POLYONOMASIA AS A STYLISTIC AND COMMUNICATIVE DEVICE IN YORÙBÁ POETRY

Níyì Ọládèjì[1]

 

A rose by any other name does not smell as sweet, and when we turn to names proper, proper names in fact - one’s first name, surname, the name of home town or even suburban house – well we don’t like people to get them wrong.” (Quirk, 1974: 118).

 

I.       Preamble

         

          Much, though not too much, work has been done by way of studying the intricacies of the styles of the many genres of Yorùbá poetry. However, no work, that I know of, exists on the use of polyonomasia as a stylistic device in Yorùbá poetry. Yet, as I hope to prove later on in this paper, polyonomasia, which may be described as the assignment of various names to characters for the purpose of establishing the linguistic perspectivism of the creator of a text, has a pervading presence in many Yorùbá poetic texts. Commenting on the incidence of polyonomasia in Cervantes Don Quijote , Spitzer (1946:156) opines that:

 

perhaps a linguistic analysis of the names can carry us further towards the center, allowing us to catch a glimpse of the general attitude of the creator of the novel towards his characters. This creator must see that the world, as it is offered to man, is susceptible of many explanations, just as names are susceptible of many etymologies: individuals may be deluded by perspectives according to which they see the world as well as the etymological connections which they establish.

 

          In most cultures of the world, names and their etymological antecedents are serious affairs. Even in the Caucasian cultures, that are popularly, but perhaps erroneously, believed to be nonchalant on the issue of names, evidence abounds to prove that during the middle ages, the importance of names was clearly recognized in these cultures. Quite contrary to popular belief that the English care very little for the name they bear; it is asserted in the preface to BBC Pronuncing Dictionary of English Names that, a name is “A matter of vital moment to those closely and often emotively concerned with it, and unfavourable reaction to a mispronunciation is immediate”.

          Among the Yorùbá, names and their etymologies are of crucial importance. It is believed that a man’s destiny may be conditioned and consequently determined by his names, the meanings that they have and the associations they conjure in the minds of the users, hence, the saying “orúkọ ọmọ níí ro ọmọ” --- “a child’s name conditions his behavoiour”. An Ìlọ́rin Pàkenke singer once caused consternation among families that have Láwọ̀ọ́kí  as one of their praise-names when, playing on the literal translation of the name, he warned people not to make the mistake of giving Láwọ̀ọ́kí as name to any of their children:

 

                                      Ẹ dákun o

                                      Bẹ́ẹ bá bímọ

                                      Ẹ máà sọ ọ́ ní Láwọ̀ọ́kí

                                      Bẹ́ ẹ bá sọ ọ́ ní Láwọ̀ọ́kí

                                      Bí Ṣàngó kò bá pa á

                                      Odò ni yóò gbé e lọ.

 

                                      (I want to implore you

                                      When you have a child

                                      Don’t name him Láwọ̀ọ́kí

                                      If you name him Láwọ̀ọ́kí

                                      He will either be killed by lightning

                                      Or he’ll drown in a river.)

 

This is the reason why polyonomasia plays this impressive number of roles in Yorùbá poetry: (a) establishment of themes; (b) enhancing character delineation; (c) establishment of the creator’s perspectivism; and (d) functioning in the stylistic grid of a poetic texts for the purposes of rhythm, euphony and memorability.

 

II       An Analysis of Polyonomasia

          The richest mine of information for illustrations of the uses of polyonomasia is the Yorùbá praise-poetry. In this poetic genre, polyonomasia serves, among other purposes, the purpose of offering edifying ideal possibilities in the behaviour or destinies of the subjects of praise and bringing to the fore deterministic historical realities in the pedigree of such subjects of praise as illustrated in this excerpt:

 

          Ọmọ Ejijẹ́nní, ọmọ Àkúyà, ọmọ ọlọ́kọ́ irin, àwòrò tí ńbẹ lọ́na t’Ẹpẹ ……….  Ọrọ Ẹ̀gbá l’Áké, Ọládòkun ẹ̀jẹ̀ tututu l’ẹ́nu ẹṣin Ìpẹ̀sán eji àárọ̀ Ahúlẹ̀húwó olójì ẹwà Eji jẹ́nláre’ àgbẹ̀dẹ, Eji jénná, ‘m’ ọlódóy’akin Àgbẹ̀dẹ abọwọ́ọ̀múfaafìkì ti ńbẹ l’ọ́nà ti Ìré.

(Babalọlá 1966:73)

 

“Offspring of Ejijẹnni, Offspring of Akuya, Offspring of owner-of-iron-hoe, aworo who lives near Ẹpẹ ………… Friend of the Ẹgba of Ake, Ọladokun the bloody foam of a horse’s mouth Ipesan, the early morning rain Ahuleluwo owner of forty good looks Ejijenlarel’agbede, Eji jenna, Offspring of the heroic mortar Blacksmith, owner of magic hands of Ire fame.”

 

In the text, the object of praise is a friend of the poetry chanter named Ọladokun. Polyonomasia is brought to play when the following nine names, àwòrò,  Ìpèsán, oji àárọ̀, Ahulehuwo, oloji ewa, ejijẹnlarel’agbede Eji jenna, Agbede, abowoemufaafiki are given to the same man with the resultant effect that his personality, willy nilly, dominates the landscape of the text. The names are not picked or created at random: they are designed to foreground aspects of the subjects’s character, physical capabilities and accomplishments: eji aaro  --> (early morning drizzling rain) is designed to portray the man as being benevolent and effective; Ahúlẹ̀húwó –> “One who finds money wherever he digs on the ground” emphasizes the fact that he is wealthy; Olójì ẹwà  --> “owner of forty good looks”  highlights his personal attractiveness; àgbẹ̀dẹ and abowoemufaafiki  point to his professional excellence as a blacksmith; Ejijẹnlarelagbẹdẹ  and ejijẹnna  are more or less untranslatable exotical designed to invest him with an aura of mystery. The subject’s impressive pedigree is highlighted by the fact that four of his forebears, with impressive and exotic-sounding names, are listed.

 

The rhythm of Yorùbá praise-poetry depends, to a very large extent, on the balancement of the tonal of forty good looksthat he is patterns in succeeding lines. Different stylistic devices are used to achieve this balancement. One of them is polyonomasia. Names, real, or created for the purpose of tonal balancement are located at strategic intra-lineal and inter-lineal locations as is evident in this sequence:

- - arúnngi-mọ́-ìyáálé-ọ̀bọ - ní - ẹnu ońwàrẹ́, agbégegepàdóòwò Onkòyí –Olá - - -

                                      (Babalọlá, 1966:65)

The tonal pattern of these three lines is:

                   MHMHLHHHLMHMM

                   MHLHMHMMLHLL

                   MHLHMH

It should be noted that the tonal pattern that emerges show the first line ending in two middle-tone syllables the second line ending with two low-tone carrying syllables and the third ending one midtone carrying syllable and one high-tone carrying syllable.

 

          In every culture, repetition is a popular stylistic device in oral or written poetry. This repetition may involve intra-lineal duplication of identical sounds or inter-lineal duplication of some specific phonemes. Polyonomasia is used for a similar purpose as is illustrated by this excerpt:

                             B’ọ́fọ̀ọ s’Ajerò kó K’Ájerò níwọ̀fà

                             .  .  .  .  . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

                             Ṣùgbọ́n ikú p’alárá ó k’Álárá  lẹ́rú

                             Ikú p’Ajerò  ó k’Ájerò níwọ̀fa.

                                                                   (Ọládàpọ̀, 1977:123)

 

(If misfortune strikes Ajero, and Ajero goes into slavery

But death killed Alara and captured Alara

 Death killed Ajero and led Ajero to captivity).

 

The euphonic effect that the lines have would have been nonexistent if, instead of the repetition of Ajero and Alara intralineally, pronouns have been used instead.

         

Sometimes polyonomasia takes the form of multiplication of different versions of the same name. In a poem dedicated to the memory of the late President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the poet, Ọlatunbọsun Ọladapọ (977:91), used the following names or epithets in reference to the late president:  A-j’órúkọ-tíyàá-ò-s’ọmọ, Nkrumah, àbàtìàlàpà, Kwame, Akọ-ẹmó, Gbógungbórò, A-dóminú-pojo, dáyàjinmọgìrì, Akọ-ẹdun. The surname Nkrumah itself features fifteen times in the 146-line poem. The result is a firm impression of a larger-than-life image of President Nkrumah on the reader’s psyche and a clear identification of the poet’s perspectivism in regard to the object of his praise.

          Perhaps the most remarkable use of polyonomasia is to be found in two oral poems contained in stereophonic records waxed by the famous Yorùbá band and oral poet, Ogundare Fọyanmu, entitled “Oríkì Olodumare” and “Oríkì Ọmọ”.

 

          “Oríkì Ọmọ” is a tribute to the procreation proclivities of the Yorùbá and the high pedestal that the possession of children is placed in the hierarchy of a Yorùbá man’s socio-cultural achievement scale. He weaves more than five hundred names into his poem, with all the names starting with Ọmọ,  the Yorùbá word for child thus:

 

Ọmọwúmí, Ọmọladé, Ọmọlàbákẹ́, Ọmọ́tọ́là, Ọmọlolú, Ọmọ́tómi, Ọmọgbèmí, Ọmọtorera, Ọmọ́sápamọ́, Ọmọ́táyọ̀, Ọmọtóyìí, Ọmọtọ́sọ̀ọ́, Ọmọdélé, Ọmọwáare, Ọmọyẹni, Ọmọlọlá, Ọmọdoyin, Ọmọwálé, Ọmọjọlà, Ọmọtóókẹ́, Ọmọlamí, Ọmọgbénlé, Ọmọdíjí. Ọmọkẹ́hìndé, Ọmọsaléwá, Ọmọgbémigba, etc.

 

At the end of listening to this cascading list of names, the listener is overwhelmed by a sense of awe for the deep commitment of the Yorùbá man to the procreation of his race and manifested by his equation of the ultimate in the good life with the raising of children. The stylistic device of thematization of the word ọmọ serves the dual purpose of enhancing the theme of the poem and producing the regular rhythm which gives the poem its euphonic excellence and inherent memorability.

          The Yorùbá are a people with a fierce pride in the achievements of their ancestors and primogenitors. This explains why, in their oral written literature, they are fascinated by polyetymologia which in turn brings into play the phenomenon known as polyonomasia. In their concern for the two phenomena, the Yorùbá are not alone. Leo Spitzer (1946:155) reports that:

 

.  .  . in the New Testament, a  tendency appears which will have great influence on medieval chivalry: the change of name subsequent to baptism will be imitated by the change of name undergone by the newly dubbed knight. In all these sacred (or sacramental) names or changes of names, etymology plays a large part, because the true meaning (the etymon) may reveal eternal varieties latent in words – indeed it was possible for many etymologies to be proposed for the same word, since God may have deposited different meanings in a single term: polyonomasia or polyetymology.

 

         

                             References

Babalọlá, Adébóyè (1977), Àwọn Oríkì Orílẹ̀. London: Collins.

 

Ọladapọ, Ọlátunbọ̀sún (1977), Àròyé Akéwì. Ibàdàn: Oníbọnòjé.

 

Quirk, Randolph (1974), The Linguist and the English Language.  London: Arnold Edward.

 

Speucer, Leo (1946) “Linguistic perspectivism in the ‘Don Quijote’” in Essays in Stylistic Analysis, edited by Howard S. Babb. New York: Harcourt Brace.

 

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[1] This paper was published as Oladeji, Niyi (1989), ‘POLYONOMASIA AS A STYLISTIC AND COMMUNICATIVE DEVICE IN YORÙBÁ POETRY’, Seminar Series 2 edited by T.M. Ilesanmi, L.O. Adewole and B.A Oyetade. Ile-Ife: Department of African Languages and Literatures, Ọbafemi Awolowo University.