Enkozesa y’engero z’Oluganda ensonge

Abstract

This study was conducted in Luganda under the title: Enkozesa y’engero z’Oluganda ensonge- The use of Luganda proverbs in discourse (in translation). The researcher was inspired to undertake this study after discovering that whereas situated uses of proverbs have been carried out in a number of African communities, there is no known study on Ugandan communities that deals with the dynamics of proverb use. Ugandan proverb scholarships have mainly concentrated on collection, documentation, classification and explanation of proverbs without addressing how they are actually used in discourse. Therefore, the study was intended to find out how proverbs are used, analyse the message, their form and structure and explore interlocutors’ responses. It used linguistic approaches in particular Conversation Analysis (CA) and Discourse Analysis to examine how interlocutors’ exchanges are managed in conversations. Other approaches which were used in a supporting role included: Ethnomethodology, the Speech Act Theory, the Cooperative Principle, the Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the Schema theory. The procedure which was used followed the well established model of CA’s research practices. Data was recorded from casual conversations, phone-in-programmes, sermons, speeches and political discourse. It was transcribed using standard linguistic conventions and later analysed qualitatively basing on the above linguistic approaches. The data was burnt on a CD for reference by future scholars who may wish to undertake related research. The study revealed several things about conversations which contain proverbs like: signposting, turn-taking in completing them, self and other repair, adjacency pairs and various interlocutors’ responses which include: laughter, silence, using affirmative expressions, completing and repeating proverbs. This study will benefit culturally and linguistically inclined paremiologists, language teachers, folklorists, linguistic anthropologists as well as discourse and conversation analysts. The study recommends that ‘new proverbs’ should continue to be coined to cater for contemporary happenings. Proverbs in discourse should also continue to be studied for comparison with institutional talk which has organized arrangement. For proverb usage and coinage continuity, the teaching of proverbs in schools should be investigated and improved upon basing on what this study has highlighted.