The Syntax of Yoruba Proverbs

Timothy Adeyemi Akanbi

The Syntax of Yoruba Proverbs

Timothy Adeyemi Akanbi * §

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Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti.

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Abstract

Yorubá people relish in interspersing their utterances with proverbs . Hardly can a typical Yorubá man or woman utter three sentences without putting in a proverb. Hence, Yorubá say: ‘Òwelẹṣinọ̀rọ̀,ọ̀rọ̀ lẹṣinòwe, bọ́rọ̀ bá sọnu, oẁe la fi ń wa’ translated to mean that ‘proverb is the vehicle through which issues are resolved’ . However, Yorubá proverbs are not just strung together haphazardly; they follow some particular syntactic rules of the grammar of the language. These syntactic rules give some aesthetic values to proverbs usage in the languge. This paper is set to discuss the various syntactic forms that many of the Yoru bá proverbs manifest. We also look at the implication of the syntactic rules upon which these proverbs are hinged and how these rules are applied to structures to conform to the wellformedness condition of Yoru bá grammatical sentences.

References

21 Cites in Article

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Funding

No external funding was declared for this work.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

No ethics committee approval was required for this article type.

Data Availability

Not applicable for this article.

How to Cite This Article

Timothy Adeyemi Akanbi. 2015. "The Syntax of Yoruba Proverbs". Global Journal of Human-Social Science - G: Linguistics & Education GJHSS-G Volume 15 (GJHSS Volume 15 Issue G8).

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GJHSS Volume 15 Issue G8

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Journal Specifications

Crossref Journal DOI 10.17406/GJHSS

Print ISSN 0975-587X

e-ISSN 2249-460X

Keywords

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Classification

GJHSS-G Classification FOR Code: 200499

Submission ReceivedJune 14, 2015
Peer Review Double Blind
Handling Editor
Accepted July 2, 2015
Published July 15, 2015

Version of record

v1.2

Issue date

September 2, 2015

Language

English

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Article Matrices

Total Score: 101

Country: Nigeria

Subject: Global Journal of Human-Social Science

Authors: Timothy Adeyemi Akanbi (PhD/Dr. count: 0)

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Publish Date: 2015 07, Wed

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