A Socio-pragmatic Study of Selected Women Gender-related Yorùbá Proverbs Translated in English

Abstract

Language has important social purposes. Through language, people's way of life is passed down from generation to generation. The Yoruba people are renowned for having a strong cultural legacy and oral history, particularly when it comes to proverb usage. Proverbs' role in creating dichotomies in gender relations in Yoruba land has also been examined. Studies on Yoruba proverbs have concentrated on their semantic categories, structures, and use in interpersonal interactions and dispute resolution. The purpose of this study is to describe the contexts through which women's gender are negatively portrayed; investigate the ideologies behind the negative portrayal of women in the proverbs; and examine the illocutionary acts that are mostly used in portraying the negative images of women. The proverbs will be chosen from 25 translated Yorùbâ proverbs in English (Kolawole, 1998, Olojede, 2012; Olasupo et al. 2012; Owomoyela, 2005; Ademowo and Balogun, 2015, and interview). Since proverbs are contextualized in Yoruba culture, the study will incorporate context, a component of Lawal's pragmatic theory from 2012. In accordance with the theory's six levels of context and the Yoruba worldview, the work will be analyzed accordingly. The cosmological, sociological, social, psychological, situational, and linguistic levels are among them.