Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development

This study is a Contrastive Analysis of English and Hausa proverbs in selected texts. The study considers three (3) research questions which are based on the similarities and differences between the English and Hausa proverbs. The sample population covers collections of several proverbs. The data collected were subjected to comparison at different levels using Quirk and Wilson?s models while Banathy?s contrastive model is then used to describe the selected proverbs according to their form, patterns, distribution and variations. Overall findings on the similarities and differences of English and Hausa proverbs were stated based on the forms, patterns; distributions and varieties. The findings of the study reveal that Proverbs that are culture-bound are those that posed difficulties for learning and translation from Hausa language to English. On this basis, the study recommended that the English and Hausa proverbs should be given adequate consideration so as to improve students? performance on the use of English proverbs.

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