A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF YAKA PROVERBS

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the ten Yaka proverbs randomly selected by the researcher, a native speaker, by following the pragmatic approach, precisely the theory of speech acts initiated by Austin and then by John Searle. Speech act theory is a systematic study of the relationship between signs and their interpreters. It is a question of knowing what the interpreter-users do and what acts they accomplish using certain signs (proverbs). A proverb is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical. Since proverbs are simple and catchy phrases that have a moral, social, or cultural significance, in this study, we set ourselves the goal of promoting Yaka culture, analyzing its ten selected proverbs to shed light clear on users of these proverbs who sometimes ignore the true meaning of these proverbs despite their use by them, and even to readers and future researchers who will be interested in the YAKA language.

The analysis will cover three levels: pragmatic, semantic, and structural level to get a full account of this type of meaning.