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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Proverbs: the aesthetics of traditional communication |
Author: | Yankah, Kwesi |
Year: | 1989 |
Periodical: | Research in African Literatures |
Volume: | 20 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 325-346 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Ghana |
Subjects: | Akan proverbs |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3819169 |
Abstract: | After a short description of indigenous African perception of the proverb and its use, the paper describes the use of proverbs in nonoral situations, such as slogans on passenger vehicles, through visual symbolism, as in cloth and the proverbial names of textile designs, and occasionally through behaviour (e.g. an unusual style of clothing). Then it turns to proverbial communication through oral channels, mostly by word of mouth, and describes the meaning of the institution of 'okyeame' (royal spokesman) and some cultural roles governing speech. Much of the data throughout refers to the Akan of Ghana. Next, the author discusses the verbal use of proverbs in the domain of nonverbal discourse and demonstrates how the two modes of discourse, verbal and nonverbal, interact in the context of game discourse, particularly the game of 'dame', in Ghana, or 'bawo' among the Tumbuka of Malawi (the equivalent of checkers in the Western world). The paper concludes by refering to the application of traditional literary devices in the modern political process. It shows how successive heads of State in Ghana have made use of traditional oratory. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |