Our Elders Never Lie: The Metaphor Power Base of Proverbs among the Tonga Speaking People of Zambia And Zimbabwe

Abstract

This article seeks to explore ways through and extent to which the use of proverbs inspires confidence in the youth towards their elders in the African society in general and the Valley Tonga of Zambia and Zimbabwe in particular. The Achebean saying that ‘proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten,’ does not only point to the fact that proverbs make ordinary speech aesthetically pleasant to the ear but also that the wisdom contained therein is culturally/socially accepted. The effective and efficient deployment of proverbs in this regard earns the user respect from targets of his address. The article analyses various ways in which proverbs are incorporated in everyday speech and how these in turn, enhance chances of delivering the intended message successfully among the Valley Tonga communicators. In most cases, when a Tonga speaker wishes to delegate presentation of a complex matter to the proverb, they attribute the wisdom to the Tonga society of yester years. This tendency, the article concludes, removes personalities from the proverb while promoting objective analysis of the situation by those addressed. The article examines selected proverbs in terms of structure, pattern of usage, types of images/metaphors used and their expected impact. The article applies a triangulation theoretical framework of Appraisal, Ethnopoetics and Afrocentricity theories to delineate the communicative intent of the proverber. Together, the theories look at social functions of the language rendered by performers of the oral arts.