for Praise-Names
Proverbs and proverbial phrases can be used as the basis of many praisenames and titles, lorries, canoes, handkerchiefs; and the styles of tying and wearing head ties are named by proverbs. These kinds of names have the function of expressing publicly but allusively, resentment, defiance and derision, or contrarily, approbation and congratulations. In any literary tradition, names may be a device for telling the reader something about the character bearing the name, this being especially true of the African traditions in respect of praise names as well as praise songs.
Proverbs are used as Games and Entertainment
Proverbs also constitute part of the games of Africans. Among the Kassena tribes of Ashanti another form of word-games is for one to say a word which has apparently no meaning at all but which has been memorized as the key of a proverb. Some scholars noted that among the Thonga people, the recitation of proverbs itself forms a game while a number of Thonga riddles are solved with proverbs. The Fante of Ghana recite proverbs for entertainment both at evening gatherings and during ceremonies and celebrations where a panel of Judges is appointed to determine the winner between the contestants. Similarly, the Bantu people use proverbs in regular games like riddles. In addition, we learn that during normal occasions, interpretations of proverbs are exchanged between contestants while players trade in their new proverbs and their interpretations for the ones they knew.
Proverbs Contain Humour
Lots of intercontinental proverbs contain many humorous features. The humour of Spanish proverbs provides captivating examples. Hence, proverbs function as humour. Often times, experts of proverbs do not pay much attention to the words with which such proverbs are adorned by thinking only of the implied meanings. Hence, much of the humour embedded in the proverbs is ignored. Yet, a little more attention paid to the picture painted by the words of the proverbs will unveil the humorous aspect of Africa proverbs. In Igbo culture, the tortoise is said to be funny and sly; the he-goat, lustful and witty, and the madman humorously foolish. Hence, proverbs utilizing these symbols are bound to promote humour. For instance, a man could ask for pardon by calmly ascribing his fault to an instinct beyond his control, the type of instinct, which makes the he-goat pursue his mother. Since the he-goat has claimed that he pursues his mother because he is being lured to it by something attached to his body, a situation beyond his control but which makes him truly remorseful. In like manner, a visitor who wants to leave in a hurry can say, like the madman in Igbo culture, that he has a long distance to cover, besides, some intended dancing on the road. This is because madmen can be recognized by their dancing on the road to the tune of a kind of music obviously heard only by them. Ondo proverbs are interlarded with the humour, which can easily be identified by only the native speakers.
Proverbs are used for Smoothening Social Frictions
Proverbs are employed for smoothening social conflicts and discontent and calming the individual in his efforts to adjust himself in his new setting and fate. Some scholars underscore the benefits of proverbs to smoothen the rough edges of conversation in a community whose citizens aspire to live together peacefully. Firstly, it prevents both the speaker and the addressee from embarrassment. The significance of the hidden meaning, which usually could be spiteful, is restricted only to those affected or those who can understand. For instance, if the speaker is asking for a favour, the refusal will not lead to embarrassment. If an addressee’s guilt is referred to in proverb, he has an opportunity to accept his fault without losing face.
Proverbs are a Vehicle for Education
The educative function of proverbs cannot be over-emphasized. There is scarcely any one who does not recognize this very important function of the proverb. Berry observes for example, that children in West Africa are taught proverbs and their educational function cannot be better exemplified than in the Akan proverb, which says “Wise child is talked to in proverbs” (64). Among East Africans, beginning from age fourteen, when a child flies into a rage, when he lies or steals, when he is recalcitrant or violates the code of etiquette, when he makes an ass out of himself, when he is cowardly, he hears his actions commented upon in the words of a proverb.
Proverbs are used in Literature
It is not an overstatement to say that proverbs are of tremendous value to literary scholars and writers. Proverbs are better appreciated by folks (common people) at all times than the literate. Hence proverbs are used freely in works, which appeal to the people as well as in writings in which the folk represent the dramatist personae. Proverbs are hardly used in works, which neither appeal to nor characterize the folk. Therefore in works of literature the value of proverbs differ depending on whether or not the writer aims to appeal to the folk or characterize them; or whether the writer deliberately plans to exclude the folk. Thus, while the application of proverb is useful to the first group of writers, it is of no consequence to the second set.
Many African writers, notably Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi make copious use of proverbs in their works in order to appeal to or characterize the folk.
Proverbs are used for Teaching
During the 10th century, proverbs were employed for teaching Latin in England. For a period of time, particularly in the 19th century and after, students were expected to improve both their intellect and their writing by copying proverbs in their notebooks. The most famous proverbs still make up the background of every English speaking student. Of all genres of oral literature, proverbs incorporate the greatest educational effect. Finnegan’s researches confirm the above findings. Really, Finnegan remarks that African proverbs are utilized not only formally but also informally as a means to achieve the same objectives as the modern day formal education. The value of proverbs is highlighted during initiation ceremonies. The inclination to teach with proverbs seems to be prevalent in African societies. Finnegan notes that in many African cultures a feeling for language, for imagery, and for the expression of abstract ideas through compressed and allusive phraseology comes out particularly clearly in proverbs. Therefore, whenever parents, grandparents, district leaders and the like want to educate the youth, they employ devices such as, inter alia, proverbs that will catch and retain the interest and attention of their pupils.
Proverbs have Moral and Religious Value
That proverbs have had a subtle yet persuasive influence on popular opinions cannot be disputed. As if one recalls how one’s decisions to do this or that, and vice versa, have been guided by proverbs and how one’s normal expression is controlled by some proverbial wisdom, one may conclude that proverb has a subtle and powerful effect on one’s life. In times of trouble and perplexity, people turn to proverbs for resolutions and they find them very useful. It is no gainsaying that the preachers find some aspects of the proverb useful for their work. In fact, many a gospeller uses proverbs as explanatory materials for religious matters connected with the Christian faith. Proverbs have been used by missionaries to evoke situational responses. A list of proverbs was made by a mission agency, which could be used by evangelists as explanatory material for “doctrinal” matters relating to the Christian faith. Such use of traditional utterances in preaching is now common, and their unexpected usage within a sermon creates an immediate rapport with the audience, especially in the ‘bush’ areas. It will therefore not be out of place to conclude that there is no wisdom under the sky, which is not dealt with in one-way or another by proverbs.
Proverbs are employed Tribal Law
Like many other races, Africans are legally inclined. Since almost any act has legalistic aspect, there is hardly a discussion of any consequence (whether or not in court) in which proverbs are not employed by Africans. Whenever the adages of a society have been bequeathed from father to son through many generations, they certainly represent the unwritten law of the people. Apart from consciously or unconsciously molding the lives of the folk, it also creates unmistakable authority for their beliefs. African proverbs are always received with admiration and finality. They actually have the finality from which there is no petition.
It is not surprising then, why some scholars suggest that proverbs constitute African “tribal law”. Many a paraomiographer reports that an accused person will even go out of his way to look for a lawyer who is versed in proverbs and their application and emphasizes the value of proverbs in the operation of African trials. As lawyers make reference to previous cases and decisions to prove the innocence of their clients to a judge and jury, so also Africans cite appropriate proverbs.
The foregoing shows the importance of proverbs to the users. Furthermore, these proverbs, which symbolize the repository of wisdom of the people are arrayed with authority, and still employed today. It is evident that people still believe the same things, in much the same way and possessing much of the same experiences that they had had ages ago.
1.1.2 SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Holmes states that sociolinguistics studies “the relationship between language and society. It is interested in explaining why we speak differently in different social contexts and it is concerned with identifying the social functions of language”(3). He explains that the way people use language in different social contexts provides a wealth of information about the way language works, as well as about the social relationships in a community, and the way people signal aspects of their social identity through their language. The awareness of the social factors will influence the choice of appropriate ways of speaking in different ways. Sociolinguistics explores the variation in languages associated with social phenomena such as the social group to which speakers and/or hearers belong. Holmes’ explanation of the concept of sociolinguistics is both broad and comprehensive; touching virtually every area that sociolinguistics covers.
In the opinion of Romaine, the sociolinguists’ aim is to move towards a theory which provides a motivated account of the way language is used in a community, and of the choices people make when they use language. He explains that some scholars distinguish between theoretical and applied sociolinguistics: while theoretical sociolinguistics is concerned with formal models and methods for analyzing the structure of speech communities and speech varieties and provides a general account of communicative competence, applied sociolinguistics deals with the social and political implications of fundamental inequalities in language use in various areas of public life.
Meyerhof views sociolinguistics as a very broad field and it can be used to describe many different ways of studying language. She argues that a lot of linguists might describe themselves as sociolinguists, but the people who call themselves sociolinguists may have rather different interests from each other and they may use very different methods for collecting and analyzing data. She concludes that sociolinguistics is about “how individual speakers use language; how people use language differently in different towns or regions and how a nation decides what languages will be recognized in courts or education. For example, if a speaker describes a funny or amusing situation as ‘kicksin’, they are from, or have spent a good deal of time in the English-speaking Caribbean”(1). Everyone can modify the way they speak depending on who they are with or what the situation is. When they do this, they are drawing on their sociolinguistic knowledge. And every time they change the way they speak, depending on their interlocutor or situation, they provide more sociolinguistic information that builds up the sociolinguistic knowledge in the community.
Crystal maintains that sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics that studies all aspects of the relationship between language and society. He explains that sociolinguistics studies such matters as the linguistic identity of social groups, social attitudes to language, standard and non-standard forms of language, the patterns and needs of national language use, social varieties and levels of language, the social basis of multilingualism and so on.
McGregor views sociolinguistics as the study of the effects of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and contexts on the way language is used and the effects of language use on society. In his view, the primary concern of sociolinguistics scholarship is to study correlations between language use and social structure. It attempts to establish casual links between language and society; asking what language contributes to making community possible and how communities shape their language by using them. He differentiates sociolinguistics from sociology of language, stating that the focus of sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on language, while the latter’s focus is on the society.
Yule sums up sociolinguistics as the term used generally for the study of the relationship between language and society. He summits that sociolinguistics is concerned with such matters as the linguistic identity of social groups, social attitudes to language, forms of language, national language use, varieties and levels of language and multilingualism. Holmes explains that sociolinguistics studies the relationship between language and society; that it is interested in explaining why we speak differently in different social contexts and is concerned with identifying the social function of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning.
Wardhaugh opines that sociolinguistics is a discipline that is concerned with investigating the relationships between language and society with the goal of having a better understanding of the structure of language and of how language functions in communication while sociology of language tries to discover how social structure can be better understood through the study of language. Awolaja shares this opinion. According to her, sociolinguistics is “the study of relationship between language and social structure. That is, it seeks to unravel how age, sex, social status or background correlate with language” (25). It also looks at how society influences language. Anamayi also upholds this view by stating that when the way language is used is affected by the society in which it is used, especially in areas relating to cultural norms, expectation and context, it becomes the study of sociolinguistics. According to this view, sociolinguistics embraces the aspects of linguistics that evaluate the connection between language and society, and the way we use it in different social situations. It often shows the humorous relations of human speech and how the dialect of given language describes the age, sex and social class of the speaker; in essence, it codes the social function of language.
Malmkjaer differs in his opinion as he asserts that to offer a definitive delimitation of the scope of sociolinguistics as a discipline may prove inadequate as the array of topics sitting comfortably underneath this umbrella-term is as wide ranging as it is disparate. To him, sociolinguistics is too broad a concept to be confined in a narrow definition. This view is by no means a popular opinion as many scholars have both defined and explained the concept.
Gomathi observes that sociolinguistics studies the characteristics of language, its varieties and the characteristics of the speakers as these three constantly interact and change one another in their speech community. Sociolinguistics is concerned with the study of speech acts. The speech act lays stress on more than the formal properties of a message; it stresses the relationship between linguistic form and the social meaning in the interpersonal functions of speech.
Stockwell et al define Sociolinguistics as “the branch of linguistics which studies the relationship between language and society” (265). They explain that the field of sociolinguistics in the early twenty-first century is a mature, confident and vibrant discipline. At its core is a concern for the observable facts of language variation and principled thinking about the reasons and consequences of this variation and change. The fact that language changes is indisputable and inevitable, and it is this fact of change, spread unevenly across time and space, that leads to linguistic variation. Sociolinguistic interest in variation and change can be drawn in a straight line back to the earlier traditional concerns of dialectology and philology, which described the different varieties that make up a language and traced the historical development of particular features of vocabulary and grammar.
There are two branches of sociolinguistics. These two branches are interactionist and variationist sociolinguistics. Interactionist sociolinguistics is principally interested in what language use can tell us about social processes, and therefore a central concern is the social meaning of language use.
Variationist sociolinguistics is interested in accounting for linguistic variation and change, at least, partly as a product of the social distribution of language varieties. It is, therefore, less concerned with meaning as process, and more with the interaction of linguistic and social systems.
1.1.3 SOCIOLINGUISTIC CONCEPTS
Some sociolinguistics concepts which are relevant to this study are presented as follows:
LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY
Language ideology refers specifically to the perceptions held by people about language and most importantly, how those perceptions are projected unto speakers. Irvine (689) defines language ideology as “the cultural system of ideas about loading of moral and political interests”. Wolfram and Schilling-Estes (1) define language ideology as “ingrained, unquestioned beliefs about the way the world is, the way it should be, and the way it has to be with respect to language”. This includes assumptions about the merits of homogenous languages within a society, the perceived beauty of certain languages, whether certain languages or dialects are seen as intelligent or unintelligent and other notions about the value of certain ways of speaking. These aspects are all studied in the field of sociolinguistics, but the idea of language ideology is a relatively recent area of inquiry.
The study of language ideology is important to many fields of research including anthropology, sociology and linguistics, especially now that anthropology rejects the idea that cultures represent homogenous isolated entities. Language ideology has become a useful mode for understanding how human groups are
organized despite cleavages in beliefs and practices.
LANGUAGE CODES
Bernstein makes a significant contribution to the study of communication with his sociolinguistic theory of language codes. Within the broader category of language codes are elaborate and restricted codes (Bernstein, 76). The term “code” as defined by Littlejohn (278) refers to “a set of organized principles behind the language employed by members of social groups”. Littlejohn suggests that Bernstein’s theory shows how the language people use in everyday conversation both reflects and shapes the assumptions of social groups. Furthermore, relationships established within a social group affect the way the group uses language and the type of speech that is used. The way language is used within a particular societal class affects the way people assign significance and meaning to the things about which they are speaking.
Littlejohn (178) agrees and states that “people learn their place in the world by virtue of the language code they employ”. The code that a person employs symbolizes his social identity. The two types of language codes are the elaborate and restricted codes. According to Atherton (1), the essence of distinction is in what the language is suited for. The restricted code works better than the elaborated code for situations in which there is a great deal of shared and taken-for-granted knowledge in the group of speakers. It is economical and rich, conveying a vast amount of meaning with a few words, each of which has a complex set of connotations and act as an index, exposing the hearer to a lot more information which is left unsaid.
Within the restricted code, speakers draw on background knowledge and shared understanding. This type of code creates a sense of includedness; a feeling of belonging to a certain group. Restricted code can be found among friends, families and other intimately knit groups. Conversely, according to Atherton, the elaborate code spells everything out, not because it is better, but because it is necessary, so that everyone can understand. The elaborate code works well in situations where there is no prior or shared knowledge or understanding, where more explanation is required. In differentiating between the two codes, it is noted that the elaborate code can ‘stand on its own’. It is complete and full of details. However, the restricted code is shorter, condensed and requires background information or prior knowledge. Society, however, may place different values on the orders of the experience elicited, maintained and progressively strengthened through the different coding systems.
LANGUAGE HYPOTHESIS
In linguistics, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (SWH) also known as ‘the Linguistic relativity hypothesis’ postulates a systemic relationship between the grammatical categories of language a person speaks and how that person both understands the world and behaves in it. Known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, it was an underlying axiom of the Linguist and Anthropologist Edward Sapir and his colleague and student, Benjamin Whorf. The hypothesis postulates that a particular language nature influences the habitual thought of its speakers and that different language patterns yield different patterns of thoughts. This idea challenges the possibility of perfectly representing the world with language because it implies that the mechanism of any language conditions the thought of its speaker’s community.
The hypothesis emerges in its strong and weak formulas.
A somewhat weaker version is that the structure does not determine the worldview but is still extremely influential in predisposing speakers of a language towards adopting a particular world-view. The opposite claim would be that the culture of a people finds reflection in the language they employ: because they value certain things and do them in a certain way, they come to use their language in ways that reflect what they value and what they do.
Sapir acknowledged the close relationship between language and culture. He summarizes his views in his book Language (69) as follows; ‘Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society”. The Sapir-Whorf thesis states the idea that people see and understand the world through the cultural lens of language.
SOCIAL VARIABLES
Sociolinguistics studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social variables e.g. ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc and how creation and adherence to the rules is used to categorize individuals in social or socio-economic classes.
DIGLOSSIA
A diglossic situation exists in a society when it has two distinct codes which show clear functional separation, that is, one code is employed in one set of circumstances and the other in an entirely different set. Wardhaugh (47) defines Diglossia as “ a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language (which may include a standard or regional standards) there is super-imposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community, which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any part of the community for ordinary conversation.
BILINGUALISM AND MULTILINGUALISM
Monolingualism, that is, the ability to use only one language, is a widely accepted norm in so many parts of the Western world. Indeed, people often have mixed feelings such as insecurity or inferiority when they discover that someone they meet is fluent in several languages. However, in many parts of the world, an ability to speak one language is not at all remarkable. In fact, a monolingual individual would be regarded as a misfit, lacking an important skill in the society. These various languages are usually acquired naturally and unconsciously and the shifts from one to another are made without hesitation.
Bilingualism is the ability to speak and use adequately two languages. Multilingualism is a norm in the society now. Bilingualism and multilingualism result from the pattern of marriage and living arrangements. Communities are multilingual and no effort is made to suppress the variety of languages that are spoken. The ability to speak more than one language is seen as a source of strength, for it enables the speakers of the various linguistic communities to maintain contact with one another. Wardhaugh (47) reports that among the Seine of New Guinea, it is quite normal to know a number of languages. In many parts of the world, people speak a number of languages and individuals may not be aware of how many different languages they speak.
SPEECH COMMUNITIES
It must be acknowledged that if speech communities are defined solely by their linguistic characteristics, it must acknowledge that the inherent circularity of any such definition in that language itself is a communal possession. “Speech community”, a term probably derived from the German “Sprachgmeinschaft” is defined by Lyons (326) as ‘all the people who use a given language (or dialect). It is really quite easy to demonstrate that a speech community is not co-terminus with a language: while the English language is spoken in many places throughout the world, we must certainly recognize that it is spoken in a wide variety of ways. Labov (120) defined speech community thus, “the speech community is not defined by any marked agreement in the use of language elements, so much as by participating in a set of shared norms…” In this sense, speech community is a very abstract concept, one likely to create not a few problems because the particular norms that a community uses may or may not be exclusively linguistic in nature. This point is supported by Irvine who explained speech community as organizations of diversity with language ideology providing that organization.
TABOOS
Language is used to avoid saying certain things as well as to express them. Certain things are not said, not because they cannot be, but because people do not talk about them. We have instances of linguistic taboo and the employment of euphemisms in sociolinguistics, which is a prominent trait in Nigerian English. Taboo is the avoidance or prohibition in a society the use of some words or expressions believed to be harmful to its members in that they would cause them embarrassment, anxiety or shame. As far as language is concerned, taboo subjects vary from sex, death, excretion, bodily functions, religious matters and politics. For instance, in the Yoruba kingdom, one does not say ‘a king is dead’ but ‘a king has descended to meet his ancestors’. In some communities, the word ‘snake’ is not mentioned in broad daylight but, referred to as “floor thread”. Also, it is abnormal to say ‘the floor is hot’ directly, but rephrased as “ile tutu” meaning “the floor is cold”. Wardhaugh affirms that language taboos seem to arise from bilingual situation, which often occur when trying to translate a language into another.
EUPHEMISMS
Euphemistic words and expressions allow people to talk about unpleasant things and disguise or neutralize the unpleasantness. Euphemism is endemic in the society: the glorification of the common place and the elevation of the trivial.
CODE MIXING AND CODE SWITCHING
As earlier mentioned, a monolingual individual would often be regarded as a misfit, lacking an important skill in the society, especially, in a bilingual or multilingual society. When choosing a ‘code’ of interaction, one must be adequate in the two or more codes or at least be fluent in one. In some societies, multilingualism is taken for granted, and moving from one language to another in the course of a single conversation is very common. In fact, multilingualism is so usual that, individuals are hardly conscious that they speak different languages as they shift easily from one to another. People only choose the ‘code’ that is the most appropriate for the particular circumstance in which they find themselves. Code mixing occurs in a situation whereby the target language affects competence in the source language. To mix codes is not often deliberate and only occurs at the lexical level.
Code switching, on the other hand, operates at the supra-lexical level. It involves discourse, that is, individuals switch from a code, a whole sentence or an expression. It is deliberate, most especially to drive home a point. For example;
“Remember to tell mummy, so ti gbo? (Have you heard?)”. This is a switch from English to Yoruba language. Also, people ‘switch codes’ when they do not want members of other groups or an outsider to participate in a conversation. There is no reason to assume that such situation as these are abnormal in any way.
LANGUAGE VARIETIES
In sociolinguistics, the variety of language one uses can tell the social class, age, sex; gives a presupposition of one’s national identity, and tells the level of one’s literacy. A variety which can also be called a lect is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, accents, registers, styles, or other sociolinguistic variations as well as the standard variety itself. A Standard Variety of a language is one which is written, and which has undergone some degree of regularisation or codification (for example, in a grammar or dictionary). It is recognized as a prestigious variety or code by a community. Standard varieties are codified varieties. Codification is usually achieved through grammars and dictionaries which record, and sometimes prescribe the standard forms of the language. Dictionary writers (Lexicographers) have to decide which words to include in the dictionary as part of the standard variety, which forms to mark as dialectal, and which to omit altogether. They generally take the usage of educated and socially prestigious members of the community as their criterion.
A standardized variety can be used to give prestige to speakers marking off those who employ it from those who do not, i.e. those who continue to speak a nonstandard variety. Trudgill describes Standard English as that variety of English which is usually in print and which is normally taught in schools and to non-native speakers learning the language. It is also the variety which is normally spoken by educated people and used in news broadcasts and other similar situations. The difference between standard and non-standard has nothing in principle to do with differences between formal and colloquial language or with concept of bad language. Standard English has colloquial as well as formal variants.
LINGUAL FRANCA
A lingual Franca is a language used for communication between people whose first languages differ. In Nigeria, pidgin is the main lingual Franca. Lingual Franca often developed as trade languages-illustrating the influence of economic factor on language change. There have been many successful attempts to create a language for communication between people who use different languages. From a linguistic and sociolinguistic point of view, the most interesting Lingual Franca in many African countries especially Nigeria in this respect are Pidgin and Creole.
PIDGINS AND CREOLES
A pidgin is a language which has no native speakers. Pidgin originated as a means of communication between people who do not speak a common language. Pidgin is no one’s native language. Pidgin developed with a narrow range of function. Those who speak pidgin speak other languages; therefore, pidgin is an addition to their linguistic repertoire used for specific purposes, such as trade, or perhaps administration. Because pidgin developed to serve a very narrow range of functions in a very restricted set of domains, they tend to have a simplified structure and a small vocabulary compared to that of fully developed languages. Pidgin languages do not have high prestige, and to those who do not speak it, it often sounds ridiculous. Pidgins often have a short life. If they develop for a restricted function, they disappear when the function disappears.
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