some yoruba wellerisms, dialogue proverbs, and tongue-twisters

Some Yoruba Wellerisms, Dialogue Proverbs, and Tongue-TwistersAuthor(s): Alan DundesSource: Folklore, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Summer, 1964), pp. 113-120Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1258044 .

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Some Yoruba Wellerisms, Dialogue Proverbs, and Tongue-Twisters

by ALAN DUNDES

ONE of the many fascinating aspects of the study of folklore is the determination of the geographical distribution of the various forms of folklore. Some forms may be universal; some limited to specific culture areas. It would be interesting to know why the universal forms are universal and why the others are not, but the initial task is clearly to ascertain whether specific major and minor genres of folklore are in fact limited by cultural boundaries.

In the cases of the Wellerism, dialogue proverb and tongue- twister, the geographical distribution has not yet been accurately established. One might guess that tongue-twisters are universal, but in the absence of examples from all known linguistic com- munities, the guess must remain just that. As for the Wellerism, or quotation proverb, one might assume that it is not universal. According to Archer Taylor in his survey of the form, the Wel- lerism appears to be limited to European tradition, enjoying especial popularity in northern Germany and Scandinavia.' Cer- tainly the occurrence of examples in Latin and Greek literature attests to the venerable age of the form, but it does not settle the question of the form's geographic distribution. In his 1962 'Fore- word' to the long awaited reprinting of The Proverb, Archer Taylor observes that of all the proverbial genres, the Wellerism has within recent years enjoyed the most attention from scholars. Yet despite this scholarly interest in the Wellerism, folklorists do not appear to be aware of the existence of the form in African oral tradition.2

1 Archer Taylor, The Proverbs, Hatboro, 1962, p. zo8. 2 Taylor has compiled several lists of Wellerism collections, e.g., 'Locutions

for "Never",' Romance Philology, 2, 1949, 105, n. 7, and 'A Bibliographical Note on Wellerisms,' fournal of American Folklore, 65, 1952, 42o-1, but makes no mention of any African texts. However, in a lecture delivered in I96o, J. Berry claimed that Wellerisms were known in West Africa, but were probably rare. He did cite one Hausa Wellerism which he had obtained via a personal communication from F. W. Parsons. See J. Berry, Spoken Art in West Africa, London, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1961, p. 12. (I am indebted to

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YORUBA WELLERISMS, PROVERBS AND TONGUE-TWISTERS

For this reason, the following representative Yoruba Wellerism texts may be of interest.3

i. 'Me waiye ejq,'f'Qmo r f'oko mefa. 'I hate lawsuits,' said the man who gave his daughter in marriage to six persons.

This text might be cited when a man says that he hates something, but his actions provoke that very thing.

2. Awodi t'o nre Ibara, efufu ta a n'idi pa, o ni, 'Ise kuku ya.' 'This is my chance,' says the hawk blown in the direction (towards Ibara) he wants to go.4

The hawk has always wanted to go to Ibara, but he has never had the opportunity. The proverb which functions as a comment rather than a criticism might be cited when all of a sudden, a person gets an unexpected gratuitous opportunity to do something which he has always wanted to do. Ibara is an important place commonly mentioned in Yoruba proverbs.

3. Adie nj'okd, o nmu omi, o ngbe okuta pepepe

mi, sibesibe o ni on o l'ehin.

'I have no teeth,' complains the chicken which eats corn, drinks water, and swallows pebbles.

The chicken complains yet he is perfectly able to eat corn which people with teeth can eat. It is believed that chickens swallow pebbles, an act which even people with teeth cannot manage. The proverb is used in a context in which someone wishes to criticize a person who is unjustly dissatisfied.

Professor William R. Bascom for calling my attention to the latter reference.) Of course, it is entirely possible that Wellerisms are included in some of the many collections of African proverbs without being properly identified as such. See, for example, Solomon T. Plaatje, Sechuana Proverbs, London, 1916, p. 82,

: 580.

3 All of the texts in the present study were collected from Miss Ayodele Ogundipe, a Yoruba student from Ibadan, Nigeria, in Lawrence, Kansas, in January 1963, while Miss Ogundipe was attending the University of Kansas as a special senior. Miss Ogundipe stated that she had heard most of the items in her Ibadan secondary school class in 1953. The texts' transcriptions, transla- tions, and explanations were provided by Miss Ogundipe and her co-operation and assistance are here gratefully acknowledged.

4 A possible Jabo parallel is not in Wellerism form: 'Pitta says: I go where the wind takes me.' See George Herzog, Jabo Proverbs from Liberia, London, 1936, P. 75, #• II.

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4. Agbalagbd nfi irQju 19 s'orun, a ni ki o ki ile ki o k'ona. 'Greet everyone over there,' one says to an old man going to heaven (dying) reluctantly.

People who are old are expected to be reconciled to the idea of dying, but of course they are not. In the proverb, a person is making fun of an older individual's reluctance to die. The proverb might be used by someone who wants to protest the imposition of a new burden upon pre-existing obligations. For example, let us assume that A has asked B to do something and B is obliged to do it. If A then adds a further task, B might well quote the proverb, thus indicating his displeasure at the increased burden. Just as a person who didn't want to go to heaven in the first place resents being asked to greet people there, so the already burdened individual is displeased with a request for a further favour.

5. As.ds. y• yo mariwo o ni on o kon orun; awon ascdju

r. ni, 'nwon

se be ri?' 'I am reaching straight for the sky,' says the new shoot of the palm-tree. (Have any of his predecessors told him they have ever done so?)5

A new palm-tree makes a rash statement, for clearly he has never seen an older palm-tree reach the sky. The usual context of the proverb is a situation in which someone has expressed unusual and unwarranted enthusiasm about something, for example, about exaggerated or impossible plans. Following such an extravagant statement, someone else might well cite this palm-tree Wellerism.

6. Baba jo, a mbere irungbon, kil'ofa sababi? 'What happened to his beard?' we ask of the corpse of a man burned to death.

This is used to point out a silly question. In some versions of

' The parenthetical portion is sometimes omitted, particularly if the proverb is well known to the listener. It is noteworthy that in a recent attractive popular anthology of Yoruba oral literature, the proverb is rendered: 'The young palm branch tries to reach the sky. What offence did the old branch commit, that it did not succeed?' Since the original Yoruba text is not given, it is difficult to say whether the quotation part of the Wellerism was present or not. If so, the dangers of free translation are obvious inasmuch as the Wellerism form did not survive. In the same way, Wellerism number four of the present study is rendered: 'When an old man goes to heaven he is asked to greet all the people there. But does he go willingly?' See Bakare Gbadamosi and Ulli Beier, Yoruba Poetry, Ibadan, 1959, pp. 6i, 63.

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this proverb, the additional phrase 'Which part of him do you think

caught fire first?' is found. The proverb might be cited whenever anyone asks a stupid question. For example, if there were an accident in which several people were killed, someone would go to tell the relatives of the deceased what had happened. Later, someone coming upon the scene, although knowing about the accident, might in embarrassment ask, 'Why is everyone crying?' He might well elicit the proverb in reply.

7. 'Se ki nfi 'di he e,' li afomofi ndi onile.

'Shall I sit awhile?' says the parasite before becoming a permanent dweller.

The point here is that a human parasite at the beginning does not behave as though he will be a permanent burden. The proverb might be cited referring to a person who says he has come for only a short visit but who is suspected of planning to stay for a long time.

From these sample texts, one may reasonably conclude that Wellerisms are in fact found in Yoruba folklore. No doubt specific inquiries made by field workers in Africa would result in examples from many other peoples. Field workers might also profitably seek a minor proverbial form which Archer Taylor terms 'Dialogue Proverbs'. Whereas Wellerisms have the form: Quotation, Speaker, (Condition), Dialogue Proverbs consist of a brief dramatic verbal exchange between at least two principals.6 Once again Taylor gives no indication that this latter form is found in Africa and in fact he cites one authority who suggested that dialogue proverbs were especially characteristic of Greek folklore. The following three Yoruba dialogue proverbs may serve to illustrate the genre.

8. 'Ajala tani na 9 ?' 0 ni 'E.yin

na kQ un.' 'Who has beaten you, Ajala?' He replies, 'You ought to know.'

Ajala is a man's name which is frequently used in proverbs. The point of the proverb is that often people ask pointed questions,

6 Archer Taylor, The Proverb, pp. 156-8. Taylor is careful to distinguish Dialogue Proverbs and Wellerisms (p. 159, n. i). For three Sechuana examples of dialogue proverbs, see Solomon T. Plaatje, Sechuana Proverbs, London, 1916, PP. 48, 89, 91, 's 265, 646, 664. No doubt other African texts could be found in many of the standard African proverb collections.

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questions to which they obviously knew the answers before asking. Thus this proverb might be directed at a person who asked a pointed question. Quotation of the proverb would imply that the question was of this sort and that the asker certainly knew the answer to such a question.

9. Ajapa nlo si ajo, nwpn ni 'Igbawo li o ma de ?' 0 ni, 'o di igba ti on ba te.' The turtle sets out on a journey. They ask him, 'When will you return?' He replies, 'Not until I am disgraced.'

Ajapa, the tortoise, is a popular figure in Yoruba folklore. Often he loses face or is made to look foolish. The proverb thus implies that it will not be long before the tortoise returns disgraced. The proverb might be employed when A wants B to give up his plans or to cease a certain activity. If B threatens to go to an extreme, A may point out the consequences, namely that B will lose face. If B replies that he is going to do it anyway, then A might quote the proverb.

10. Nwon ni 'amukun, eru re wo,' o ni, 'lati ile l'o ti wo wa.'

They say, 'Lame man, the load on your head is sitting crookedly.' He replies, 'It is not the load, but the legs.'

The point of the proverb is that the actual cause for a given effect may not be obvious at first glance. A person may appear to have a badly balanced load, but in fact he may be lame. The proverb might be cited whenever someone gives a wrong reason for something.

It appears, then, that dialogue proverbs are found in Yoruba oral tradition and one would assume that they might also be collected from other African peoples. In contrast to the Wellerism and Dialogue Proverb, the tongue-twister has long been known among the Yoruba.' In fact the tongue-twister has been reported among many African groups. However, tongue-twisters have never been systematically collected, perhaps because, as Waterman and Bascom suggest, they lose effect in translation.8 Tongue-twisters

I Eight Yoruba tongue-twisters are included by Samuel Crowther in his A Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language, London, 1852, pp. 29-30.

8 Richard A. Waterman and William R. Bascom, 'African and New World Negro folklore,' Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, I, New York, 1949, p. 21. D. C. Simmons claims that tongue-twisters are very rare

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should be of interest to linguists inasmuch as they represent the folk's own judgement as to what phonemes or phoneme clusters/ sequences are particularly difficult to articulate. Extensive col- lection of twisters from many groups might reveal widespread agreement as to the relative difficulty in articulating particular linguistic sounds. For example, there are English and French tongue-twisters based upon the combination and alternation of words containing the /s/ and /g/ phonemes.9 Yoruba tongue- twisters are of special interest because Yoruba is a tone language and as such automatically offers the linguistic potential for plays on tone differences.'0 It is here proposed that tongue-twisters based upon tone alternations be labelled 'tone-twisters'. Included in the following selection of texts are two versions of a Yoruba tone-twister.

ii (a). Qkegb'gkeg'ppe Oke carries a sack up a palm-tree.

Qke is a name which may belong to male or female. It refers to a specific circumstance of birth, that is, it refers to a person who is born in an unruptured membrane. Appropriately enough - in terms of the twister, in such situations the sack is rubbed with palm oil and then opened. among the Efik although he did manage to collect three examples. See his 'Specimens of Efik Folklore,' Folklore, 66, 1955, 423. For Hausa tongue-twisters, see A. J. N. Tremearne, Hausa Superstitions and Customs, London, 1913, PP. 66-7.

9 See Alan Dundes, 'French Tongue-Twisters,' French Review, 33, 1960, 604-5. Also worthy of study are the structural patterns of tongue-twisters. For example, the German 'Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische; Frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritz' is structurally similar to the beginning of the English American, 'Billy Burton bought a buttered biscuit; A buttered biscuit Billy Burton bought. If Billy Burton bought a buttered biscuit, where's the buttered biscuit that Billy Burton bought.' The latter text is, of course, patternwise the same as the Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers' classic. Despite the great numbers of tongue-twisters from a variety of cultures, there are probably comparatively few tongue-twister patterns.

10 For a description of the Yoruba tonal system, see R. C. Abraham, Dic- tionary of Modern Yoruba, London, 1958, pp. x-xxi. While Abraham does note (p. xiii) that there is deliberate alternation of tone in riddles, he makes no mention of tongue-twisters based upon a similar principle. For a discussion of tone riddles, see Donald C. Simmons, 'Cultural Functions of the Efik Tone Riddle,' Journal of American Folklore, 71, 1958, 123-38. For further consideration of the intricacies of Yoruba tone alternation, see H. J. Melzian, 'Beobachtungen tiber die Verwendung der T6ne in der Yoruba-Sprache,' Mitteilungen des Seminars fur Orientalische Sprachen, XXXVII, Dritte Abteilung, 1934, 197-234, and E. L. Lasebikan, 'The Tonal Structure of Yoruba Poetry,' Prdsence Africaine, Nos. 8. 9, io, Juin-Novembre, 1956, 43-50.

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ii (b). Okere gb'gke g'gpe The squirrel carries a sack up a palm-tree.

12. Iku nde Dede " Dede nde 'ku.

Death baits Dede; Dede baits death. In this tongue-twister, Dede is the name of a man. This twister

also functions as a proverb. It may be cited in situations in which two individuals are baiting one another and no one knows what the outcome of such a tense situation will be.

13. Agbalagbd ki ise langbalangba. An elderly person does not behave in an undignified way.

In the twister, 'langbalangba' is a reduplicative onomatopoeic sound for undignified behaviour." This tongue-twister also serves as a proverb and as might be suspected is usually spoken by a younger person to an elder.

14. Eri ara Ilora. Eri is a native of Ilora.

Ilora is a locality in western Nigeria.

15. Asofunfunfun nifun kufun; Ofunfun nifunfun kufunfun. A white cloth is white in an unusually white way; It is white in an unusually white way.'2

16. Eniti o gbo Ifa ko mo Qfa; Eniti o m9 Qfa ko gb9' (I) fa beni Ifa ta l'Qfa Someone who understands Ifa (cult)13 does not know Ofa (a town); Someone who knows Ofa does not understand Ifa Yet Ifa is popular in Ofa.

This twister might be cited when there was a case of misunder- standing. If A knows something, but does not know about a place

11 The word and the proverb-twister are cited by Abraham, p. 402. 12 Abraham calls attention to the unusual tonal variations occasioned by the collocation of the Yoruba words for 'a white cloth' (pp. xvii, 513). As so often happens, the 'folk' had already recognized and utilized, albeit unconsciously, the same phenomenon.

18 For a description of this cult, see William R. Bascom, 'The Sanctions of Ifa Divination,' Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 71, 1941, 43-54.

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where it is most useful, another party, B, might call attention to this fact by quoting this proverbial twister.

17 (a). Opblo.'p

op.1o."

dko ni 9P9lo. Many frogs don't have brains.

In this nonsensical tone-twister, there are three words whose segmental phonemes are remarkably similar: Many

(Op~lop.), frogs ( .pqlo'),

and brains (9pol9). It is the alternation of the different tones which presents the articulation problem.

17 (b). Qp.lop. .op

kO% rn k mo. pe

.p.l. 16p919

lo.p Q5lQp0.

Many frogs do not know that frogs have a great deal of (many) brains.

These representative Yoruba tongue-twisters show clearly a cultural penchant for verbal play. However, not all tongue- twisters are meaningless and nonsensical. Several of the Yoruba twisters cited above function as proverbs. The function of proverbs is in part analogous to the function Malinowski ascribed to myth, namely, to provide a traditional past precedent for present belief and behaviour. Whereas myths are sacred sociological charters related to stabilize and control life in the present and future, proverbs are secular charters. As a myth may validate a ritual, so a proverb may validate an everyday act. Thus the recording of Yoruba Wellerisms, dialogue proverbs, and tongue-twisters provides data for the study of Yoruba linguistic traditions and verbal wit, but it also gives some insight into a people's most popular forms of cultural sanctions governing human behaviour: their folklore.

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some yoruba wellerisms, dialogue proverbs, and tongue-twisters

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