Selected Ika proverbs: their aesthetics and contexts of usage

Education, Summer, 2007 by Canon Benji Egede

(viii) Ika: Ihian a bu enyi isi o gi oku buo ma ebuzun

English: One does not carry an elephant on the head and begin to scratch the ground for crickets.

Context of usage: This proverb admonishes on the need for a person to concentrate on a major assignment he/she is engaged in, and not to be overwhelmed by unnecessary distractions. The images used: elephant, head, leg, cricket(s), each of them carries a message. For instance, in its literal meaning, carrying an elephant, an oversized animal, is a serious business that one should be careful about. To carry it for so long a time would mean some serious repercussions for the head, the sufferer of the 'carrying' action. So the person concerned should not be involved at the same time with some other engagement, especially where such an engagement is far from being a fulfilling one.

(ix) Ika: Ngbe onyejen ugbo i ya wu otutu a

English: It is the time that one goes to a farm that is one's morning

Context of usage: This proverb is a philosophical introspection bordering on the notion of freewill. It teaches that people should take their time, to decide on whatever line of action that may come their way. In other words, it is not everybody that will like to take initiative to do anything that should be done at the right time. In the academic setting, for instance, some university lecturers may be seen as highfliers, while some others would normally not be bothered by any sense of urgency that seeks to enhance their material or intellectual prospects.

(x) Ika: Ihian a ru ohimi o gi eson kwo ma eka

English: One does not get to the ocean and begin to wash one's hands with spittle.

Context of usage: This proverb is used in the course of a conversation between two parties to show the pointlessness in channeling one's energy in an attempt to make do with a dwindling scarcity in the midst of an overflowing affluence. The images of 'spittle' and 'ocean' convey a picturesque impression of the point being made.

From what has been stated so far, on the general application of proverbial communication, the occasions that call for the use of proverbs among the Ika people, as indeed among other Nigerian ethnic nationalities, are varied. Proverbs are used in what has been identified as a "speech act situation" involving a discourse of two or more people. Chinua Achebe, while dwelling on Igbo conversation in Things Fall Apart (1958) says, "proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten" (6). The Fon of the Republic of Benin and the Yoruba of Nigeria, according to O. Olatunji, in Yoruba Oral Poetry (1984), regard proverbs as "horses of speech".

Among the Ika people, proverbs are rendered during formal performances like a story telling session or in the course of verbal contests, public debates or during the performance of chants, which have a ritual dimension.

As is shown in the ten Ika proverbs used in this essay for analysis, proverbial usage is traceable to a non-featuring third party, which exists outside the domain of the communicative discourse. Identifying with this point of view, Kwesi Yankah, in his essay "Proverbs: The Aesthetics of Traditional Communication" (1989), states that: