Writing a Thesis in Yorùbá

1.         Background[1]

Department of African Languages and Literatures’ Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Yorùbá are designed to train specialists in the formal study of the Yorùbá language, and of Yorùbá in relation to other African Languages on the one hand and specialists in the study of Yorùbá literature with emphasis on oral literature on the other.

By the 1979/80 academic session, six students had completed their M. A. degree programmes in Yorùbá but their dissertations were written in English. This did not meet the expectations of the Department. Thus, in 1980/81 session, a student wrote his dissertation in Yorùbá; two students wrote theirs in the same language in 1981/82 session, and by the 1988/89 session, 12 students had written their M. A. dissertations in Yorùbá. It was at the end of the 1989/90 session that the first set of Ph.D. theses, written completely in Yorùbá was submitted to the Department, and it was only then that the Department had sufficient evidence to support the standard of excellence it was striving to establish in the various academic and service endeavours. Today, not less than 5 Ph.D. theses, written in Yorùbá, have been successfully defended in the Department.

2.          My Experience

I have written a postgraduate dissertation in Yoruba. I have also examined, supervised and acted as the chief examiner, in my capacity as the Acting Head of Department, between 1993 and 1995, and from August 1999 to date, for many theses and dissertations written in Yorùbá Language.   The following is my experience.

2.1       My Experience as a Student

I completed my M. A. Dissertation, that was written in Yorùbá, in 1983. The title of the dissertation is Ètò Ìbágbépọ̀ nínú Ìtàn Àròsọ Yorùbá (The Sociology of Yorùbá Novels).

The major advantage one derives from writing a dissertation in Yorùbá is that, because the language is one’s mother tongue, one understands it and one is able to write in it very well. There are many concepts one would have found very difficult to express in other languages, but which one is able to express easily in one’s mother tongue, and because the abstract of the dissertation is written in English, non-Yorùbá speakers would have some idea of what the work contains.

The major problem that we encountered during the early period when we wrote our dissertations in Yorùbá was that there was no Yorùbá Metalanguage. The first volume of the Yorùbá Metalanguage was published in 1984 while the second was published in 1989. Before the compilation of these two volumes, there were: (i) the grammatical and scientific terms for Yorùbá evolved by two technical committees set up in 1953 by the Honourable Minister of Education of the then Western Region of Nigeria, and (ii) the technical terms of Delano’s monolingual dictionary of 1958. The following are examples from their recommendations.

Committee	Delano	English Equivalents
Orúkọ	ọ̀rọ̀-orúkọ	noun
kókó-ọ̀rọ̀	ọ̀rọ̀-ìṣe	verb
Àdìpọ̀	arọ́pò-orúkọ	pronoun
àpèjúwe, ajúwe	ọ̀rọ̀-àpèjúwe	adjective
Àfikún	ọ̀rọ̀-àpọ́nlé	adverb
Atọ́ka	asíwájú-orúkọ	preposition
Àsopọ̀	ọ̀rọ̀-aláṣopọ̀	conjunction
Ìkébòsí	ọ̀rọ̀-ìyanu	interjection

The problem with these recommendations is that there is often a lack of correspondence between the choice of conventions between the student and the external examiner. Consequently, a student may prefer using the recommendations made by the technical committees while the external examiner may prefer those made by Delano. According to Bamgbose (1969:13), "there is the problem of terminology, that is, the difficulty of finding generally accepted Yorùbá terms for grammar, literary criticism, and stylistics..." Until this problem (the problem of Yorùbá metalanguage) is faced squarely, Yorùbá scholarship through the medium of the Yorùbá language will not be effective and profound.

This problem was solved, however, with the formulation of the metalinguistic terms for teaching Yorùbá language, linguistics and literature by the association of academic teachers of Yorùbá. Two volumes of such terms have so far been published as Bamgbose (1984) and Awobuluyi (1989). These two works combined contain about 2,700 terms now being used for teaching Yorùbá in all secondary and tertiary institutions of learning which offer that subject in Nigeria. The impact of this is borne out by the following report that we got from an external examiner on one of our Ph.D students recently.

The candidate demonstrates competence in the use of Yorùbá as a language of scholarship. He shows mastery of Yorùbá metalanguage in the presentation of his views and ideas.

The second problem was the status of the language. The tendency was to neglect Yorùbá while English is preferred. The term vernacular (an inferior local language) was adopted for the language. Attitude toward the language, however, has changed over the years. Governments at the various levels have sponsored and fully funded (workshops on technical terms). Official roles have also been assigned to the language in Education and Government. Thus, the National Policy on Education prescribes the mother tongue as the medium of instruction in all subjects right from Kindergarten to the third year of Primary School. Thereafter, each child is required to take, at least, one indigenous language of wider communication as a school subject up to the end of Secondary School. The constitution of Nigeria also explicitly provides for the use of appropriate indigenous language along with English for conducting official business in legislative houses. To facilitate the attainment of this objective at the Federal level, where Hausa, Igbo and Yorùbá are prescribed for use along with English, money was made available in the early 80’s for evolving and publishing sets of indigenous or indigenised legislative terms for those three languages.

2.2   My Experience as an Examiner and a Supervisor

The University’s Postgraduate College requires that a student be assigned a supervisor by the Department. There should be an examiner from the Department, another from another Department in the Faculty and yet, another from outside the Faculty. There should also be an external examiner for a student who is not a member of staff in the Department, and two for a student who is a member of staff and, finally, the Head of Department will be the Chief Examiner.

2.2.1    The Supervisor

The contribution of the supervisor is very important to the success of the student. The student may be good in the use of the Yorùbá metalanguage, but if the supervisor fails to advise the candidate on the suitability of the title of the thesis, the scope and the research design, he or she may create problems which cannot be attributed to the difficulty in using Yorùbá in writing the thesis. Let us see another section of the recommendation sent in by the external examiner of the Ph.D. candidate mentioned earlier (section 2.1).

Title: The title of the thesis is rather obtuse, indicating no selectivity. It should be modified...

Scope of Research: The scope of the research is fraught with numerous problems. First, it is also narrow in concept and shallow in execution. The choice of a single narrative technique for a Ph.D. thesis seems to me grossly inadequate... the candidate does not demonstrate a firm grasp of relevant and current concepts, theories and critical opinions; this is due mainly to the narrow and inadequate scope of the research.

Research Design: The design of the research is inaccurate. His justification for the study as well as choice of Fagunwa, Okediji and Akinlade is unconvincing.... Despite references to many scholars’ whose works he considers relevant to his own, there is no chapter on the review of related literature.

Bibliography: His bibliography lacks relevance and currency. The inclusion of a B. A. Long Essay project in a Ph.D. work is inaccurate.

Contribution to Knowledge: In scope and general quality, the thesis, in its present form, is inadequate for a Ph.D. degree in Yorùbá. It makes little (if any) contribution to knowledge in Yorùbá studies. To bring it up to an acceptable standard, among other things, the title has to be expanded to include, for instance, other narrative techniques. The candidate needs to demonstrate an appreciable knowledge of his chosen theoretical framework. There has to be a chapter on the review of related literature. He needs to show an in-depth knowledge of the entire work through a serious study and presentation of relevant and current bibliography.

From these comments, it is clear that the supervisor has a share in the shortcoming of the thesis. He should have advised the student on most of the points raised by the external examiner.

2.2.2   The Examiners

The major problem with the examiners is that (apart form the external examiner, the chief examiner and the other examiners from the Department) they are often not experts in Yorùbá. Although they can speak the language, they find it very difficult to read it. In addition, only examiners from the Department of English and those from the Department of Foreign Languages are linguists or literary critics. Others are chosen because they have expertise in an area of study on which the candidate has written his thesis.

To help this set of examiners, as we have stated earlier, an abstract of the thesis written in English is provided. The examiners are also free to interview the candidate either in Yorùbá or in English. The candidate also has to provide English glossaries for words used from the Yorùbá metalanguage. The glossaries should be in English/Yorùbá and Yorùbá/English. The following are examples:

Yorùbá ọ̀rọ̀- atọ́kùn ọ̀rọ̀-ìṣe ọ̀rọ̀-orúkọ	English preposition verb noun
English preposition verb noun	Yorùbá ọ̀rọ̀-atọ́kùnọ̀rọ̀-ìṣe ọ̀rọ̀-orúkọ

This will enable the examiner to know the English translation of the Yorùbá metalanguage used in the work. The candidate is also expected to explain all the abbreviated words used in the work. For instance, it is not enough for the candidate to explain that a.b.b.l. means àti bẹ́ẹ̀ bẹ́ẹ̀ 1ọ, he should also let the reader know that it stands for, etc.

The problem that we noticed, while some of these students were being examined in English by examiners from other Departments, was that they could not express themselves in good English, despite the fact that they made good grades in their G.C.E. English language examination. What we have done to help this situation is the opposite of what was done at the University of Ibadan in the late 60’s and early 70’s. The practice then was that, although the students were asked to answer questions on Yorùbá language in English, they were expected to answer a compulsory question in the Yorùbá language.

At Obafemi Awolowo University, Yorùbá is used as the medium in teaching Yorùbá but the students may be asked to answer a compulsory question on Yorùbá in English. Because the students know that they may be asked to answer such a question in English, they make sure that they read works written on Yorùbá in English. Apart from this, students are also required to take some compulsory courses from the Department of English.

On my own part, I have compiled a bibliography of some of the theses and dissertations written on the language to let students know how much work has been done on the language. I have also started compiling a Dictionary of Yorùbá Phonology and Grammar, which will also be useful to the students. At the same time, I have started using the indigenous sources in teaching the students linguistics. I summarized this in a paper, entitled, "How do I Teach Them Linguistics?"

REFERENCES

Adewole, L. O. (1987). The Yoruba Published Works and Doctoral Dissertations, 1943-1986 (African Linguistics Bibliographies 3), edited by Franz Rottland and Rainer Vossen. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.

Adewole, L. O. (1992a). ‘"Long Essays and Dissertation at the Department of African Languages and Literatures, OAU, Ife, Nigeria", Research in Yorubd Language and Literature 2:86-94.

Adewole, L. O. (1992b). "Long Essays and Dissertations at the Department of Linguistics and African Languages University of Ibadan, Nigeria", Research in Yorubd Language and Literature 3:110-125.

Adewole, L. O. (1999). "How do I Teach Them Linguistics?". Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 58.

Adewole, L. O. (in preparation). "A Dictionary of Yorùbá Phonology and Grammar".

Anon. (1956). Notes on Grammatical and Scientific Terminology in the Yorùbá Language. Ibadan, Nigeria: Government Printer, Western Region.

Awobuluyi, O. (1989) (ed.). Yoruba Metalanguage II, NERDC.

Bamgbose, A. (1969). "Yorùbá Studies Today", Odu A Journal of West African Studies, NS 1:85-100.

Bamgbose, A. (1984). Yoruba Metalanguage. Lagos: NERDC.

Coulson, J; C. T. Carr, L. Hutchinson and Eagle D. (ed.) (1975). The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary. London: Book Club Associates.

Delano, I. O. (1958). Atumo Ede Yoruba. London: OUP.

APPENDIX

Theses and Dissertations at the Department of African Languages and Literatures, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Nigeria

M. A. Dissertation

1979/80 Session

Ajamu Oluokun, ‘Noun and Nominalisation in Yorùbá’.

Akinyele, F. B. A., ‘Ojija Chants in Ekiti’.

Bolorunduro, H. M. ‘The System of Tense and Aspect in Yorùbá: A Critical Analysis’.Olowookere, T., ‘Negation in Yorùbá’.

 Olowookere, T., ‘Negation in Yorùbá’.

Odetokun, A. ‘The Yorùbá Adverbial Clauses’.

Olagbemi, B.T.,’The Disc Poetry of Ọlatunbọsun Ọladapọ’.

1980/81 Session

Oginni, A. A. ‘Ewì àti Orin Obòkun (Obokun Poetry and Songs).

1981/82 Session

Adebajo, O.    ‘Ewì Ìwòyí lórí Rédíò’.    ( Modern Poetry on the Radio).

Folorunso, A. ‘Àyẹ̀wò Ewì Àbáláyé nínú Eré Onítàn’. (A Critical Analysis of Traditional Poetry in Yorùbá Plays).

1983/84 Session

Agbaje, J. B. ‘Ọgbọ́n Asọ̀tàn nínú Ìwé Ìtàn Àròsọ Ọdúnjọ’. (Prose Writing Methods Used by Odunjo in his Novels).

Ajayi, W. B., ‘Oríkì Orílẹ̀ Àwọn Ọba Aládé Àríwá ní Ìpínlẹ Oǹdó (The lineage of Crowned Kings in the Northern Part of the Ondo State (of Nigeria)).

Opefeyitimi, A., ‘Ìwúre’. (Supplication).

1985/86 Session

Adeleke, E. A. ‘Àgbéyẹ̀wò Ìbágbàmu Àwọn Ìwé Eré-Oníṣe Adébáyọ̀ Fálétí. (The Present Relevance of Adebayo Faleti’s Plays).

Fagborun, J. G. , ‘Wúnrẹ̀n Onítumọ̀ Gírámà nínú Èdè Yorùbá’. (Yorùbá Function Words).

1986/87 Session

Akinyemi, A., ‘D. A. Obasá (1927-1945): Akéwì Aláròjinlẹ̀’. (D. A. Obasa (1927-1945): A Philosopher Poet).

Awotayo, A. ‘Ewì Àtẹnudẹ́nu láàrin Ìgbómìnà.’ (Oral Poetry among the Igbomina).

Raji, S. M., ‘Orin Ọtẹ̀’. (Songs of Conspiracy).

1988/89 Session

Olufajo, A.G. ‘Ìwà Ọ̀daràn nínú Ìtàn Ọ̀tẹlẹ̀múyẹ́ Yorùbá’ (Crimes in Yorùbá Detective Novels).

Owolabi, O. I. ‘Àṣà àti Ìyípadà nínú Ìwé Eré Oníṣe Onítàn Yorùbá Mẹ́ta’. (Tradition, Authority and Change in Three Yorùbá Historical Plays).

Sheba, J. O. ‘Orin Arẹṃ ní Àárín Ifẹ̀ àti Ìjèṣa.’ (Lullabies among the Ifẹ and the Ijeṣa).

1991/92 Session

Ogunwale, J. A. ‘Àyẹ̀wò Àwọn Afọ̀ Onítumọ̀ Pọ́nna nínú àwọn Ìwé Kan nínú Èdè Yorùbá’. (The Study of Ambiguities in Some Yorùbá Literary Texts).

1994/95 Session

Aboderin, O. A. ‘Ọ̀nà Ìṣẹ̀dá Gbólóhùn Ìbéèrè nínú Èdè Yorùbá’. (The Derivation of Yorùbá Interrogative Sentences).

1995/96 Session

Odejobi, C. O. ‘Ìhun Orin Èébú ní Ẹkùn Ifẹ̀.’ (The Structure of Vituperative Songs in Ife Division).

1996/97 Session

Ajakaye, F. A. ‘Ìwúlò Orin láwùjọ Àkúrẹ́’. (The Functions of Songs among the Akure People).

Ajibade, G. O. Ẹ̀sìn nínú Eré-Oníṣe Ìgbàlódé Yorùbá. (Religion in Moden Yorùbá Drama).

Faturoti, O. R. Àyẹ̀wò Ipa tí Ọlọ́pàá Kó nínú Ìwé Ìtàn Àròsọ Yorùbá. (The Assessment of the Roles of the Police in Yorùbá Novels).

Olowookere, F. A. Ìṣọwọ́lèdè nínú Ìwé Yorùbá Onítàn Akọni. (Stylistic Features in Yorùbá Heroic Narrative Poetry Texts).

1997/98 Session

Fabunmi, F. A. ‘Àsìkò, Ibá-ìṣẹ̀lẹ̀ ati Ojúṣe nínú Ẹ̀ka-Èdè Ìjèṣà’. (Tense, Aspect and Modal Systems in Ijeṣa Dialect).

Salawu, A. S. ‘Ìyísódì nínú Ẹ̀ka-Èdè Èkìtì’. (Negation in Ekiti Dialect).

Ph.D Theses

1991/92 Session

Adebajo, O. ‘Àgbéyẹ̀wò Iṣẹ́ Àwọn Asíwájú Òǹkọ̀wé Yorùbá láti Ọdún 1948 sí Ọdún 1984’. (The Early Yorùbá Writers from 1948 to 1984).

Akinyemi, A. ‘Ìlò Oríkì láwùjọ Ọ̀yọ́’. (The Ọyọ Example of the Use of Oriki).

1993/94 Session

Ajayi, W. B. ‘Ìyánrọfẹ́ẹ́rẹ́ nínú Oríkì Orílẹ̀ Àsàyàn Àwọn Ọba Aládé Èkìtì’. (Allusion in the Lineage Poetry of Selected Crowned Obas of Ekiti).

1994/95 Session

Olufajo, A.G. ‘Ìṣẹ̀fẹ̀ nínú Eré Onítàn Àpilẹ̀kọ Yorùbá’. (Satire in Selected Yorùbá Written Plays).

1995/96 Session

Sheba, J.O. ‘Ìfojú Èrò Ìṣègbèfábo Ṣàtúpalẹ̀ Iṣẹ́ Àsàyàn Òǹkọ̀wékùnrin Yorùbá’. (A Feminist Study of the Works of Selected Male Writers).

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[1] An earlier version of this paper was published as L.O. Adewole (2002), ‘Writing a Thesis in Yorùbá’, in Harmonization and Standardization of Nigerian Languages: CASAS Book Series No 19, edited by F.O. Egbokhare and S.O. Oyetade, pp. 87-100. Cape Town: The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS).