ANALYSES OF SELECTED IGBO PROVERBS: THE IMPLICATIONS ON CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN MARRIAGE
The Igbo people are very conservative about marriage, in terms of choice of marriage mate, social status of the intended mates’ family, financial capability of the mate, and the prospect of procreation. A broken marriage is a disgrace especially to the family of the bride, and the groom is looked at as a failure. Truth be said, no marriage is devoid of conflict and these need to be settled amicably. Peaceful families lead to a peaceful society, however, where the family is engulfed in conflict, the society cannot be found to be free of the effects of such conflict. It has been discovered that proper application of Igbo proverbs to conflict situations will minimize misunderstanding both in the society and in the family. This is because proverbs are wise sayings that address the heart of the discourse in any given context, truthfully and objectively. This paper highlights the meaning of Igbo proverbs, their functions, meaning of conflict and conflict resolution, and some Igbo proverbs that are useful in the resolution of marriage conflicts in the Igbo society. This paper adopts the use theory as its theoretical framework for establishing the connection between conflict and Igbo proverbs. This paper concludes by stating that proverbs are inevitable and that proverbs should be properly integrated in the day to day life of people
Keywords: analyses, conflict, igbo, implications, marriage, proverbs, resolution, selected