THE PRAGMATICS IMPORT OF ‘CHILD’ IN YORÙBÁ PROVERBS
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University of Fort Hare, South Africa
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The rights of the child are central to sustainable development (Oyero, 2010): that is why the
World Commission on Environment and Development (1987: 46) says that sustainable
development is meeting “the [human] needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs”. Efforts have therefore been made by various
nations, Nigeria included, to galvanise support for the rights of the child. In this paper, we
look at the language of a section of the Nigerian population – the Yorùbá – with the aim of
understanding their cultural disposition to ‘the child’ and the implications it portends for the
sustenance of the rights of the child. Drawing from speech analysis and symbolic interaction
theories, proverbs were collected from individuals, the elderly in particular, who are
knowledgeable about Yorùbá proverbs for analysis. We found out that the Yorùbá have basic
child rights tenets entrenched in their practices, thus brightening the hope for the sustenance
of children’s rights among them.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General)