Literary study of farming-related proverbs among the Dagbamba

Abstract

This thesis is on the literary study of farming-related proverbs in Dagbani, a Mabia language spoken in the Northern Region of Ghana. The study employs Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) as an analytical tool. The study analyzed the basic meaning of individual farming-related proverbs, the specific themes in these proverbs and the stylistic devices that are contained in this category of proverbs. Data was collected through semi-structured interview and self-generated data through native speaker introspection. Findings from the study revealed that the Dagbamba farming-related proverbs appear to contain short structures and long ones. It appears that proverbs that come in short forms have deeper meanings and interpretation than their longer counterparts. It is also observed that these proverbs contain themes such as, theme of endurance, theme of hard work, theme of uncertainty, theme of balance, proximity etc. Few stylistic devices such as Personification, Parallelism and Alliteration are found in this category of proverbs. More importantly, the Dagbamba farming-related proverbs are not much productive in the stylistic sense. This may be due to the fact that, unlike other oral genres like poems, songs or folktales which can be performed before audience, proverbs are cited based on context and the prevailing circumstance predicts the particular proverb to recruit.