A Pragmatic Analysis of Proverbs in Selected Works of Ola Rotimi
CHAPTER
Objectives Of Study
The aim of this study is to use a linguistic (pragmatic) principle for the analysis of the selected one hundred proverbs with emphasis on the cultural diversity of the people whose cultures are portrayed in the works of Ola Rotimi as a basis of revealing the moral significance of the selected proverbs. However, the study is guided by the following specific objectives:
- to highlight the illocutionary act(s) of the selected one hundred proverbs;
- to determine and explain the dominant illocutionary act(s) in the selected proverbs;
- to examine how the nexus between pragmatics and culture helps in revealing the social identity of the people whose culture is portrayed in the selected texts;
- to explore whether the selected proverbs enhance mutual intelligibility of the interlocutors and consequently serve as a means of social control in the selected texts;
- to reveal the didactic or moral imports of the selected proverb as used in the texts studied.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter is concerned with a conceptual definition of pragmatics, the relevance of context to pragmatic principles, and the reviews of some theories of pragmatics. The chapter alsofocuses on the definitions of proverbs, relationship between language (including proverbs) and culture, functions of proverbs, proverbs and African value system, as well as proverbs and communicative competence.
Pragmatics; a Conceptual Definition
Etymologically, the term „pragmatics‟ is from the Greek word „pragma‟ meaning deed or action. Osisanwo (2003) traces the term “pragmatics” to Charles Morris (1938) who describes it as one of the three (with syntax and semantics) component fields of semiotics, which is the study of sign and sign systems. Morris regarded syntax as the study of the relationship between signs while semantics as the study of the relationship between signs and the things for which they stand. Pragmatics was to be the study of the relationships between signs and their users.
Akmajian, et al (2010: 361), identifies the coverage of pragmatics to the study of language use, and in particular the study of linguistic communication, in relation to the structure and context of utterance. Thus, instance, pragmatics must identifies central uses of language, it must specify the conditions for linguistics expressions (words, phrases, sentences, discourse) to be used in those ways, and it must seek to uncover general principles of language use. Much of this work was originally done by philosophers of language such as Wittgenstein (1953), Austin (1962), Searle (1969), and Grice (1975), in the years following world-war II. In the 1970‟s linguists such as Ross (1970) and Lakoff (1970) attempted to incorporate much of the work on performatives, felicity conditions, and presupposition into the framework of Generative Semantics.
According to Davis (1991), pragmatics has as its domain, speakers‟ communicative intentions, the use of language that require such intentions, and the strategies that hearers employ to determine what these intentions and acts are, so that they can understand what the speaker intends to communicate. The Encyclopaedia Dictionary of Language and Linguistics (p. 130) defines pragmatics as “the study of language from the point of view of the users— especially of the choices they encounter in using language in social interaction.” This indicates that pragmatics relates to sociolinguistics.it is also related with stylistics and discourse analysis in the sense that they are all concerned with the link between language and social variables.
Pragmatics can also be viewed as a subfield of linguistics which studies the way in which contexts contribute to meaning. Wisniewski (2007) views pragmatics as an aspect of linguistics which is concerned with the meaning that words convey when they are used, or with intended speaker meaning as it is sometimes referred to. Pragmatics can be defined as the study of the rules and principles which govern language in use, as opposed to the abstract, idealized rules of, for instance, grammar, and of the relationships between the abstract systems of language on the one hand, and language in use on the other. Quoting Leech and Short (1981), Adegbite (2000:61) defines pragmatics thus
The pragmatic analysis of language can be broadly understood to be the investigation into that aspect of meaning which is derived not from properties of words and constructions, but from the way in which utterances are used and how they relate to the contexts in which they are uttered.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter is principally concerned with the methodology and procedure employed in this study. Specifically, the chapter focuses on the features of textual analysis, the research design, the population of the study, samples and sampling techniques, method of data collection and analytical procedure.
Features of Textual Research
This research adopts a textual analytical method in the sense that data for analyses are sourced from the four selected texts of Ola Rotimi. The texts are Kurunmi (tragic), The Gods are not to Blame(tragic), Hopes of the Living Dead (comic), and Our Husband has Gone Mad Again (comic). A textual analytical research means that data for analysis are sourced only from text(s) and interpreted in accordance with how the data are used in the texts where they are selected. Textual analytical method does not allow external idea, opinion or influence either in the form of gathering data or in the data analysis.
Research Design
This study adopts qualitative design. Qualitative in the sense that the didactic significance of the selected proverbs are accounted for, bearing in mind the socio-cultural background of a group of language users whose worldview is aptly projected in the selected works of Ola Rotimi. Agu, (2020:106) opines that qualitative research presents the social event as naturally as possible without any manipulation of any event. The concept of “qualitative” is used here to mean that the selected works of Ola Rotimi (used in this study) are represent a natural speech community under which the prevailing socio-cultural context is considered for the analysis of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Introduction
This chapter is concerned with data presentation and analysis. The one hundred selected proverbs from the four texts are presented for analysis using the embedded moral significance as a basis of the selected proverbs.This implies that the pattern of data analysis does not treat the selected proverbs in a particular text before the others. The data (proverbs) are sourced in the following order: (40) from Kurunmi, (40) from The Gods are not to Blame, (10) from Our Husband has Gone Mad Again and (10) fromHopes of the Living Dead.
To tidy up the presentation and analysis of data, a total of five proverbs are presented in tabular form and are immediately followed by discussion. The five proverbs each that are put together in tabular presentation are considered on the basis of their uniformity or near uniformity of their themes. However, this classification is not a water-tight approach as the thematic preoccupations of the selected proverbs are sometimes related to different themes, thereby making it difficult if not impossible for accurate classification. The discussion explains the information contained in the tabular presentation of data, particularly the aspects that are not overtly stated such as the moral significance of the analysed proverbs. To avoid repetition of the titles of the texts, the four selected texts for this study are numbered as follows: Kurunmi, text 1; The Gods are not to Blame, text 2; Our Husband has Gone Mad Again, text3; and Hopes of the Living Dead, text 4.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter is concerned with the summary of findings, conclusion, and recommendations of the study as well as suggestions for further studies.
Summary of the Study
On account of the data analysis as well as the discussion of findings, the following submissions are made:
The use of a linguistic theory for the analysis of literary texts has proved to be a success. This is particularly true of proverbs where the linguistic, situational, sociological and cosmological variables are used for the understanding of the moral significance of the analysed proverbs.
The study also reveals the dominance of assertive and directive illocutionary force as direct and indirect speech acts respectively. This is not unconnected with the fact that proverbs are symbols of a people‟s collective wisdom, a linguistic repertoire of the people who shows the same culture, language and world view. Hence, “assertive” indicates the people‟s stand or position on a matter why “directive” suggest or prescribe how people are expected to behave in line with their societal cultural norms and values.
In addition, the linguistic content represents majorly the ordinary or lexical meaning and partly the communicative meaning. However, the communicative meaning which according to Malinowski (1923, 1935) is influenced by the cultural content of the language users can be better understood through the exploration of the remaining three (3) variables namely: situational, sociological and cosmological. The situational context considers the actual location of utterance who says what to who, where, why and how? This study postulates that certain forces determining how the above communicative roles are played by the numbers of a speech community and that culture occupies a vintage position in contextual negotiation.
The sociological variables the relationship between the interlocutors their shared beliefs, their knowledge of their society, their societal norms and values including issues such as attitude to laziness, respect for elders, cultural preservation, etc. These mutual contextual beliefs (MCB) (see Back & Harnish (1979), Lawal (1997) make communication effective among the people of the same speech community.
The cosmological variable is principally concerned with a world view of the language users that is how the world around them is understood. For instance in both text 1 and 2 (Kurumi & The gods are not to blame) of this study, there are instances where sacrifice of different items offered to the gods. This is a clear indication of what the people believe. In addition, the existence of many gods in the two texts above is also connected with the cosmological orientation of the language of users.All the above findings are clear demonstrations of the fact that context (adaptive context in this study) is significant to the appropriation of the use of proverbs for the purpose of the thematic concern of the texts under study. This is done through a carefully exploration of aspect of culture of the language users in passing important or weighty messages with some degree of societal approval.
Conclusion
Pragmatics as the study of the contextual meaning is no doubt a reliable means of determining meaning. Clearly, there is a wide gap of differences between what the person might said and what the person might meant. It is on the basis that Mey (2000.6) describes pragmatics as the study of how to say one means and how to mean what one says. An expression such as, was the door opened when you enter? This question may not require either a yes or no answer. Rather, it may be directing a person to either open or close the door. In view of this, to understand an expression (either literary or otherwise) there is no need for the contextual exploitation of the expression and to understand context; the cultural background of the language users should be considered relevant.
The above submission is particularly true of proverbs because proverbs are contextbound and cultural specific. The cultural specific nature of proverbs does not mean that the same proverbs cannot be found in different cultures (See Ojoade, 2004). However, the relevance of context (adaptive context in this study) in the determination of the intended meaning is non-negotiable. This is because the same proverb can have different interpretations depending on the situation of use. This implies that a proverb that is used to scold a child somewhere may be used to praise the same child in another context.
In addition, the study shows that proverbs generally involve the use of both direct and indirect illocutionary force. While the direct illocutionary force is assertive, that of indirect is majorly directive. (See Austin, (1962), Searle, (1969) and Lawal (1997). Assertive nature of the direct illocutionary act is to affirm the societal position on any topic of a discourse while the indirect illocutionary act direct the course of people‟ action through advice and admonition.
In conclusion, the study of meaning in context (pragmatics) is a useful tool for the explication of meaning of both literary and non-literary texts. Although, context determination is not the same in both natural speech community and literary texts situations because the writer might be influenced by several factors which may make his literary work(s) differ from the societal reality. However, the natural or adaptive nature of contexts is not stop a bearer to meaning explication, using a contextual indices such as Lawal‟s (1997) Model of the Aspect of a Pragmatic Theory.
Research Recommendations
The following recommendations are made on the basis of this research findings and conclusion:
- Any study of pragmatic should be done with special focusor emphasis on the relevance of the language users socio-cultural reality,
- That a working formula be evolved on how context in literature is determined considering the writer, text, society and reader,
- The inter-relatedness nature of Lawal‟s (1997) model of the aspect of a pragmatic theory be addressed with a view of reducing the variables to a manageable size through the elimination of redundant elements of the variables, and
- Proverbs should be considered important and be included in the curriculum of relevant undergraduate and post-graduate courses in order to strengthen their efficacy and preserve the societal cultural heritage. It is hoped that a renewed interest on proverbs will help substantially during this era of ethnic consciousness.
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