The grammaticality and acceptability of proverbs in language use as a means of communication and instruction in traditional Anaang society

Abstract

This paper analized the grammaticality and acceptability of Proverbs in language use as means of communication and instruction in traditional Anaang society. The paper also exposes a compendium of proverbs in Anaang and carefully sort out what some scholars have said about proverbs and education. To achieve this purpose, a long list of proverbs in Anaang has been sorted out and carefully accounted for while taking cognizance of the communicative roles proverbs play in traditional Anaang communities. There is also examination of the socio-cultural functions of these proverbs as a vehicle for sharpening the instructional patterns of people at individual and communal levels. The theoretical framework employed in this work is Linguistic Trado-culturalism, a theory propounded by the Traditional Culturalists for use as a vehicle for extolling and conveying the values of a people’s rich cultural heritage and the propagation of the philosophical significance of their heritage to generations yet unborn. The conclusion is drawn from the fact that proverbs, no matter the type of functions (communicative or instructional) they play, are inextricably tied to the socio-cultural idiosyncrasies of the society within which they operate.