VEJOH - VERITAS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES

Language is a vehicle for the transmission of cultural materials from generation to generation. One of the forms which facilitate this endeavour is the idiom. Often created using metaphor, a significant number of them convey information on the historical trajectories of a speech community. This paper identified idioms which give insight into the patterns of the lives of the Ibibio people of Southern Nigeria in the remote past. It specifically situates the literal meanings of the expressions within beliefs and practices which held sway in the Ibibio society in traditional times and utilizes The Metaphoric Frame Based and Metaphoric Symbol Based frameworks to explain how the metaphorical meanings which are culturally grounded are motivated for the interpretation of the idioms. Participant observation, semi structured interviews and native speaker intuition were utilized to gather selected idioms and obtain information on the historical resources embedded in them. It discovers that aspects of the traditional religious and superstitious beliefs and practices, culinary activities, hospitality, entertainment, and education constitute domains from which abstract concepts are referred to in the idioms. This study reiterates the role of language in the transmission and preservation of a people’s cultural heritage. It highlights the importance of speakers’ exposure to traditional beliefs and practices to the understanding of the figurative meanings of the idioms. This paper recommends that idioms which capture the sociocultural peculiarities of the traditional Ibibio society should be documented. This is to foster their continuous use and understanding, intergenerational transmission and eventual preservation.

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