Metaphor of Time in Ebenezer Obey Songs: A Pragmatic Analysis
Date
2016
Authors
Sobola, E.
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos
Abstract
Music is an agent of socialisation which portrays cultural heritage of a group of people through the use of language that reflects philosophical thought, social and linguistic background of a group of people in a figurative manner one of which is metaphor. Indigenous music is a product of society endowed with the capacity to portray the social, political, economic, religious, ideological and philosophical identity of society not in a simple language, but complex and at the same time figurative especially metaphorical language. Ebenezer Obey is renowned for the philosophical nature of his songs filled with moral lessons. In this paper, the use of metaphor of time is explored in two of Ebenezer Obey’s songs: Igba Owuro Lawa and Aimasiko using the theory of pragmatics which studies meaning in context. The research shows that metaphor of time in the songs projects human life span as a day; time is the determiner of human life; clock is the time keeper of human life, and that night is more valuable than morning in the clock of life.
Description
Keywords
metaphor, metaphor of time, song, Ebenezer Obey, pragmatics, life