A SOCIO-PRAGMATIC INVESTIGATION INTO THE PROVERBS OF THE AKURMI (KURAMA) PEOPLE OF CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

Studies have underscored that fact that proverbs are a rich cultural heritage which can easily be washed away by modernization if they are not preserved and passed to the next generation within a speech community. The need to keep making researches on proverbs as a way of preserving our cultural heritage can never be over-flogged. In the Akurmi speech community, not much research has been carried out at all linguistic levels of their language (T’kurmi), it is therefore classified among the languages facing the danger of extinction. Hence the need to carry out a research like this because aside from the need to preserve its rich cultural heritage, it will be a way of documenting the language itself and adding up to the many researches done on proverbs by various researchers. This paper therefore, attempts a Socio-Pragmatic investigation of the Akurmi proverbs using Searle’s and Hymes’ framework of analysis. As an analytical study, it draws data from the rich pool of Akurmi proverbs within their various contexts of usages. The paper establishes that proverbs as a form of oral literature are the most consistent and most employed by the Akurmi people because they are used in everyday situation.