Interrogating African Indigenous Knowledge System through the Mood Features in English Translations of Èjì-Ogbè

Abstract

African Indigenous Knowledge System (AIKS) contains values, belief systems and cultural practices which shapes the life of Africans. AIKS is preserved in Ifá discourse through oral poetic traditions among the Yorùbá. Previous studies have examined Ifá corpus from computer science, mathematics, sociology, religion, political science, semiotics, literary studies, anthropology and linguistics. It seems that little attention has been paid to the role of interpersonal meaning patterns in the transmission of indigenous knowledge. This study therefore examines the mood features in English Translations of Èjì-Ogbè. The objectives of the study are to: i) identify and classify the mood patterns used in Odú Èjì-Ogbè; ii) discuss how the dominant patterns of meaning contribute to the thematic content of the texts; and iii) describe the pattern of language choices in Èjì-Ogbè as deployment of mood, modality, and other interpersonal resources in the representation of cultural values. The data for this study are sourced from English translations of Èjì-Ogbè from Wande Abímbólá, and Dayo Ologundudu, and the analysis is carried out through the purview of Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Adopting a qualitative textual research design complemented by descriptive quantitative analysis, the study purposively selected eight verses (four verses each) from the selected English translations of Èjì-Ogbè. Clausal analysis is employed to identify interpersonal linguistic features, while frequency counts and percentage distributions are used to establish their patterns of occurrence. The study argues that interpersonal choices in Ifá discourse extend beyond grammatical organisation to perform significant socio-cultural functions by encoding obligations, moral authority, communal responsibilities, evaluative judgments, and culturally sanctioned behavioural norms. The exploration of how interpersonal meaning contributes to the preservation, negotiation, and legitimisation of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems extends the application of Systemic Functional Linguistics to African oral literary discourse and contributes to current debates on indigenous epistemologies, decolonising knowledge production, and the linguistic preservation of Africa's intellectual heritage.