Proverbs as Speech Events: Analysis of Proverbs in Saworoide

Thompson Olusegun Ewata (Ph.D.)

Department of General Studies
The Federal University of Technology
Akure, Ondo State, NIGERIA
thompsonewata@gmail.com
+234-081-6404-2881
Oluwafunke Gloria Akinyemiju
Department of General Studies
The Federal University of Technology
Akure, Ondo State, NIGERIA
fakinyemiju@gmail.com
+234-085-805-9822
What is the matter, fellow, arent you a Yoruba man? Must proverbs be explained to you
after they are said? (Rotimi, 1979)
Abstract
This study takes a look at Yoruba proverbs in a Nigerian (Yoruba) Home Video, Saworoide
(Kelani, 1999), to argue that the usage and understanding of proverbs in Yorubaland form
part of the communicative and pragmatic competence of the Yoruba in their interactions in
the community. Using Hymes (1974) theory of speech events, this study analyses the
proverbs in the home video, categorises the proverbs and determines the social contexts of
usage of the proverbs, as a way of understanding how social relations are transacted and
established. The study will provide an insight into the worldview of the Yoruba people and
aid the understanding of the socio-cultural contexts of usage of the proverbs, which will
ultimately enhance a better understanding of the Yoruba culture, in particular and the
importance of proverbs in general.
Keywords: language, proverbs, Saworoide, speech events, social relations, Yoruba
General Introduction
The sampled proverbs for this paper are from the Nigerian (Yoruba) Home Video, Saworoide
(Kelani, 1999). For the sake of this study too, our emphasis is the Nigerian Home Video done
in Yoruba language. There are different Nigerian home videos the Hausa, Igbo, Effik etc.
and English. Our focus is on the one done in Yoruba, particularly, the film, Saworoide.
Though the proverbs are general Yoruba, southwestern Nigerian indigenous peoples
proverbs, the study restricts itself, solely, to the ones used in the home video. The Yoruba
nation, for the purpose of this study, spans the whole of the southwestern Nigeria covering
Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi and some parts of Edo states; including the

Yoruba found in Republic of Benin, Togo, Sierra Leone, Brazil, Cuba and the other diaspora
Yoruba nations.
Proverbs are language and culture universals (except in some languages like the Bushmen of
southern Africa, the Nilotic peoples, aboriginal America and Polynesia peoples who have few
or no proverbs (Finnegan, 2012). The origin of proverbs dates back as far as the people are
concerned. Proverbs are never dated and certainly not dead nor lose their popularity and
relevance, even in the technologically developed world we are in (Mieder, 1993). They reflect
the wisdoms, experiences, environments, observations, occupations, habitats, worldview
(collective Knowledge) etc. of a people and their past experiences. They are distillation of the
observations about happenings in the environment and serve as a means of transmitting
cultural knowledge, moral values and the sensibility of the people from one generation to
another. Apart from being an aspect of language usage, proverbs may also be viewed as
avenues of exhibiting the individual person, the society and the whole essence of a peoples
social relation, through language. They form part of a peoples real life interaction and the
unconscious assumptions about how the world works (Samovar, Porter & McDaniel, 2010)
when they interact with one another. Accordingly, when a people use proverb, they are
communicating or expressing their truth of experience or of nature, ideas about life,
existence, reason and knowledge (Akporobaro & Emovon, 1991; Olubode-Sawe, 2009;
Penfield & Duru, 1988). The truth in proverbs is not logical, a priori or intuitive truth but an
empirical one derived from the experience of life, human relationship and interaction with the
world of nature of the people (Yusuf, 1997).
Proverbs are unique from one culture to another as they communicate the social-cultural and
geographical experiences of a people (Daramola, 2013). This means, two languages can have
similar proverbs but the idea of the proverbs would not be the same. To illustrate this, the
English proverb, One swallow doesn't make a summer would not yield the same
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expression, though could yield the same meaning, in Yoruba. The Yoruba equivalent of the
English proverb will be: Igi kan kii dagbo se. Thus, despite the uniqueness of proverbs
from one language to the other, they could, most times, express the same idea, but, in an
entirely different form (Kuskovskaya, 1987). From the above example, we can see that the
way the English describe their experience is almost the same way the Yoruba do but their
flora and fauna are different. However, to this difference of expression, Daramola (2013)
views it as:
The experimental reality of the Yoruba proverbs is different from those of other
language groups whose geographical and socio-cultural realities differ. Proverbs are
used therefore by the Yoruba people not only as a vehicle of the expression of truth,
religion, morality but also dominant occupation, and other practices which reflect
their day-to-day living.
Trying to trace proverbs originator(s) might prove difficult as they are the property of the
users of the language (society), thus, as they are anonymous. Though, a proverb may have
been started by one person, once the observation or experience of the proverb is collaborated
and accepted by others, in the community, it becomes the property of the users. Though there
are variations to the old ones and opportunities for new proverbs to be introduced abound in
every culture, as even the most technological sophisticated cultures still relied on proverbs
(Mieder, 1993). Proverbs exist for every event, idea or situation and discourse. This is not
saying every occasion or opportunity demands a proverbs as appropriate and the judicious
use of proverbs is usually regarded as a sign of wit (Taiwo, 1976, p. 32) which carries with it
a level of respect among elders (and users) in most African cultures. This also emphasises the
supremacy of elders, in African societies, as they are the custodians of proverbs as well the
socio-cultural heritage (Osoba, 2014; Penfield & Duru, 1988). The youths too are not left out
in the proverbs usage as they grow up with proverbs using them with their peers and hear as
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the elders use them, though they are not allowed, as a mark of respect or honour, to use
proverbs to adults this is an established rule in Yoruba and Igbo cultures, at least, if not in
all other African