Pragmatic analysis of Àgàtú personal names

Abstract

This paper entitled ‘Pragmatic analysis of Àgàtú Personal Names’ aims at filling the gap of the near absence of semantic and pragmatic studies in the Àgàtú dialect of Ídómà. Oral interviews and researchers’ observation were deployed for the collection of data from Àgàtú LGA of Benue State. This study selected fourty-five (45) Àgàtú personal names using Lawal’s (1997) ‘aspects of a pragmatic theory’ for analysis. The study has classified Àgàtú names into nine different name types depicting different contexts in which personal naming takes place in Àgàtú and this largely depends on the circumstance or situation surrounding the birth of a child, the psychology of the parents and sometimes the cosmological context, expressing the world view of the parents. The situations surrounding the birth of a child may include his/her family background, family history, culture and religion of the parents, advice or even caution from the parents or name giver. The data analyses show that Àgàtú personal names reflect connection between context and meaning. For one to fully explicate the meaning of Àgàtú personal names, one has to understand the culture of Àgàtú and have the background information that explains the contextual meaning of names. This study has laid a foundation for further work in the linguistics, cultural studies and Àgàtú documentation.