A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Selected Annangs’ Proverbial Social Language
Abstract
Continuous creation, formation, maintenance and sustenance of proverbial social language in today’s multifaceted, heterogeneous and monolingual traditional Annang societies are very necessary. This study examines the multimodalities in Annang’s proverbial social language or proverbs. The linguistic and non-linguistic elements such as the facial expressions of the speakers and the listeners, the venues, time of delivery, colours of items and other semiotic modes; their influences and relevance are investigated in this study. The study also examines the multifunctional roles of Annang’s proverbs. The study adopts a qualitative-descriptive research design and employs George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s (1980) Cognitive Theory of Metaphor. Data were purposively collected from the interactions of the author with the Annang people in Akwa-Ibom State and in Lagos State through participatory observation and recorded conversations. One of the major findings is that nouns are the linguistic features that significantly constitute the language choices of Annang proverbs. The study also reveals that multimodal elements including contextual settings, speaker authority, and facial expressions significantly influence the interpretation and effectiveness of these proverbs. The study therefore recommends that Annang proverbial social language should be applied intentionally and appropriately by all Annang people to act as a catalyst in moving people to positive directions in order to minimise avoidable conflicts, destructions and death.
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Introduction
Proverbial social language is very important in maintaining and upholding cultural norms and values of a people. According to Rubikovna & Artakovna (2020), they are pictorial and concise sayings that are presented in various spheres to the people. They are “works of oral creativity of the people (Nikolaevna, et al., 2023: 295) in every traditional society. Social proverbs are about social life of a people (Zhao, 2012) and in this case, about the rich cultural heritage of the Annang people of Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria.
Proverbs or proverbial social language is used interchangeably here. They are the determinants of cultural identities (Usman et al., 2013). According to Adewole (2020) proverbs are essential ingredients of communication in Africa. They are rooted in cultures of a people in all societies, and can help to understand cultures (Rong 2013). Confirming this statement, Silas & Abru (2024) state that “proverbs are products of the people’s culture and intrinsically relate to the culture (520) of a people. They are “not just simple sayings but also repositories of cultural wisdom and values” (Nugraha 2023: 122). Also, Bochina, et al. (2021) observes the reality of proverbs having roots in the culture of any society. Proverbs according to Obelkevich (2015) are rooted in language, and language projects people’s cultures. Commenting on the functions of language, Rasulov (2021) maintains that language is an intricate part of culture, often serving as a repository of a society’s values, beliefs and tradition (20). According to Halliday (2023), language is the principle means of cultural transmission.
This study investigates the verbal and non-verbal modes of Annang proverbs; the facial expressions, venues, time of delivery are all important and interpretative during the interactions through Annang proverbs.
Conclusion
Proverbial social languages are “multifunctional and flexible instruments of communication” (Nwabudike, 2020: 529) in every living society. Annang proverbs therefore perform innumerable functions; they are the tools that create, maintain and sustain the rich cultures of the Annang people, and therefore their investigations are germane. The predominantly precautionary proverbs of the Annang people are meant to warn people who care to listen to avoid them so as to enable individual to live long and allow good interpersonal relationship among the Annang people to strive. The choice of lexical features from the Annang traditional society helps to sustain the cultural heritage of the Annang people.
Besides the linguistic features of the common Annangs objects, the multimodality of Annang proverbs reveals that the positioning and the contexts in which these proverbs occur determine their importance or otherwise. Therefore to sustain these long, indispensable instruments that express the cultures, norms and values of Annang people, and act as the identifier of the people’s traditions, every Annang is admonished to deliberately use this social language
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