SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF PROVERBS IN ZULU SOFOLS’S WEDLOCK OF THE GODS

Abstract

Proverbs have served as didactic and instrumental tool in
sharpening the moral and behavioural trajectory. This study carries
out a sociolinguistic survey of Zulu Sofola’s Wedlock of the Gods with
the aim of exploring and analysing proverbs from a sociolinguistic
perspective in the context of English as a second language in Nigeria.
Studies have been carried out on the selected text, but the
sociolinguistic approach has not been explored to drive home the
intricacies of language and the society which uses it. This study
adopts Dell Hymes’s Ethnography of Communication as its
theoretical framework. This is because of Dell Hymes’ SPEAKING
acronym's relevance, which accounts for sociolinguistic variables
such as setting, scene, participants, ends, act sequence,
instrumentality, and genre. The study finds out that ample proverbs
of about thirty exist in the text. Still, but this paper will qualitatively
analyse fifteen to explicate the sociolinguistic implication of the
selected proverbs. The data also reveal that there are different
motives for delving into this study, which varies from castigating,
compelling, and admonishing erring characters to teach didactic
lessons. Also, proverbs in these texts help clarify conflicts and
explain Igbo cultural values/mores