Pragma-phonological Analysis of Yoruba Proverbs in Agboola’s Film – O TO GEE

Abstract

African proverbs remain one of the cultural heritages of Africans; a product of human communication 
experiences through which philosophy and culture can be expressed, transmitted, and unraveled via the 
instrumentality of language. Most of the previous studies on proverbs examine written proverbs in 
literary texts which they analyse from linguistic and literary perspectives. The specific objectives of the 
study are to identify proverbs used in Agboola’s film O To Gee, examine the phonological features in O To 
Gee with a view to discussing the conversational implications of the phonological features identified in 
the proverbs. The study employed qualitative research design,20 out of 86 proverbs used in the films 
were purposively selected and analysed. The study drew its theoretical insights from Brazil’s discourse 
intonation and Grice’s Conversational Maxims. The study found that spoken proverbs are different from 
written ones in form, structure and features; certain features such as assimilation, elision, epenthesis, 
prominence, vowel lengthening and speaker’s personal idiosyncrasies are noticeable in spoken proverbs 
which contribute to meaning making. The implication of this difference results in clarity, precision, 
emotionality, communication effect, assertiveness, context and cultural expressions and speaker versus 
listener statuses. The study concludes that the beauty and effectiveness of proverb usage are more 
expressed in their spoken forms and intended meaning appreciated by the interlocutor. It therefore 
recommends that attention should be given to the study of spoken of proverbs and that proverbs should 
be written the way they are said in order to retain their original messages.