Abstract
Drawing on Mey’s (Pragmatics. Blackwell, Oxford, 2001; Pragmatic acts. In: Brown K (ed) Encyclopedia of language and linguistics, Elsevier, London, p 5–11, 2006) concept of pragmatic acts and Capone’s (J Pragmat 37:1355–1371, 2010) views on rituals of death, this chapter claims that death rituals in Yorùbá are pragmatic acts that may be situated within the frame of the pragmeme of accommodation. The chapter explores the activities around the events of death among the Yorùbá people of West Africa and categorizes the pragmatic acts produced in such rituals into linguistic and non-linguistic acts. While linguistic acts include greetings, words of encouragement, sermons, prayers, and promises, non-linguistic acts include pyschological acts, body acts and physical acts. Providing samples of speech from all of these situations, the chapter then analyzes these examples from the perspective of the pragmeme of accommodation. The chapter argues that activities in the Yorùbá community occur in a sociopragmatic as well as a socio-semiotic perspective with the aim of giving solace to the bereaved. It also shows that these acts are executed and interpreted within constituted orientations peculiar to the Yorùbá cultural society.
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Notes
- 1.
In the Yorùbá context described here, gaze act does not involve any form of nodding. It refers to the unique way a parent looks at the child, especially in gatherings, in such a way that no one even knows that communication is occuring except both the parent and the child. For people growing up within this community, they usually grow to learn to be sensitive to their parents faces in the messages that are being communicated. context is definitely key to what can be infered.
- 2.
The Yorùbás belief in celebrating the end of the life of the deceased is common in greetings such as ẹ̀yìn bàbá a dárá o, ẹ̀yìn bàbá yóó sàn o. Thus, the Yorùbás attach a great significance to this burial celebration rite which is also instantiated through songs and chants.
- 3.
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Ehineni, T.O. (2017). The Pragmeme of Accommodation in Yorùbá Death Events. In: Parvaresh, V., Capone, A. (eds) The Pragmeme of Accommodation: The Case of Interaction around the Event of Death. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55759-5_8
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