Igbo proverbs and loss of metaphors

Abstract

One aspect of the heritage of the Igbo people woven into their language is proverb. Achebe popularized this in describing it as the oil with which the Igbo eat words, evidencing that the basic characteristic of Igbo speech is proverbs. This position of the Igbo proverbs has been the base for the rich attention given to it in research. Our work furthers this attention. It points out that contemporary realities such as globalization, current developments in science and technology and other factors like modernization have eroded some of the metaphors that capture the nuances of meaning of some of the proverbs. For example, the proverbs that hinge on words with reference of objects, things and events that existed or were common in the Igbo traditional society would need some more explanations to help the modern Igbo generation understand them. Some proverbs have been selected to illustrate this claim and the basic tenets of conceptual metaphor have been applied to the illustration. With recourse to this, the paper identifies documentation of the proverbs with annotation that incorporates specification of the metaphors. This, among other things, will serve to preserve the Igbo world view as contained in the proverbs and could be a veritable tool for the revitalization of the use of the proverbs by the younger generation.