CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
In a study of this nature and scope, it is necessary to situate the area of study in a clear perspective by describing the location, the geography of Igala Kingdom, discuss its origin, language, flora and fauna, religious beliefs and cultural practices and socio-economic activities as they influence proper names and naming among the people.
The Igala land is located in the middle belt of Nigeria (North Central Nigeria). Specifically, it is located on the eastern side of the Benue-Niger confluence, bounded on the north by Benue and Nassarawa States, on the west by River Niger, on the east by Enugu State and on the South by Anambra State. The Igala land covers a landmass of approximately 13,665 square kilometers.
The etymology of the word Igala is opaque and the origin of the word is yet to be established. At the moment there is no consensus among historians and anthropologists on the etymology of the word Igala. This is because, like other ethnic groups in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular, the historiography of the Igala is only deeply rooted in myth and oral tradition with their inherent weaknesses. However, the word Igala has a tripartite semantic significance. ‘Igala’ connotes the language spoken by a people. It also refers to an ethnic group known by the name and it again refers to “ane-Igala”or the Igala kingdom. Thus, Ata affirms that the term “Igala stands for the Igala people, Igala land and Igala language” (241). As a language, linguists classify the language as belonging to the West Benue-Congo of the Niger-Congo family and “precisely one of the Yoruboid languages” (Omachonu, 16) with strong linguistic affinities with Yoruba. This view is also shared by Armstrong and Akinkugbe. The language is spoken by over 2 million people spread across nine Local Government Areas: Ankpa, Dekina, Ibaji, Idah, Igala- Mela/Odolu, Ofu, Olamaboro, Omala and a large population of the Igala in Bassa Local Government Area, all of which constitute the Kogi East Senatorial District of North Central Nigeria.
There are dialectal differences among speakers of Igala language. “Dialect”, according to Omachonu, “refers to any habitual and distinguishable variety of a given language (that) differs from others in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary” (38). It is important to remark, however, that despite the dialectal variations, there is mutual intelligibility among speakers of the language. In their works on Igala phonology, Atadoga, Ikani and Omachonu share this conviction.
The history of Igala origin has been daunted with various speculations deeply rooted in myths and oral traditions. There has been no consensus among historians and anthropologists regarding the origin of the Igala. For the purpose of the current research, the origin of the various traditions regarding the Igala is briefly summarized. The origin of the Igala is important in so far as it provides necessary information regarding the neighbours and their linguistic affinities.
A very popular tradition of Igala origin is that ‘which holds that the Igala, Idoma, and the Igbira descended from the Jukuns’ (Okwoli, 9). Byng Hall, cited in Okwoli (9) subscribes to this view when he records that ‘’The Apa or Ife tribe (Igala tribe) are said to have lived at Apa near Ibi and to have fled from the Jukuns in canoes down the Benue about 1490AD under their chief, Idoko…’’ This contention may not be easily verifiable. However, that there are ‘’early contacts between the people of the Niger-Benue confluence’’ and that ‘’the Jukuns being the most powerful leaders’’ at that time played a unifying role among the people. The political institutions and practice of the Idoma, Igala, and the Igbira tribes may have resulted from Jukun dominance over them. Okwoli however contends that “Apart from the minority of Jukun immigrants into Igala kingdom, the majority of the (Igala) people did not originate from Jukun”.
Another tradition of Igala origin is that which establishes the Igala/Yoruba link. It holds that the Igala have the same origin with the Yoruba. Proponents of this theory cite the linguistic affinity between Igala and Yoruba languages as evidence. Okwoli posits that “when people speak the same language or selected languages, there is every reason to believe that they have common origin or have met somewhere” (12). Both Okwoli and Armstrong subscribe to the view that the Igala were part of the Yoruba who must have broken off from this group before the founding fathers of the Yoruba settled in Ile-Ife, their mythical spiritual home. But most of the Igala do not believe this theory of common origin with the Yoruba. They (the Igala) contend that this theory was a mere imposition on them by the early European administrators and historians using linguistic commonalities and cultural similarities.
The study would not have bothered with the origin of the Igala if not for the implications in the development of the language and the obvious link with the naming system. Although Yoruba names may not be exactly the same as the Igala, there are similarities in the philosophy, believes, pragmatics and sociolinguistics of giving names to new members of both the Igala and the Yoruba.
It is also important to examine the flora and fauna and the relevance in the geography of Igala land especially with reference to the extent to which names of plants and animals found in Igala land influence names and naming among the people. Flora refers to the vegetation, especially plant kingdom in a natural habitat which is of economic, aesthetic and medicinal value. Fauna, on the other hand, refers to animals and birds of different species and sizes that are native to any forest or grassland. The flora and fauna in a particular geo-physical environment constitute its bio-geography. In the forest and savannah belts of Igala land are found such trees as Iroko (Uloko),Mahogany (Ago), Obeche (Udu), Oil Palm tree (Ẹkpẹ), Iron tree (Akpa), African Pear (Ọda), Orange (Alemu), Flower (Ododo). Such names which are also borne as metaphoric personal names among the Igala ethnic group are acknowledged by Egbunu, Okpe, and Okwoli in their respective works. In a similar vein, names of wild animals of economic, cultural and aesthetic values in Igala land such as Lion (Iduh) (Agagwu) (Agaba), Leopard (Ejeh), (Ẹkọ), (Ọmataina) Hyena (Otinya), Elephant (Adagba ) ,Giraffe (Egbi) ,Civet cat (Awulu) have also found their way into Igala names and naming systems, just as names of aquatic animals and fishes, such as Crocodile (Ọnye), Fish (Ẹja), Hippopotamus (Ọkakwu), constitute personal names among the Igala.
The Igala are a deeply religious people who believe in the existence of one Supreme Deity called Ọjọ, the Almighty Creator, who controls the universe and the destiny of man. Acknowledging the supremacy and omnipotence of God, the Igala have several powerful names for God like Ọjọ-Odobọgagwu (God Almighty), Ọjọ-anẹmagẹdọ (Fearless God), Ọjọ-Ogbadagbada (Limitless God), Ọjọ-agbẹnẹ (God the Protector), Ọjọ-Ogbegbele (Everlasting God) among other theophoric names. In fact, according to Okpe, a typical Igala person does not believe that ‘anything happens in the world without the knowledge of God’’ hence a typical Igala personal name, Ọjọma, (God knows) is common among the Igala ethnic group. Apart from the belief in the existence of the Supreme Being, the Igala also believe in “intermediary gods” who mediate between the humans and the Almighty God. Among these intermediary gods, Ata, Okpe, and Egbunu variously acknowledge the Igala belief in Ibegwu, the ancestral spirit, symbolized by Okwute, the ancestral staff, usually kept in the family achekwu or ancestral hut. Mbiti as cited in Ata describes Ibegwu or ancestral spirit as “a person who is physically dead but alive in the memory of those who knew him in this life, as well as being alive in the world of the spirits’’. The Ibegwu are usually placated with assorted sacrifices to avert disaster, epidemic, inter-communal conflicts, and inter-ethnic wars and also to provoke blessings of bumper harvests and children among others.
As a result of the Igala belief in reincarnation and cherished memory of the dead, they give ‘names of the living dead …to children who show peculiar characteristics reminiscent of the dead’ relatives (Ata, 259). In addition, the Igala also believe in Egbunu, a child born with the umbilical cord round the neck or hand believed to have spirituo-magical powers.
Okpe acknowledges the Igala belief in the existence of Nature Spirits which manifest themselves in earth goddesses (Ane), the Spirit of Iron (Ojo-ebije), and tree Spirits as in iroko (Uloko), Obeche (Udu) and Mahogany (Ago). He goes further to enlist other Nature deities of the Sky, easily associated with Akpabana (thunder) and Omamanya (lightening).
It is pertinent at this point, to discuss how the Igala belief system and Cosmology relate to or influence the choice of personal names and naming system and practices in the Igala Kingdom. Robert Red-field quoted in Gwamna (6) defines worldview as ‘‘the way a people characteristically look out from the universe’’. A people’s perception of the world, according to Gwamna (25) ‘is reflected in their religion, psychology, philosophy and particularly in their use of names.’
The Igala strongly believe in the existence and supremacy of the Divine Deity called Ọjọ, the author of life and death who controls the destiny of man. This belief is reflected in Igala personal names and naming system as exemplified in theophoric (God-oriented names) and other names. And because Ojo is so central to Igala thought and believe, we find much of it in proper names than any other single source, for instance, Ojonoka (God has expertise), Ojodomo (There is God), Ojochegbe (God has done much), Ojodale (God has vindicated) , Enechojo (who is God? ) These are only few examples of myriads of names that show the primacy and supremacy of Ojo or God over mankind in Igala religious belief.
Like every other living person in every human society, the Igala believe in and dread death as “the worst enemy of man (which) frustrates human efforts’’ (Gwamna ,17). Among the Igala, there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ deaths. Death of young people resulting from man’s ‘wicked acts’ or ‘punishment from the gods’ (Gwamna 18) is considered ‘bad death’. In the similar way, death arising from old age is considered ‘good death’ and this attracts honourable and elaborate funeral rites. These kinds of death, the Igala believe, results from good and evil which exist in the world. Consequently, the Igala philosophize on this inevitable fate of man and reflect this phenomenon in Igala names and naming system. Such name as Ukwumonun (Death knows no king) illustrates Igala death-oriented philosophical personal names.
Closely related to the phenomenon of death is the Igala belief in reincarnation. This is the belief that the spirit of a deceased relative may return to this world in form of a new-born child to a family. Such children according to Ata, are known by certain characteristics of the deceased (physically or otherwise). Sometimes, parents of such children may consult Ifa oracle to determine which of the deceased relatives has returned to the world. Reincarnation names given to such new-born members of the society depend on the sex and the relationship between the parents and the deceased.
Every society or culture gives names to its members, objects, things, ideas, phenomena and philosophical concepts. Everyone in every society has a name and some even have two or more names because, in some cultures, family members contribute names to the new member of the society. The Igala have given and taken personal names that are ‘culture-based, meaningful but acting as a symbol of group identity.” To the Igala and many African ethnic groups, personal names, according to Evans-Pritchard in Makondo, are “social documents which fix a person’s position in the social structure.’’ To them, names ‘define who one is, where one comes from and make reference to events surrounding one’s birth and identity as well as identify that which the namer and bearer hate or cherish in their lives’’.
Today, there is a drastic change in attitude towards names and naming trend among the Igala. This was not the situation in the unadulterated Igala cultural society before the invasion of Christian and Islamic religions, western education and changing values in Igala land. The changing social, political and linguistic influences on the land and the Igala people have left their impact on naming patterns. As a result, naming practices are changing. Unfortunately, the custodians of Igala culture, the elite and even linguistic scholars seem not to show concern to investigate Igala anthroponomy and the possible causes of the negative attitude towards Igala indigenous personal names.
Although some linguists have carried out researches on Igala language and culture, much has not been done in Igala anthroponomy. It is this that makes the current study on the Structure, Pragmatics and meanings of IgalaIndigenous Personal Names a worthwhile academic venture. The gross neglect of the study of Igala anthroponomy may constitute a serious sociolinguistic problem because names are a crucial aspect of culture and a loss of cultural names is a loss of a people’s culture and identity. This study looks at the study of Igala anthroponomy within the purview of linguistic anthropology. It considers personal names not as arbitrary labels among the Igala ethnic group but as socio- cultural tags that have socio- cultural functions and meaning.
The Igala ethnic group, with an estimated population of over 2million is the ninth largest tribe in Nigeria. It has strong interaction with such neighbouring States as Anambra, Enugu, Benue, Edo, Nassarawa and Adamawa. This vantage location of the Igala affords her easy social, cultural, linguistic, political and business interactions with the Yoruba, Nupe, Hausa, Idoma, Ebira, Bassa and the Kakanda. We shall see how such mutual interaction influences, not only the socio-cultural life but also the name and naming system among the Igala.
1.1.1 Language and Man
The uniqueness and importance of the language phenomenon raised man’s inquisitiveness to search for explanations for its origin. This generated a lot of enlightened speculations about the origin of language. Among the theories of language origin are the bow-bow, pooh-pooh, ding-dong, yo-he-ho, gestures, musical and contact theories (Agbedo). Apart from these informed theories, there are different myths about the Story of Creation and the origin of language among various races and cultures of the world, details of which may not be necessary here because of the limitation in time and space.
Of all the postulations on the fundamental issue of language origin, the divine theory seems to hold sway (Agbedo). From the Biblical source, the origin of language is synonymous with the Divine Creator of the Universe Himself. It is on record that the very first Speech Act “Let there be light” was uttered in Genesis, chapter 1:3 and “there was light”. The potency of the ‘word’ as a veritable tool of creation was established thereof. The efficacy of the word in this first act of creation further motivated the divine entreaty of the collective desire of the trinity: “Let us make man in our image after our likeness” (Gen 1:26). Consequently, God created human beings, blessed them and charged them to “have many children so that (their) descendants will live all over the earth” (Gen 1:28).
Closely related to the fundamental issue of language origin is also that of the origin of names and naming. Names are linguistic items subsumed under language. There are different speculations about the origin of names in different cultures. It is evident in the Holy Bible that after the Almighty Creator had finished His act of creation; He invited Adam, His most superior creature, to give names to the other creatures. He (Adam) did and God gave him dominion over all He had created. One may assert, therefore, that names which are crucial elements of linguistics as well as the process of naming are divine institutions practiced in every human society and culture in obedience to a divine charge from the beginning of creation of the universe. Names and naming, therefore, constitute an aspect of the universal grammar (UG) of all languages spoken by humans.
In some cultures, especially among some Europeans, personal names do not have any meaning. To them, names are only identity tags that distinguish one person from another. The primary function of names, to them, is to prevent anonymity and no more. Saeed argues that this is often the case among the English where personal names are commonly derived from other languages.
To Africans, and especially the Igala people, personal names have both connotative and denotative meanings. In African culture, naming is a thought- provoking, mentally exhausting linguistic task usually carried out by male elders in the society who are knowledgeable in the history, culture, seasons, religious beliefs and practices of their people. Giving names to new members of African society, and especially among the Igala, is not a haphazard and indiscriminate exercise because it is a crucial index of the people. Essien contends that it is often believed that there is spirituality in names and that what a child becomes is determined by the name he is given at birth (6). Interestingly enough, it is not only Africans that hold this belief. Even in classical Hebrew, Greek, Arabic and Roman cultures, parents would select names with positive meanings and influence for their children. Negative names often serve as curses on those who bear them. The name “Jabez” (1 Chr. 4:9-10), for example, was given to a child to reflect the mother’s painful experiences at his birth. In adulthood, Jabez came to have painful experiences in whatever he did and he therefore, had to enter into supplications with his creator to change his name and bitter life experiences.
Considering the significance of personal names in African culture, Ekwunife cited in Egbunu (51) lends his voice when he argues that “… for Africans, (and this includes the Igala) names are not mere labels. Rather they are pregnant with meanings”. It is along the same line of thought that Ilesanmi in Gwamna (vii) observes that “names do not only identify, but they historicize, socialize, spiritualize and influence people psychologically”. Hence, indigenous personal names among the Igala ethnic tribe have contexts whose significance is a product of one kind of experience or another.
By name generally or personal name to be precise, we mean a word or words by which a particular person, animal, place or thing is known. Names, therefore, distinguish one individual, place or thing from another, thus preventing anonymity and providing identity. Names constitute linguistic items and naming is a linguistic act with performative force in all human societies. Names and naming are integral parts of language in any society and culture. The branch of linguistics that studies names is known as onomastics which may be conveniently divided into two: the study of personal names referred to as anthro-ponomastics and place names, topo-nomastics.
In African societies, and among the Igala ethnic tribe, personal names have semantic and cultural contents. These cherished personal names constitute the cultural heritage of the people, a prism through which the culture, religious beliefs and practices, the sociology and the totality of the Igala cosmology are viewed.
But today, many Africans, especially the Igala, drop their once cherished indigenous personal names in favour of imported Christian and Moslem names imposed by colonialism, religious and cultural imperialism. As a result, most of the Igala just give names of influential persons in society, especially politicians and men and women of affluence, to their children, even when such names lack cultural meanings and significance in their own cultures. Such regrettable crisis of identity resulting from the lure of modernity gives birth to cultural contradiction. This concern is the basis for this research on the structure and pragmatics of Igala indigenous personal names. The current practice where the new generation of the Igala abandon their indigenous names to embrace names ushered in by Christianity, Islam and western civilization is enough danger signal that may ‘’lead to name loss, loss of meaning and eventual extinction’’ of Igala indigenous names (Nwagbo cited in Onuigbo).
1.1.2 Syntactic Structures in Historical Perspectives
This section of the study takes a look at Syntactic Theories with a view to highlighting the developments in Syntax and Syntactic analysis. Every human language (HL) has its peculiar system of rules and categories that guide the formation of sentences. These rules govern the way words are strung together to form sentences in a language and it is this linear sequencing of words in a sentence that is technically referred to as Syntax.
The study of syntax which is a crucial aspect of linguistics dates back to the 5th century, B.C when “what constitutes linguistics today was part of philosophy which was a general enquiry into the nature of the world and social institutions’’ (lanna) By that time, according to Adeyanju, linguistic philosophers sought to establish historical relationships between Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and Germanic languages. The first formal text on syntax written by a Greek grammarian, Dionysius Thrax (C.100 B.C) and entitled The Art of Grammar was a historical landmark which defined and classified the Parts of Speech and decreed how language should be used. It must, however, be pointed out, according to Adeyanju, that his syntactic rules and definitions of word classes were notional, prescriptive and unscientific. Despite the obvious and inherent weaknesses of the traditional grammar, it has its strengths also, since “it laid foundation for language study”. As a result of the Roman influence which spread over Europe at the time, Latin was thought to be an ideal language and its grammar a universal grammar which could be applied to any language. English grammarians of the time fell back on the model of Latin grammar to construct and formulate sets of rules of the grammar of English language. This modeling of the early studies of grammar after the Greek and Latin grammar came to be referred to as “Traditional grammar”. Adeyanju asserts that the common denominator of the grammarians of that time “were the eight parts of speech expected in virtually all languages which constituted their own notion of linguistic universals of some sort” (158).
As a result of the weaknesses of the traditional grammar, modern linguists propounded radical syntactic theories. The Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure’s posthumous book, A Course in General Linguistics influenced different views on syntax and Syntactic analysis. De Saussure’s work on syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships in sentences gave rise to structuralism. This apparently influenced scores of syntactic theories such as Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG), Government and binding (GB) theory, Structuralism, Phrase Structure Grammar (PSG), among others.
At this juncture, it may be illuminating to highlight the concepts of structure of language, structuralism and its relevance to the study of Igala indigenous Personal Names. Akmajian, Demers, Farmer and Harnish (153) observe that ‘it is impossible to answer the question, what is structure in any direct fashion?’ They, however, agree that ‘in all languages, sentences are structured in certain specific ways.’’ It is a basic fact that in all human languages words can be grouped together in certain classes or categories.
Originally, the word structure was not coined as a technical term for linguistic studies. It was used as a scientific or biological term. But the term came to be adopted for use in other academic disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, pure sciences and engineering. Today, there is no particular discipline or academic enquiry that has the monopoly of the term ‘structure’, hence Structural Linguistics.
Structure as it relates to linguistics sees every language as being made up of certain hierarchies of elements which combine to make utterance and communication possible. Structuralism views every language as unique and as consisting of segmental, analyzable components which can be argued at the levels of phonology, morphology and syntax. At the micro levels, such units of linguistic structure include phonemes, the word classes, morphemes, phrases, sentences, inflections and other morphological processes.
According to Omachonu (181), the above structures of language may be argued or ‘‘analyzed without recourse to semantics’’ because of the difficulty of subjecting it to objective verification.
Structuralism is the theory of language studies that recognizes the uniqueness and scientific nature of language. It, therefore, advocates that each language may be described on its merit based on its structure and the way native speakers use it. Structuralism employs ‘‘analytic procedures starting with the smallest units which combine sound and meaning called morphemes” (Adeyanju, 171). Of immediate relevance to structuralism is the notion of Immediate Constituent (IC) which Adeyanju refers to as ‘the major divisions that can be made within a syntactic construction at any level’’ He states that ‘‘they are constituents because they compose or constitute the sentence structure’’ and ‘‘they are immediate because they act on one another’’.
Names constitute special lexicon in every language. In structural linguistics names are morphemes which constitute an analyzable linguistic category on its merit as are the other higher levels–phrases and sentences. As structuralism is concerned with the structure of language as analyzable segments in language study, it becomes a veritable approach in the study and analysis of Igala indigenous personal names. This is especially so because Igala anthroponomy, like other Africa names, are linguistic expressions that may be nominal, phrasal, clausal, or sentential. These may be subjected to linguistic analysis using phrase structure grammar (PSG), an offshoot of structuralism. It is noteworthy that Igala indigenous personal names may derive from simple nouns (Nominal) to larger constituents like Noun Phrases (NP), Verb Phrase (VP), Adjective Phrase (Adj.P), Relative Clause (RC), Prepositional Phrase (PP), and Possessives to full range declarative or interrogative sentences (Dooga,1).
Researchers in syntax and related aspects of linguistic studies have adopted the Phrase Structure (PS) approach in similar studies as the current one. Oduyoye and Ubahakwe adopted this approach in their work on Yoruba and Igbo names respectively. This researcher, therefore, employs the Phrase Structure Grammar (PSG) to investigate how the internal structure of Igala indigenous personal names and their syntagmatic relationships combine to project the semantic and pragmatic meanings of personal names in Igala culture.
1.1.3 Pragmatics in the Exploration of Igala Indigenous Personal Names
The introduction to this subsection is to investigate how name-hearers may interpret meanings of names assigned to new members of the society. Igala anthroponomy has multifaceted functions and meanings but often, name-hearers’ inability to explore the meanings of these names in the right context confines their functions only to referential status, which decimates the semantic, cultural and pragmatic import of Igala indigenous personal names. Although names may not have direct relationship with the linguistic code, according to Onuigbo, the name-hearers “ability to impose the linguistic code to project” the meaning and message of the name-giver makes the pragmatic procedure a reliable interpretive model” for Igala personal names . Emphasizing the importance of Pragmatics in exploration of implied meanings in conversations and discourses, he went further to admonish that interpretation of meanings be “based on context rather than formal semantic description”. The researcher equally shares this opinion with regard to this study on the Structure and Pragmatics Indigenous Personal Names of Igala.
The origin of Pragmatics, which has become an important subfield in linguistics, dates back to the ancient Greek and Roman period when it was known as Pragmaticus in Latin and Pragmaticos in Greek. At that time, Pragmatics was a philosophical treatise; hence the term Pragmatics first appeared in linguistic philosophy (Philolinguistics) only in the 1930s. Modern Pragmatics owes much to such linguistic philosophers as Wittgenstein, Morris, Austin, Searle, Leech and Peirce, among others.
Pragmatics, an aspect of semantics in linguistics, is the study of meaning intended by the speaker. It studies ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses Speech Act (SA), Conversational Implicature (CI) and other approaches to language behaviour in Philosophy, Sociology and other related disciplines. Furthermore, Pragmatics is concerned with how transmission of meaning depends not only on the linguistic knowledge of the speaker and the listener but also on the context of the utterance, knowledge about the status of those involved, the inferred intent of the speaker and the society, among other factors. In every communicative event, the speaker makes utterances using words and phrases which he patterns in some ways to communicate his ideas or make propositions. It is often assumed that meaning resides only in the words and phrases the speaker employs to express his ideas. But speaker meaning, more often than not, moves from the linguistic level of words and phrases and other devices to context-determined or situational levels of meanings. Thus, Grice puts forward that meaning operates at two levels: the linguistic context and the situational context, which some linguists refer to as formal and pragmatic contexts respectively.
Morris’s designation of Semiology into syntactics, semantics and pragmatics constitutes a major contribution to modern Pragmatic studies. He states that “Pragmatics studies the relations of signs to interpreters” while “semantics studies the relations of signs to objects to which they are applicable” and “syntactics studies the formal relation of signs to one another’. To Grice, Pragmatics should centre on more practical dimensions of meaning, namely conversational meaning. It is on this view that his Co-operative Principle and Leech’s Politeness Principle are based.
Although many linguists and philosophers have made significant contributions to the study of pragmatics and specifically on Conversatioal implicature and Speech Act as seen from the foregoing discussions, we shall dwell on Austin’s Speech Act Theory (SAT) henceforth for the purpose of executing the current research project on Igala anthroponomy.
Austin’s Pragmatic theories and Principles have become basic to understanding meanings of Speech acts. The study of Performatives which led to the hypothesis of Speech Act Theory (SAT) holds that any speech event embodies three acts: locutionary act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary act. Locution is the technical term for the actual words or phrases that a speaker uses to express his desires or make propositions. Locutionary act, therefore, is what the speaker says to his hearers or interlocutors. Locutionary acts are not mere verbalizations; they involve actions on the part of the speaker and the hearer. Illocutionary act refers to what the speaker intends to achieve, to be done as an outcome of the locutionary act. In Speech act, locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts exert forces on speakers and listeners
Austin’s identification and classification of certain locutionary acts as Performative utterances in Speech act is a major contribution to the study of Pragmatics. According to Wardhaugh “in using a performative utterance, a person is not just saying something but is actually doing something if certain real-world conditions are met”. (285) For instance, if a minister of God utters “I anoint you in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit” or a Court Judge pronounces “I sentence you to five years’ imprisonment” or a Chief Executive ‘appoints’, ‘promotes’, or ‘dismisses’ officers, these words or locutions are not ordinary; they involve actions which bring about changes in the affairs of the people concerned. But it is not everybody that can make such utterances or pronouncements. For performative utterances to be successful, Austin prescribes that certain felicity conditions must be met. He insists that a ‘conventional procedure’ must be clearly stated for ‘who must say and dowhat and under what circumstances’’ the locutionary act must be performed to have the desired effect. The speaker must have the authority, knowledge and power to do so. Such additional ‘ prescribable’ conditions, according to Austin are that all persons involved in the ‘act’ must properly ‘execute the procedure’ to a logical completion and “the necessary thoughts, feelings and intentions’’ for carrying out the act “must be present in all parties.” Finally, Wardhaugh insists that the “spoken part of the total act, the actual speech act,(must) take the grammatical form of having a first-person subject and a verb in the Present tense” for example, “I pronounce you husband and wife’’.
Speech act situations are relevant to the task of naming new members in Igala cultural society. Naming is a speech act in which the name-giver employs appropriate locutions based on suitable felicity conditions. The exercise of naming new members of a cultural society is a performative act, an art, exclusive right of competent members of the society, usually elders, who know the history, culture, religious beliefs and practices of the people.
From the studies of works of linguists like Grice, Morris, Searle, Leech and especially Austin’s Speech Act Theories and Principles as seen from the foregoing discussions, we may establish the relevance of Pragmatics, especially as it relates to its locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary force to the study of the Structure, Pragmatics and Meanings of Igala IndigenousPersonal Names, details of which will be discussed in subsequent chapters of this research.
1.2 Statement of Problem
The problems that confront the study of African anthroponomy and, indeed, Igala names and naming system, are many. Although some researchers have carried out some studies on the Igala ethnic group by budding Igala linguistic scholars like Omachonu, Okpanachi, Atadoga, Ejeba and Ikani, among others, no detailed study has been done on Igala anthroponomy. It is this that makes the current study on the Structure, Pragmatics and Mesanings of Igala Ingigenous Personal Names a worthwhile venture.The gross neglect of the study of Igala anthroponomy may constitute a serious sociolinguistic problem because names are a crucial aspect of culture and a loss of a peopls’s culture and identity. In some cases, works on Igala cultural studies are mostly sociological or anthropological in approach and content. Miachi cited in Okpe (17) laments that “writers on Igala society have interested themselves so much in the monarchy that they have tended to ignore” other aspects of Igala ways of life. Although issues relating to Igala anthroponomy may have been casually mentioned by some scholars in their research work, these have not been “subjected to rigorous linguistic investigation”. (Omachonu, n.d). Okwoli’s most recent work, a compendium of Igala names, does not only include Christian names but also lacks linguistic props. In Egbunu’s work, the treatment of Igala names is only focused on theophoric (God-oriented Igala names).
From the foregoing, it is quite obvious that Igala anthroponomy has not been subjected to pragmatic analysis. To the best knowledge of this researcher, there is no evidence of application of pragmatics principles in the study of Igala anthroponomy. The researcher therefore, embarks on the study of Igala anthroponomy based on pragmatics theory and principles of Austin’s Speech Act designed to fill this research lacuna and provide necessary information to further scholarship in the field.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The general objective of this research is to study and analyze Igala indigenous personal names using pragmatics theory and principles. The specific objectives of the study are to:
- Determine the degree to which pragmatics may be employed in the study of Igala anthroponomy.
- Determine how useful Austin’s Speech Act theory is as a veritable tool in the analysis and interpretation of Igala indigenous personal names.
- Determine to what extent the study will change the negative attitude of the Igala to giving indigenous names to new-born members of the society.
Since little research has been done in the area of structure of Igala indigenous names, this study is designed to embark on this linguistic exploration of these names to show the varieties in the structure of typical Igala names. The study will also compare and contrast Igala names and personal names of neighbouring ethnic groups with special reference to their structures, pragmatics and meanings. The ability of the study to explore these objectives will certainly project the implications and significance of Igala indigenous names and naming system in the socio-cultural life of the Igala people and, therefore, enrich the literature in the field.
Igala personal names, like other African names, are linguistic expressions reflective of their thought, belief system, philosophy and worldview. The discovery of meaning of Igala names depends, therefore, on the linguistic competence of the name-giver, the name-bearer and the hearer and their knowledge of the culture of their people (Batoma, 2009). This study is therefore designed to provide a strong cultural and linguistic background for the interpretation and appreciation of Igala personal names.
African personal names may be nominal, phrasal, clausal or sentential as already said, but the name-giver chooses his words and patterns them or structures them in such a way as to suit the situation of the birth of the child. The name bearer or the hearer may only be able to imagine and select the situation suitable to the syntax of the name. The name-giver’s selection of lexical items that constitute names is, therefore, important for proper interpretation of names because the structure of the language used in communicating the name “creates a grid of meaning which encourages a slanted perspective” of the meaning of names (Fowler (13) as cited in Onuigbo, (17).
But Semantics, a sub-field in linguistics, concerned with the meaning of meaning is the most slippery aspect of linguistic studies and analysis because meaning is vague, fluid, “elusive and cannot be pinned down to a precise definition’’ (Ikani,). Onuigbo (1) quoting Palmer subscribes to this view when he argues that despite several theories of meaning ‘’there is no general agreement about its nature and the way it should be described”. This research, therefore explores, the Speech Act theory in Pragmatics to investigate and interpret the socio-cultural and context-dependent meanings of Igala indigenous personal names. The theory of Pragmatics, according to Onuigbo, is not a new terrain in linguistic investigation but “its application in interpretation” of meaning of African, nay, Igala personal names is a new area of intellectual exploration. It, therefore, becomes an academic challenge to investigate the structure and pragmatics of Igala personal names. In doing this we adopt the Phrase Structure Grammar (PSG) for the purpose of analyzing the structure of Igala personal names. This is because Igala indigenous Personal names, like many African names, derive from ‘’a wide range of structural choices’’: from simple nouns to “larger constituents such as noun phrases (NPs), Verb phrases (VPs) ,adjective phrases (Adj Ps) and even relative clauses, Prepositional Phrases (PPs), Possessives and full declarative or interrogative sentences as well as some literary features” (Dooga, 1) Another disturbing issue which this research observes is the negative attitude of the new generation of the Igala to indigenous Igala personal names. Such apathy for their cultural heritage in favour of modernism, Christian and Moslem names, is a slow dance of death of our culture that may gradually drift into extinction, if the Igala do not re-awake their diminishing cultural self – image. This study, therefore, intends to halt this dance of death by re-awakening the life-giving force which can only be provoked by researches of this nature.
Furthermore, the study recognizes the need for theoretical procedures to show how the theory of Speech Act in pragmatics may be a better method for interpretation of African personal names, especially the Igala indigenous personal names.
1.4 Significance of Study
Names and naming are universal phenomena. Every culture and society gives names to persons, things and even abstract concepts. This study will expose readers to a deeper knowledge of names, their significance and implications. The research will also be an asset to pragmaticists, students of linguistics, sociology, anthropology and prospective researchers since it will provide reliable pragmatic theory and principles for the exercise. There seems to be little evidence of any detailed study on Igala onomastics that has been subjected to rigorous linguistic investigation as the current work, and at this level of research. This research, therefore, fills that gap but without any claim to having exhausted all aspects of the field.
The research findings on the structure and pragmatics of Igala personal names based on the theory of Speech Act may be a veritable tool for linguists who wish to verify and analyze Igala and other African names. The work may also serve as reference material to Sociolinguists interested in language and society, sociologists who wish to investigate language and culture. Linguists who are determined to investigate the structure of names and their socio-pragmatic significance will benefit from this research. Lecturers and students of language and linguistics will find the research results useful academic material.
The study may, to a great extent, change the negative attitude of Nigerians and act as a re-awakening stimulus especially to the Igala elite and the urban dwellers who, as said elsewhere, are afflicted by ‘cultural schizophrenia’’ (Ehusani). This research, therefore, is a call to cultural renaissance, using language studies as a tool for enlightenment and education.The study may create an opening for scholars and students who may wish to embark on further research on any aspect of the research not adequately covered by the current study.
1.5 Scope and Delimitation of Study
Onomastics is a very broad area of study in linguistics consisting of anthroponomy and toponomy. This study is limited to anthroponomy, precisely to the structure, pragmatics meanings of Igala indigenous personal names in the Igala Kingdom of Kogi State, Nigeria. By indigenous personal names is meant those names that belong to the Igala ethnic group as different from those coming into it from somewhere as occasioned by Christianity, Islamic religion and culture, European names and changing values and westernization. The indigeneity of such names further expresses themselves in their semantic load and cultural content. The area of enquiry is limited to the pragmatics study of Austin’s Speech Act theory as it relates to its locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary forces on Igala anthroponomy.
The scope of the research shall be limited to Igala indigenous proper names of humans, but may include names of animals and plants where such names are symbolic, metaphoric or figurative. Such other names for inanimate objects, places or names for ideas or philosophical concepts may, indeed, constitute new but related and relevant areas for further research by other interested scholars in Igala studies.
Furthermore, the study examines the Igala as a people, their geographical location in Nigeria, the flora and fauna, their religious and cultural beliefs and practices as they influence their names and naming system. The main concern of this research is to show the applicability of Austin’s Speech Act theory in the anthroponomastics of Igala people. It is important to state that the theory of Speech Act is a veritable tool for determining names and their meanings and how these names serve as perlocutionary forces among the Igala and other African names.
STRUCTURE, PRAGMATICS AND MEANINGS OF IGALA INDIGENOUS PERSONAL NAMES
