The Structure and Communicative Import of Selected Proverbs in Nzema Language and Culture
Abstract
Abstract Views: 47
Adopting an Ethno-pragmatics framework, the current study aims to describe the sentential structures and communicative imports of selected proverbs in Nzema, a Kwa language of Ghana, West Africa. Using data obtained from primary and secondary sources, this study identifies the structural properties of the proverbs by further highlighting structures which contribute to the pragmatic interpretations of these proverbs. The findings revealed that structural properties such as conditional constructions, causative constructions, focus constructions, and simple, compound, and complex-embedded sentences are prevalent in the syntactic manifestation of Nzema proverbs; which make affirmative and negative propositions. Hence, it was observed that these structural features have a significant contribution to determining the pragmatic import of these proverbs, based on the Nzema social norms, values, beliefs, experiences, and cultural worldview. This research also underscores existing postulations that proverbs are ‘multi-layered’ in terms of their interpretations, and they rely heavily on metaphoric representations and contextual use in any situation. Additionally, it was also noted that the oral construction of proverbs in Nzema is grammatically insightful; and thus, provides a window to the syntactic description of the Nzema language.
Downloads
References
Adesina, L. O. (2015). Pragmatic use of some proverbs on ‘Egungun’ among Yoruba Speakers. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 20(12), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-201220106
Agyekum, K. (2017). The ethnosemantics and proverbs of Ohia ‘Poverty’ in Akan. Legon Journal of the Humanities, 28(2), 23-48. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ljh.v28i2.2
Agyekum, K. (2019). The Ethno-pragmatics of Akan advice. Pragmatics, 29(3), 309–331. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.17002.agy
Ameka, F. (2006). When I die, Don’t cry: The Ethno-pragmatics of ‘Gratitude’ in West African languages. In C. Goddard (Ed.), Ethno-pragmatics: Understanding discourse in cultural context. De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110911114.231
Akanbi, T. A. (2015). The syntax of Yoruba Proverbs. Global Journal of Human-Social Science (G), 15(8). https://www.academia.edu
Annan, J. C. (2014). Analysing and using English. Lucky Four Publishers.
Annan, J. C. (1980). The Phonology of Nzema (Unpublished Note). School of Ghana Languages, Ajumako.
Chomsky, N. (1995). Bare phrase structure. In G. Webelhuth (Ed.), Government and binding Theory and the minimalist program. Blackwell Publishing.
Dipio, D. (2019). African motherhood proverbs and worldview: A matriarchal perspective. Legon Journal of the Humanities, 30(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.4314/ljh.v30i1.1
Dogbey, E., & Sapaty, G. (2019). Portrayal of children and adults in ewe proverbs. Research in Humanities and Social Sciences, 9(2), 107–117. https://doi.org/10.7176/RHSS
Dorzie, G. (2013). The structure, style and use of Dagaaba Proverbs. Journal of African Cultures and Languages, 2(1), 114–120.
Ehineni, T. O. (2016). A discourse-structural analysis of Yorùbá Proverb in interaction. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 18(1), 71–83. https://doi.org/10.14483/calj.v18n1.9660
Finnegan, R. (1970). Oral literature in Africa. The Clarendon Press.
Goddard, C. (2006). Ethno-pragmatics: A New Paradigm. Griffith University.
Goddard, C., & Ye, I. (2015). Ethno-pragmatics. In F. Sharifian (Ed.), The routledge handbook of language and culture. Routledge.
Hallen, B. (2000). The good, the bad and the beautiful: Discourse about values in yoruba culture. Bloomington.
Kwaw, F. E. (2008). Nzema Aneɛmɛla Tagyee Ne. Royal Consult Publishers.
Kwesi, P. A. A. (1992). Nzema Aneɛ ne anwo Mgbanyidwɛkɛ. Bureau of Ghana Languages.
Kwesi, G. B., & Quarm, P. K. K. (1998). Nzema Mrɛlɛ Nee Bɛ Ngilenu. Bureau of Ghana Languages.
Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics. Cambridge University Press.
MacCoinnigh, M. (2014). Structural aspects of proverbs. In H. Hrisztova-Gotthardt, & M. Aleksa Varga (Eds.), Introduction to paremiology: A comparative guide to proverbs studies, 112–132.
Mbiti, J. R. (2015). Children confer glory at home: Introduction to the African proverb series. In M. I. Mokitimi (Ed.), Proverbs of the basotho. Dayster.
Mensah, E. O. (2010). A Morpho-syntactic analysis of Efik Proverbs. GLOSSA: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 5(2), 250–280.
Mieder, W. (1990). Not by bread alone: Proverbs in the Bible. New England Press.
Moshood, Z. (2016). A pragmatic analysis of proverbs in selected works of Ola Rotimi [Doctoral dissertation, Ahmadu Bello University].
Nwankwo, O. A. (2015). Igbo proverbs in the context of early communicative competence and social stability. Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 20 (9), 54–61. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-20965461
Nyame, J., & Tomekyin, C. (2018). Social construction of masculinity and femininity as portrayed in nzema proverbs. International Journal of Innovative Research and Advance Studies, 5(7), 227–234. http://www.ijiras.com/2018/Vol_5-Issue_7/paper_39.pdf
Owomoyela, O. (1979). African cultures: An introduction. African Studies.
Owu-Ewie, C., & Yakub, M. (2021, July 28–30). The communicative significance of plant imagery in Nzema proverbs (Paper presentation). 13th Linguistics Association of Ghana Annual Conference, (Virtual Mode) hosted by the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast –Ghana.
Ramirez, C. H. (2015). A pragmatic approach to proverb use and interpretation [Master thesis]. Universidad de Cadiz.
Sharifian, F. (2015). Cultural linguistics. In F. Sharifian. (Ed.), The routledge handbook of language and culture. Routledge.
Wierzbicka, A. (2003). Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction. Mouton de Gruyter.
Wierzbicka, A. (1997). Understanding cultures through their key words: English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese. Oxford University Press.
Yakub, M. (2021, November 3–5). ‘A Single Head is a Cottage’: Exploring the Didactics of Nzema Body-part Proverbs (Paper presentation). 4th School of Languages Conference (SOLCON IV) (Virtual Mode), University of Ghana, Legon.
Yakub, M. (2019). The wisdom of our forefathers: Animal metaphors and imagery in Nzema Proverbs. European Journal of Applied Linguistics Studies, 2(1), 175–195. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3601696
Yankah, K. (1989). The proverb in the context of akan rhetoric: A theory of proverb praxis. Peter Lang Publishing Press.
Yankah, K. (1995). Speaking for the Chief: Okyeame and the Politics of Akan Royal Oratory. Indian University Press.
Yuka, C. (2016). The Structure of Lamnso Proverbs. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Constantine-Yuka/publication/311751441_The_Structure_of_the_Lamnso'_Proverb/links/58593e0e08ae64cb3d49366e/The-Structure-of-the-Lamnso-Proverb.pdf
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.
