African Proverbs, Pragmatic Morality, and Ideology in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Ola Rotimi's Kurunmi
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.72.04Keywords:
Keywords: transitivity, theme, process, ideology, proverbs, metafunctionAbstract
Proverbs are central to African literature, serving as both stylistic devices and cultural resources. However, they are increasingly underutilized in contemporary African societies due to their transformation through satire, irony, humour, and parody. This study investigates the experiential and textual metafunctions of proverbs in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Kurunmi by Ola Rotimi, employing Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as the analytical framework. Forty proverbs were purposively selected (20 from each text) and analyzed for transitivity patterns and Theme–Rheme structures using a combination of quantitative content analysis and descriptive interpretive analysis. The findings indicate that Things Fall Apart predominantly employs material and relational processes, foregrounding individual morality, social mobility, and justice. In contrast, Kurunmi favors relational and behavioural processes, highlighting collective resilience and communal accountability. Theme analysis further reveals distinct ideological orientations: Things Fall Apart emphasizes hierarchical morality, whereas Kurunmi centers on agency and interdependence. The study demonstrates that proverbs function as powerful vehicles for cultural transmission and continue to reinforce African epistemologies and worldviews.
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