LANGUAGE USE IN TRADITIONAL BURIAL CEREMONIES AMONG THE BENIN PEOPLE.

ABSTRACT

The present study entailed a pragmatic analysis of the language used in traditional burial ceremonies in Benin City. The study focused on the pragmatics of the language used to announce deaths in Benin City. The data employed for the research were gotten from competent native speakers and users of the Ẹdo language. Data were also collected from some Ẹdo recordings and documents. The instrument used by the researcher to gather data was the tape recorder and writing materials. The theoretical framework employed is the ethnography of communication, Hymes (1974) while the translation approach is that of Ọmọrẹgbẹ and Ẹvbuọmwan (2014)’s pragmatic translation. The findings of the study revealed among other things that the language used in the announcement of the dead in traditional Benin society varies depending on the status of who is demised. The language used in announcing the deaths of the king, chiefs, dukes, prominent persons and commoners where shown to have clear cut differences which reflects in the figures of animals, plants and meteorological objects.