NUPE PROVERBS AND THEIR MODERN USAGE: A CALL FOR CONCERN

BY

Isyaku Bala Ibrahim

Languages are the core of human existence which makes interaction and understanding among races possible. People communicate with one another in order to make their presence felt or to solve a given problem or respond to issues at hand or just to satisfy their manifest egos. A verbal expression or communication produces chains of messages interestingly linked to one another to make sense, and it can be said to be effectively meaningful or sensible when the speakers involved understand each other and act accordingly. These expressions can be in the form of discussions, decisions, idioms, tales, stories, proverbs etc. The advancement of these expressions symbolizes the development of the language putting into consideration the changes in its immediate environment over time.

Nupe Language is a language whose speakers are known as Nupes, Nupecizhi, Takpa, Nufawa, or Anupe by the neighbouring tribes. They are predominantly found in the North-Central Nigeria precisely in Niger, Kogi, and Kwara States, and the Federal Capital Territory. It is one of the languages in Nigeria whose speakers use proverbs most often in their day-to-day expressions.

Therefore, Nupe Proverbs are popular sayings among the group that convey messages that are traditionally moral to support, reject, and correct a phenomenon or perception within its communities. Hence, from a critical analogy of a collection of proverbs, one finds a fundamental shift in their structural composition and usage, which led to the springing up of mutated kind of proverbs taking over the airwave in talk shows and audio tapes of Nupe music which are quite disturbing. Though, one cannot tell exactly when this drift actually began, but one probably believes it started centuries ago when interactions between Nupe people and their neighbours strengthened, and the coming of the new religions and colonialism into the then Nupe Country, and the modernity that followed later.

The language and precisely its proverbs went through a period of transmutation or unnoticed stages of fusion with other languages, the process which were principally acknowledged by some of its speakers to gain general acceptance but most often kicked against completely by a few of its conservatives.  However, the process of identifying a traditional proverb embedded with it its innate quintessence from its ‘post’ or those that had slightly changed due to uncontrolled influence of modernity and the ‘mega’ languages such as Hausa and Yoruba on a part as its neighbours; and foreign (Arabic and English) on the other part could prove very difficult as these languages had for long and still playing the role of lingua-franca and are still  been use in carrying out religious duties and rites within the Nupe Societies. The influence of these languages was referred to by Banfield (1915.) as ‘foreign elements’. In his argument, Banfield states, “considering that the Nupes and Yorubas are so closely allied, there are remarkably few Yoruba words to be found in Nupe.” He continued that, “Hausa has been laid under contribution far more, and, in the towns especially, a good many Hausa words are in common use, though in the villages the people keep far more to the pure Nupe without using these Hausa equivalents.  A good many Arabic words have found their way into the language through the Mohammedan religion that the Fulani conquest imposed some hundred years ago. These are naturally words connected with religion, such as malayika = angel; aduwa = prayer, tuba = repentance, gafara = forgiveness, etc. These are generally slightly different from the Hausa equivalents, being the Nupe method of pronouncing the Arabic original, and are not to be considered corruptions of the parallel Hausa adoption from the Arabic.”

However, these foreign languages are the remnant of colonialism or neo-colonialism which is also a prime factor that understandably infiltrated into the native languages. The teaching of these languages in schools and religious centres has open up the societies; and devastatingly making the native languages struggling for survival or else face extinction. This possibly occurs as a result of the use of Hausa language throughout Northern Nigeria for centuries as lingua franca by other languages for interaction and transactions. Their impact on the Nupe society and others had overwhelmingly distorted the thinking of the upcoming generation of the natives; this generation now sees their languages more of strange-tongue languages than their mother-tongues. They do not see their language as a natural treasure that most be used and preserved at all cost. These nonchalant attitudes of the natives most especially in the towns had further down play the powerful messages embedded in these proverbs making them contemporaneously irrelevant, or only applicable to the natives’ musicians to chant in amusement which most of the chanted proverbs are often distortedly pass across to the audience.

Therefore, for proverbs to remain in their original form for too long will simply play down a simple rule of nature that everything-proverbs inclusive are subject to change, most especially when they remain in their oral or unwritten forms. These proverbs in their transient process from one generation to another will naturally be prone to structural and content modifications in their usage by the chains of speakers in successive generations over a given period of time putting into consideration the external factors. The product of this process and its resultant changes from the original proverbs is what Aderemi Raji precisely referred to as ‘Postproverbials’.

In addition, to a strong Nupe traditionalist, the expression of these malformed proverbs could be seen as abnormal; while a Nupe scholar or modernist will look at it from a different angle possibly positive or will see it as language development that might not actually be acceptable to all, most especially if the parent proverb that is expected to stand the test of time disappeared gradually. So both proverbs: parent and novel could easily be identified when some yardsticks are developed that will allow for more study into the proverb dynamics as in the ‘Postproverbials study’ which could help the situation and thereby coming into common term with the dynamic of linguistic changes. Perhaps, these novel proverbs despite their new disposition in the true sense possess almost all features of any standard proverb: sensible, truthful, forthright, ability to provoke and enrich ideas, decisions or thoughts, and even entertain the targeted listener(s). One major thing these proverbs lack is the genuine inventiveness.

However, below are some instances showing the similarities and differences between a parent proverb (a) and the mutated one (‘Postproverbials’) (b):

Example 1

1. Wo gá yikuru ò man nangi, wo à be la vata ò  kansanna.

             If you lend your flour to a sheep, you will pick-up your calabash-tray

             empty.

2. Wo gá yikuru ò man nangi, wo à le le madan.

            If you lend your flour to a sheep, you sleep with hunger

Here the difference occurred at the second phrases of the proverbs (a) you will pick-up your calabash-tray empty and (b) you sleep with hunger. Vata (calabash-tray) is an old domestic or kitchen utensil whose use is fast fading in Nupe homes as it is been replaced by the modern iron, steel or rubber tray even in the remotest villages in Nupeland.  Grain flour is used principally for making solid porridge (eje), and in a situation where it is given to an animal; you will definitely not expect its recovery. Hence, both proverbs technically mean -a distrustful person should not be entrusted with anything.

The examples 2 and 3 below further explain this kind of transmuted proverbs:

Example 2

a.                  Bawu Soko à ce be da abo.

                  God’s knowledge above this is the direction.

b.                  Bawu Soko à ce eba kpe.

                  God’s knowledge surpasses what is known.

Example 3

1. Lafiya gá wun éyékan ò.

            It is only the healthy that can move around.

2. Lafiya gá wun ekan ò.

            It is only the healthy that can smell aroma.

Example 4

a.                  Yajinci ù  tigi kpe Soko, wun ga tigi kpe yizheci ma.

                   The poor should cry unto God not man.

b.                  Talaka tigi kpe Soko, ga tigi kpe yizheci ma.

                   The poor should cry unto God not man.

In the example 4 above, Hausa Language has successfully smudged on the language as it has influenced the parent proverb (a) with the word talaka which replaced yajinci, though the two words have the same meaning as the poor. A further scrutiny of the proverbs to prove this influence revealed as the root word for yajinci is yaji which means poverty or jiya (impoverishment), while in Hausa, poverty means talauci.

Example 5

  

      a.  Dagbá cikan: éná kanma è wu won.

           A wild elephant is brought down by many bullets.

      b.  Dagbá cikan: nance kanma è wu won.

            A wild elephant is cooked in many kitchens.

            With collective effort, you can perform the most difficult tasks.

Conclusively, Nupe proverb can only survive all form of influence when its people recognize that there is a fundamental problem that will require holistic approach to tackle them.  The future of any language depends largely on the natives themselves taking a bold step by institutionalizing the language into every aspect of their lives through documentation and publication of every aspects of the language and teaching same to its people in schools with standard curriculum.  Aggressive campaigns should be embarked upon to enlighten the natives on the significance of their language in contemporary Africa whose cultural diversity is treasured.

References:

Aderemi, Raji-Oyelade. Postproverbials in Yoruba Culture: A Playful Blasphemy’ Research in African Literatures: Vol. 30, No. 1, Spring 1999.

Banfield, Alexander W. (1915) A Grammar of the Nupe Language, Together with a Vocabulary. London: Richard Clay & Sons Limited.

Ibrahim, I. B. (2009) ‘Eganmaganzhi Nupe (Nupe Proverbs)’, Over a thousand (1000) Proverbs with English Translation and Explanations. Minna: Gandzo Enterprises.