A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF THE THEMES, FUNCTIONS AND AESTHETIC DEVICES OF SELECTED IGBO PROVERBS BY ANYANWU, JOSEPHINE IGBEMMA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PH.D) (ENGLISH LANGUAGE) DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, FACULTY OF ARTS, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA SEPTEMBER, 2018 A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF THE THEMES, FUNCTIONS AND AESTHETIC DEVICES OF SELECTED IGBO PROVERBS BY ANYANWU Josephine Igbemma P13AREN9023 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PH.D) (ENGLISH LANGUAGE) DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, FACULTY OF ARTS, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA SEPTEMBER, 2018 i DECLARATION I, ANYANWU Josephine Igbemma P13AREN9023 hereby declare that all parts of this dissertation have been researched and written by me in the Department of English under the supervision of Prof. (Mrs.) T. O. Gani-Ikilama, Prof. T. Y. Surakat and Dr. S. Abaya. It has not been presented to the best of my knowledge, in any previous application for a higher degree. All quotations are indicated and all sources of information are specifically acknowledged by means of reference. _________________________ ______________ _____________ ANYANWU Josephine Igbemma Signature Date. ii CERTIFICATION This is to certify that this study titled A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF THE THEMES, FUNCTIONS AND AESTHETIC DEVICES OF SELECTED IGBO PROVERBS carried out by ANYANWU Josephine Igbemma meets the regulations governing the award of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D) in English Language, Department of English and Literary Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and is approved for its contribution to knowledge and literary quality. __________________________________ _____________________ Prof. (Mrs.) T.O Gani-Ikilama Date Chairman, Supervisory Committee ___________________________________ _____________________ Prof. T. Y. Surakat Date Member, Supervisory Committee ____________________________________ _____________________ Dr. S. Abaya Date Member, Supervisory Committee ____________________________________ _____________________ Prof. T. Y. Surakat Date Head, Department of English and Literary Studies ______________________________________ _____________________ Prof. S. Z. Abubakar Date Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies. iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - the Author and the Finisher of all good things. It is also dedicated to the loving and evergreen memories of the quad that meant so much to me - my Mother, Ezinne Bernadette Onyebuluzoke Obani, who left so early before dawn; my Father - Pa Livinus Obani - who saw the dawn and dusk of life; my brother - Paulinus C. Obani, who saw the dawn but left before dusk; my eldest sister, mentor and foster mother - Ezinne Regina Adamma Ejere, who saw the dawn, worked hard to see the dusk but ill-health constrained her till her demise. May their souls rest in perfect peace Amen. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I acknowledge the divine presence, favour and protection of God throughout the course of this study. I thank all men and women of goodwill whose efforts and contributions helped me immensely to sail through this academic voyage and arrive safely on shore. My sincere and unalloyed gratitude goes to my major supervisor Prof. (Mrs.) T. O. Gani – Ikilama who painstakingly and patiently supervised this work. Mummy, you not only encouraged me to enrol for my Ph.D shortly after obtaining the Master of Arts degree which you also supervised, but you also supported me greatly in prayers, counselling, and also provided academic materials that facilitated this work. Your intellectual depth, academic humility and patience were the cornerstones that helped in the realization of this feat. I remain forever indebted to you. Prof. T. Y. Surakat, Head of Department English and Literary Studies who supervised and also provided valuable materials that enriched the study; you are indeed a big brother to me. Dr. A. S. Abaya also supervised the work and made meaningful contributions that facilitated its completion. May God Almighty bless you abundantly in Jesus‟ name, Amen. I sincerely acknowledge the contributions of late Dr. Agnes Enesi, my pioneer supervisor; may her soul rest in peace, Amen. I thank Prof. Ifeoma Onyemelukwe, Prof. Doris Obieje, Dr. Fiki George, Prof. Shade Frank-Akale, Prof. Gbenga Ibileye, Mr. Ode Ekpeme, Dr. S. A. Abdulmumuni (of the Dept. of African Languages and Culture) and others too numerous to mention. Your encouragement, support and provision of academic materials enriched the work greatly and kept my spirit alive. I am indeed grateful to all the erudite lecturers of the Department of English and Literary Studies and the Department of Theatre and Performing Arts ABU Zaria v for having a word to share with me and for their colossal support. I owe special thanks to Prof. Enoch Oyedele, Dr. (Mrs) Joyce Agofure, Dr. Keston Odiwo, Prof. E. Akuso, Mal. Abbas Mohammed Principal, Demonstration Secondary School Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (DSS), all teachers of DSS, ABU, Zaria, for the roles they played and still play at various times. I cannot but acknowledge the assistance of Prof. Y. K. Kajuru, late Sylvester Onwuegbuchulam (omego 1 of Zaria), Sir M. C Ezumezu, Mrs. Grace Udekwe, Mrs. Kate Chukwu, Mr. Brown Ibokette. Mr. Idi Amin Brains who edited the manuscript, I am very grateful. I appreciate the assistance of my friends and colleagues within and outside Zaria. The fear of missing out some in what should be a long list is enough to make me resist the temptation of mentioning any names. May God bless you all. I also appreciate in a special way the encouragement I constantly received from my valued children -Nkemjika, Somtochukwu, Chinemerem, Nnanyereugo, Nwakaego, Onyinyechi, Chinedu, Chinonso, and my husband Onyebchi Anyanwu. Your prayers and fasting kept my spirit aglow throughout that rough voyage. I also acknowledge the assistance from my siblings Godwin, Sybilia, Priscilla, Sunday and other family members. May God bless you all. I thank my Daughters of Zion sisters who supported me spiritually throughout this exercise; God will surely support you abundantly. To the team of research assistants used for this study and all those who type-set this work, I am indeed grateful. I sincerely appreciate the various authors whose works have been consulted during the course of the study. They are the scholars; I am their apprentice. Finally, I am indebted to all those who critiqued, and supported this research. However, I take responsibility for any lapses that may still be found in the work. vi ABSTRACT Among the Igbo people of South Eastern Nigeria, the art of conversation is regarded very highly and proverbs are seen as “abubo e ji eri okwu” that is (condiments to speech) or literally defined as “the palm oil and salt with which words are eaten”. Igbo proverbs have aesthetic appeals which have revealed that apart from being the store house of the people‟s wisdom, they appeal to their various senses. The study sets out to examine the common themes and aesthetic devices of Igbo proverbs in order to ascertain the extent to which they affect understanding, meaning and function in communication. As proverbs add sense to discourse, the study portrays that an understanding and effective interpretation of Igbo proverbs depend largely on the knowledge of the different themes in which they are couched and the utilization of the aesthetic devices embedded in them. The study is built on Traditional grammar and Functional grammar. Using Traditional grammar, the study examines the common themes of the proverbs. The theoretical framework for the study is based on the systemic functional linguistic (SFL). Approach to language study proposed by Halliday and Hassan (1985), Butt, Fahey, Spinks, Yallop (1999) and also Halliday and Maitthiessen (2004). The SFL theory is used to analyse the context of culture, context of situation and metafunctional components of the text. These consist of the variables of field, tenor and mode of discourse. These three parameters of context of situation affect our language choices because they reflect the three main uses of language identified by Halliday and Maitthiessen (2004) as the three metafunctions of language – ideational, interpersonal and textual, but the analysis focuses on the first two. The study analysed 40 Igbo proverbs randomly selected from the 200 Igbo proverbs obtained through audio recording and observation of live performances during formal and informal occasions involving Igbo people. Books on Igbo proverbs and interviews with four elderly Igbo men, two elderly women and four youths helped a great deal. The study found that Igbo proverbs are a repository of several aspects of the culture, orature and linguistic habits of the Igbo people. Another finding of the study is that the appreciation of the full functionality of a proverb is a property of the context of use, and the theme of the proverb influences this. The study concludes that the knowledge of the different contextual features facilitate the negotiation of the meaning of Igbo proverbs. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page - - - - - - - - - i Declaration - - - - - - - - - ii Certification - - - - - - - - - iii Dedication - - - - - - - - - iv Acknowledgements - - - - - -