A Socio-critical Discourse Study of Select Proverbs in a Nigerian Nollywood Movie, The King of Boys

Abstract

This present study focused on socio-critical discourse study of proverbs in a Nigerian nollywood movie. Proverbs play significant roles in Nigerian culture and are widely used in different forms of communication. Shedding light on the cultural, linguistic and social functions of Nigerian proverbs, the study identified proverbs used in the Nollywood movie selected for analysis. It determined how proverbs contribute to meaning making and their broader implications for cultural understanding. This was done with the view to showing how S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G, an acronym in ethnography of communication can be used to reveal meanings of proverbs. The data for this study were selected from The King of Boys, a Nigerian Nollywood movie produced by Kemi Adetiba. It employed both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary source included seven (7) proverbs selected from The King of Boys. The secondary source included books, journal articles and the Internet. The data were analysed using Dell Hyme’s ethnography of communication’s acronym, S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G (1974). Findings showed that proverbs were used to serve multiple functions in the movie including demeaning, discrediting and slurring characters. Also, some of the proverbs portrayed values such as patience, strategic thinking and meticulous planning. The study, therefore, concluded that proverbs are significant in African culture and are not only used for entertainment but used to critique social norms, power structure and shape identity.