Cultural linguistic interpretation of masculinity in selected Igbo burial songs and rites

Abstract

Igbo burial songs and rites through the framework of cultural cognition is the focus of this study. The Igbo ethnic group of South-eastern Nigeria are religious people who believe in the mutual and peaceful co-existence of dichotomous categories such as the living and the dead, the natural and the supernatural, the visible and the invisible, and the material and the immaterial. Masculinity as used in this study refers to the construction and enactment of some socio-cultural attributes, roles, behaviours and expectations that are considered appropriate for the male gender in Igbo traditional society. At the heart of Cultural Linguistics (CL), which this study adopts as its theoretical anchor, is the notion of cultural cognition, which supports an integrated understanding of the notions of cognition, language, and culture in the communication of social meaning in contexts. Cultural cognition is composed of cultural schemas, cultural categories and cultural metaphors that enable language users to express their bodily experiences and their knowledge of the environment. Previous studies on burials/funerals in most African societies have largely been explored from the perspective of ethnography without insights from thought and cognition hence, this study sets out to bridge the gap. The study adopts a qualitative approach to the analysis of primary data collected through participant observation and oral interviews. The study reveals that the Nnebukwu community and other communities in Oru-Igbo of Imo State instantiate and reflect cultural conceptualization in cultural artefacts such as songs, oral narratives, rituals, and other social semiotic modes.