Abstract
This chapter investigates the semantics of Chichewa proverbs using insights from contemporary philosophy of language. It is argued that the structure of different proverbs reveal a great deal of metaphorical conceptualisation from the literal and non-literal source domains to a targeted context of use. It is further argued that, using the use-theorists approach, utterance-use meaning is a consequence of the intention of the creator of a proverb, the speaker’s intention and the hearer’s recognition of the speaker’s intention in a particular context. The use of proverbs, suggests that they are a special type of speech acts that are used in communication.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
I am aware of some recent works that have utilized some insights from the speech act theory in their studies of proverbs, such as, K. B. Ashipu’s “Proverbs as Circumstantial Speech Acts” (Ashipu 2003), but this work is limited to the Chichewa speaking people. It goes beyond the speech acts theory by offering a more general understanding of proverbs.
- 3.
Note that Kayange (2014, 221) commented on the levels of meaning as follows, “A similar claim that there are levels of meaning was forwarded by Wiggins (1971) in the work, On Sentence, Word Sense, and Difference of Word-Sense. In this context, it is suggested that the first level is semantics, which considers the strict sense of an utterance. Wiggins takes the second level as pragmatics, which considers utterance meaning in relation to the speakers and the audience, with their intentions. This work will not adopt the division between semantics and pragmatics as different topics in the philosophy of language, which is not very clear in contemporary literature, given that pragmatics is also seen by some as semantics (Avramides 2000, 61–64).”
- 4.
In 1994 the information was collected and used to write a long paper at the Intercongregational Seminary (Now International Congregation Institute) for a diploma course. The collection continued in 2000–2002 in view of writing a Masters’ degree dissertation in speech act theory. In 2011 and 2012 further collection was undertaken in view of writing the article, “Understanding the Semantics of Chichewa Proverbs in the Light of Contemporary Philosophy of Language” (Kayange 2014).
- 5.
This was done in three Malawian cities where the Chewa speaking people are found, that is, Lilongwe, Balaka, and Zomba. This research targeted 50 families in the village and 50 in the town.
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Commenting on the differences between these utterances, Hugh Bredin (1992) noted that ‘The distinction and the opposition were at least implicit in Poetics 21, where Aristotle differentiated between the standard or normal name for a thing, and various other types of name among which he listed metaphor.’
- 8.
Note that in the literal source, ‘state of affairs’ can be anything. On this aspect I concur with Bertrand Russell (1948, 159) who viewed a fact as “Everything that there is in the world I call a ‘fact’. The sun is a fact; Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon was a fact; if I have toothache, my toothache is a fact.”
- 9.
In the past the proverb was uttered as: Kanthu ndi nkhama phwiti adakwata njiwa, translated as; achieving something is working hard an ant had sex with a dove. I didn’t find this in my research, but this is most probably because of the morality issues. People are hesitant to use utterances that have something to do with sex.
- 10.
The translation ‘The elders are rivers where fire is extinguished’ does not capture well the literal translation of this proverb. The term ‘rivers’ can be replaced by ‘swamp’ because the Chichewa term ‘mdambo’ can be considered as ‘swamp’.
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- 12.
Often, the creator does not expect the hearer to respond by indicating that this is the message.
- 13.
Note that sometimes in communication people play with the intonation of the voice as they try to show that they are serious in uttering a certain statement. In this context, the intonation is not necessary. The structure of a proverb itself reveals the seriousness to mean what it wants to mean.
- 14.
- 15.
This leads to the understanding of whether the speaker is intending to perform expositives, exercutives, commissives, etc. (This will be discussed further in Appendix II).
- 16.
A shortened version appeared in Proceedings of the Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics 2002 and a version of this article was expected in 2004 in L. Horn and G. Ward (eds), Handbook of Pragmatics (Oxford: Blackwell).
- 17.
These stories are being forgotten because of the growing lack of interest in traditional culture among the new members of the society. This may be explained as a consequence of globalisation which is making them follow what is happening in other parts of the world and hence forgetting their traditional roots.
- 18.
This work will not develop the cognitive theory of Deirdre Wilson and Dan Sperber in relation to proverbs but will suggests some elements necessary in this context.
- 19.
None can question a proverb for clarity. If one fails to see the clarity the problem is not with the proverb but the level of rationality of the hearer. It indicates that the hearer is rationally inferior and needs to do something to improve.
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Kayange, G.M. (2018). Pragmatic Semantics and Chichewa Proverbs. In: Meaning and Truth in African Philosophy. Philosophical Studies Series, vol 135. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01962-4_2
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