METAPHORICAL ROLE OF DOG (NKỊTA) AMONG THE IGBO

Abstract

Dog is a common domestic animal among the Igbo. People rear dog for varied reasons: guarding the house and the owner, hunting, searching for something, commercialisation (rearing it for sale) and recently serves as a pet to some people. Proverbs among the Igbo are not merely linguistic embellishments, but vital instrument of communication, moral instruction, and collective memory. There are many proverbs associated with animals, dog inclusive. This study examines the metaphorical role of dogs (nkịta) in Igbo proverbs, highlighting how the animal serves as a cultural mirror for human behavior, values, and social expectations. The data for the study were collected from primary and secondary sources. For primary source, 32 elderly people were interviewed (who were between the ages of 56 and 81). Some proverbs were also extracted from published materials: Ubesie (1973), Achebe (1987), and Onwudufor (2013). The total of twenty-five (25) proverbs associated with dogs formed the corpus for this study. The study employed Conceptual Metaphor Theory which was developed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980) to examine how the characteristics associated with dog are mapped onto human experiences and social realities in Igbo society. The results reveal that the Igbo use dog as a source domain for teaching about the society, power, character, abuse of social system when there is no control. The findings reveal the belief that over-familiarity breeds contempt, as well as the fact that society judges visible wrong doing, and suppression or elimination of opposition before performing harmful act. The study further reveals that the proverbs mirrored some social values perform by human beings: wisdom in knowing when to refuse or reject unreasonable demand, ignoring warning can lead to downfall, and that age and wisdom are important in making key life decisions. The study concludes that proverbs associated with dog function as a powerful conceptual metaphor for both positive and negative human qualities.