Local Imagery and Meaning in the Asinilu of Owerri – Igbo People of Eastern Nigeria.

Abstract

This study examines Asinilu, a sub-variety of the Igbo proverb from the pantheon of short forms of the Owerri Igbo oral literature. It investigates local imagery and meaning in the five samples of the form collected from a qualitative field investigation of the Owerri nchi ise area of Imo State, Nigeria. The theoretical framework adopted for analysis of primary data in the study is Dell Hymes’ theory of ethnopoetics, which accounts for the aesthetic and peculiar ‘shaping’ and ‘making’ of language particularly oral art to depict how folks and native users interpret aspects of their world, and which equally advocates that researchers should go into the field to experience the performance or use of the oral text. The spread of the harvest at the field was structured in a way as to have a representation from the sober and mournful as in the funeral reception for the dead and the joyous and triumphant as in the traditional weddings and the obscene and vulgar typical of debauchery at relaxation spots. In its analysis of the oral data, the study discovers diverse local images of variegated sensory appeal conveying specific meanings fitting to the contexts of the individual asinilu’s use. The study concludes by underlining the fact that local imagery is integral to meaning formation and actualization in every asinilu used by the Igbo in general and the Owerri Igbo people in particular.