Yoruba-Ondo Proverbdy os: A Literary Study of the Mes, Functions and Poetic Devices

Abstract

It is observable that in many of the works done on Yoruba proverbs, a common thread runs through them. The emphasis in these works has often been on listing and translating or mere listing in the original. In some others, the forms the uses and annotation of some proverbs were examined. However, no systematic research has been carried out on the themes, functions and poetic devices of Yoruba proverbs. Ondo is one of the largest ethnic groups in Yoruba land and shares a good number of the proverbs in the anthology of Yoruba proverbs. In spite of this expected similarity, it is pertinent to observe that Ondo has her own sui generis. She has proverbs that are distinct, unique and germaine to her but which have neither been systematically collected nor documented and whose themes, functions and poetic devices have not been examined through disciplined and systematic research. It is in the light of this gap that this study was undertaken to collect, document, translate and examine some of the salient features of Ondo proverbs (owe) with special emphasis on their themes, functions and poetic devices. According to a Malian proverb “when an old man dies, it is like setting a whole library on fire and burning it down.” Hence, the study is aimed at preserving owe which is a very important aspect of the Ondo culture. Four hundred owe, were collected through informants, tape recording, interviews and participation from native speakers of not less than fifty years of age; and from various sources which include chiefs, farmers, market men and women, retired civil servants, primary and secondary school teachers and proprietors, to mention just a few. The data were subsequently collated and subjected to analysis to determine their themes, functions and poetic devices. Later these were subjected to the scrutiny of and critique of some experts in oral literature for validation. For the final write-up, only owe on which there is at least eighty percent agreement was used for the study.The results revealed that because of dialectal variations, Ondo has twenty-seven alphabets while Yoruba has twenty-five. An in depth analysis of the of the four hundred proverbs yielded twenty-one themes such as appearance is deceptive, caution, child-training, destiny, perseverance, to mention just a few; fifteen different functions including praising, ridiculing, education, bearing philosophical insight and twenty- four poetic devices, for example alliteration, ideophone, synecdoche and wellerisms. These findings lend additional support to the view that there seems to be no situation under the sun for which a proverb cannot provide an apposite citation. Based on these findings, a good number of recommendations were made. Three of the major recommendations are, that more owe and other genres of Ondo oral literature should be collected and documented; that the study of oral folklore should be included on the school curricula from primary to tertiary levels in order to preserve this significant aspect of the people’s culture and finally that the application of the devices revealed by this study should be explored in Ondo poetry.