J.O. Sheba: Yoruba Proverbs with Feminine Lexis
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[edit] Yoruba Proverbs with Feminine Lexis
compiled by Laide Sheba (PhD), published by Spectrum Books Limited, Ibadan, Nigeria in 2006. ISBN 10: 978-029-721-9; ISBN: 13:978-978-029-721-3, 131 pp.
Dr. Laide Sheba, the compiler of these proverbs, is a Lecturer at the Department of African Languages and Literatures, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
The collection consists of proverbs with feminine lexis in their structures. Such lexis include:
Ìyá/mama/ìyálómo (mother) ìyálójà (chief market woman); ìyekan (maternal relatives); ìyálóde (head of the womenfolk); ìyáwó/aya (wife); ìyáálé (senior wife); orogún (wife; rival); olorì/ayaba (queen); abiyamo (nursing mother); àjé (witch); aséwó/dókodóko (promiscuous woman); gèlè (head tie); bímo(give bith); ponmo (carry child on the back); omidan/omoge/wúndíá (spinster); opó (widow); arewá/èlè (damsel)
The proverbs are then classified as follows:
(a) Marriage/Love/Sexuality/Immorality: These are proverbs dealing with marriage,
Love, sexuality and other indecent acts by women.
(b) Motherhood: These are proverbs addressing the role of women as mothers. ( c) Womwn’s speech: These are proverbs containing either direct or indirect speeches
of women. They are proverbs in which women’s voice can be identified.
(d) Women’s social status/importance: These are proverbs expressing the importance
and the status of women in the society.
(e) Women definition: These are proverbs defining the physical and material
attributes of women.
(f) Malevolence attitudes to female: These are proverbs portraying negative attitudes
of men and the society at large to women.
(g) Miscellaneous issues: This class consists of proverbs that do not fit into the
above categories. They only contain the lexis in their structure and their usage is not all that related to the women issue.