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WWJMRD 2017; 3(9): 40-47 www.wwjmrd.com International Journal Peer Reviewed Journal Refereed Journal Indexed Journal UGC Approved Journal Impact Factor MJIF: 4.25 e-ISSN: 2454-6615

Bulus Wayar

Department Of English, Gombe State University, Nigeria

Correspondence: Bulus Wayar

Department Of English, Gombe State University, Nigeria

Adjectives and Adverbs: Metamorphoses of Genre of

Tangale Dirges

Bulus Wayar

Abstract

Dirges still flourish in Tangale traditions however with modified forms and conventions, but retain old expression modes as the singers still express praise and recalling the deceased history, deeds, and acceptance of the inevitable death. To arrive at this claim, 200 hundred questionnaires were distributed across length and breadth of the Tangale Kingdom of the northern Nigeria. Another instrument employed was observation. The researcher engaged in a non-participant observation in which certain cultural trends were noticed and jotted down which formed the bases of the paper. Similarly, interviews constituted a great part of the data. The results indicated that some of the dirges have conventionalized styles, language, themes and address systems as some of the lamentations were embellished by reference to the dead. This was conveyed through simple, but rather repetitive with particular insistent rhythms. The mourners trilled in melodious voices and conveyed the impression of being deeply affected by departed souls. The emotions were expressed often sorrowful, yet courageous to complete the task. The major findings revealed that Tangale dirges were very much affected by contacts with Christianity. This was reflected in the incessant reference to God/ Jesus in some of the dirges.

Keywords: dirges, cultures, traditions, praise, lamentation, genre

Introduction

This paper is based on obvious sources. The goal is to provoke a further research on new dynamics of dirges in Tangale kingdom of the northern Nigeria. This study focuses on adjective and adverb types in dirges of Tangle language – language spoken by a minority group in northern Nigeria. The study tries to uncover the genre of oral literature, specifically dirges with regard to the use of two content words: adverbs and adjectives. These content words play crucial roles in the grammar and semantics of English as they are used to unveil the functions of nouns and verbs. For instance, adjectives modify nouns and pronouns while adverbs modify both adjective and verbs. In other words, these words modify, describe tones, feelings and emotions, since dirges are outburst of emotions, they are to be adjectival or adverbial. However, this does not mean that all dirges must contain adjectives or adverbs. When they are used in dirges, they give more meaning to what is being said about the deceased, the new world s/he will meet. It can also be part of far more complex constructions as well as pre-modifying nouns in which case, they have what is called attributive function. They can also post-modify nouns using intensifiers e.g. “very nice person”, the intensifier is placed after the adjective “nice”. By this, adjectives help the reader/listener to see, feel, taste, and perceive all the experience read/heard.

On the other hand, adverbs describe verbs, modify adjectives and other adverbs, unlike adjectives, they do not modify nouns. Adverbs can also modify phrases, clauses and sentences and they answer the following questions: when, why, how, under what condition, and under what extent. Basically, there are five types of adverbs in English: adverb of time, place, degree, manner and frequency.

The term,’ genre’ comes from the Latin word, ‘genus’ which means ‘kind’ or ‘class’. A genre might be described as a type or category, defined by structural, thematic or functional criteria. Genre classification is always subjective with regard to the individual cultural environment. For this discussion, a song genre can be considered as a specific class of song

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with common properties that the listener can distinguish it from many other songs. Furthermore, specific genres tend to be easy recognized intuitively but difficult if not impossible to define. However, particular features which are typical characteristics of a genre are not only unique to it; it is their relative prominence, combination and functions which are distinctive. Based on the ongoing, dirge is a song genre which is an outburst of emotions, and emotions are mostly expressed using words as songs rendered in a form of a hymn, and/or lamentation. They are sung at funerals or provide a memorial service to the deceased. The slow, solemn and mournful aspects of dirges make them no surprise that they would be so commonly associated with funerals. These thematic and functions of dirges are some of the distinguishing features are some of the things which set dirges apart from songs such as ballads, lullabies, etc.

Tangale beliefs

Traditionally, the Tangle people beliefs are characterized by certain religious practices which include the existence of a supreme being, such as God, Yamba and other deities which influence their daily conducts. Some of the people believe that Yamba is the Supreme Being, all-powerful, creator of the Heavens and Earth and of all things therein. He is benevolent, omnipresent and hearkens to the prayers of the people. There are four intermediaries through which the Tangale people communicate with ‘Yamba’, these divinities carry their prayers to the Almighty God. The divinities are: Yekku, Tangra, Wampimana and SadakuYamba. Like in all traditions, Tangle people generally believe that death is an inevitable end of all existence. It is the complete end to every living creature, and the dead is bound to join their ancestors and another life continuous. This is the new belief precipitated by Christianity. Meanwhile, before the coming of Christianity, the death of a child or youth was questionable as they believed that only the old people were supposed to die. Whenever a child or young person died, three old men would carry a calabash containing guinea corn to a rock called Pandi Billiri and offer it as a sacrifice and prayers were offered to the ancestor so as to punish whoever was responsible.

Tangle people believe that there is life after death through incarnation as life continues believe since the dead can appear in a different town or village to start life afresh and peradventure someone who knnows him/her saw the so – called deceased and recognised him/her, the supposed dead would disappear and return to the world of the dead. Traditionally, the corpse whether of a young or an old person was not kept too long especially if the body was badly battered (as in the case of accident); s/he was instantly buried to avoid decomposition. However, for some reasons, Tangle people did keep a corpse for two or more days, placing the body on wet sand after embalming with chaps rubbed on the whole body. After this was done, dirges or lamentations were rendered as the corpse is being conveyed to the grave.

Statement of the problem

The problem at stake in this study is that most Tangle youth by extension, Tangle people tend to regard the performance of oral poetry (dirge) as routine, which is done in order to bid the dead farewell. Beyond this function, dirges have

nothing to offer to the society and the country. As a result of this, some communities are replacing dirge performance with foreign funeral rites as a result of the influences from the Christianity and Islam, and western lifestyles. This researcher has undertaken this study in an effort to offer the significance of Tangle dirges and the role of adverbs and adjectives in the dirges. This paper argues that dirges are folklores which are used to preserve traditions since they involve the use of language.

Methodology

This study was anthropological in that it was based on fieldwork observations, interviews, and interactive approaches. These methods were quite productive and aid in yielding the required results. For instance, the researcher engaged old people in different locations in unstructured interviews where the subjects provided valuable answers to most of the questions. This technique was successful due to the use of a recording device. Furthermore, observations were crucial aspects of the data collection since the researcher attended some funerals and watched how dirges were sung and cultural practice which was impossible to record, hence the use of the jotted down substance on papers and their meanings were transcribed into their written equivalences. To successfully carryout this noble task, the service of a Researcher Assistant was sought for. Similarly, old, but educated residents of Billiri, Kaltugo and Shomgom rendered invaluable assistance to the researcher especially in the areas of translation, interpretations and historic findings concerning the respondents.

Theoretical Frame work

(Dorson, 1972) provides twelve approaches to the study of folklore and was developed by (Alembi, 2002). These approaches are historical-geographical, historical-reconstruction, ideological, functional, psychological, structural, oral-formulaic, cross-cultural, folk-cultural, mass-cultural, hemispheric and contextual. A historical-geographical approach is one of the most influential, historically-oriented approaches. The historic-geographic

or Finnish method which attempted to trace an item back to its original geographical origin and original structural form was crucial. On the other hand, ideological approach is the manipulation of folklore for purposes of real politic in the twentieth century that derives from the romantic nationalisms of the ninetieth century. As (Alembi, 2002:12) argues that folklorereflected the real life of the people in their struggle against the tsars, clergy, and landowners…” The psychological approach of folklore is only being enthusiastically embraced by a small number of folklorists, but it is one of the most interesting contemporary methods of analysis. The structural analysis of folklore seeks to uncover basic patterns or structural units that fit together to form a particular item, in much the same way that a scientist might search for the building blocks that compose various types of matter.

Among these approaches, the researcher used the functional approach and contextual approach to examine funeral dirges.

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the concepts of “verbal behaviour” from linguistics, “functionalism” from anthropology and linguistics, “ego mechanisms” from psychology and applied them in the study of folklore. The contextual approach shares some features with the functional approach since they both focus on functions of folklore in a socio-cultural setting in a society. It calls attention to the function of a folkloric form in its context of use. Thus, folklorists search for not only text, but also context (Dorson, 1972); (Finnegan, 1992).

Literature Review

(Hofherr and Matushansky, 2010) argue that an adjective can be found in all languages. Adjectives can be classified into two types in terms of syntax: attributive adjectives and predicative adjectives. Attributive adjectives directly modify a noun while predicative adjectives appear after the verb. They also dicuss how adjectives feature “property in semantic class and modification in pragmatic function” in terms of syntatic categories. Similarly, (Feist, 2012) classifies the descriptive meaning of adjectives in two types: perceptual and conceptual. Feist(ibid) defines the perceptual meaning as approximating sense perception (as in red balloon ) or perception of the mind’s own state”, being comparatively far from perception (as in elementory). Fashion-related terms are classified as having a perceptual meaning as they are subjective. Adjectives function as modifiers for specification, gradation and quantification of a sort that is consistent with opinion. Shaban and Albanian linguist in “ Gramatikae Gjuhe’sShquipe: (Morfologia 2001) define adverbs as closed parts of speech that name features an action or a state, circumstances in which an action is proved to take place, or shows the degree of a class or the intensity of an action. Similarly, Haredin in “(Morfologji e Gjuhes Shqipe, 2001) defines adverbs as closed part of speech that do not change and are usually connected with the verb, adjective and another adverb. Very seldom, the adverb is connected with noun or pronoun. The adverb is closely connected with adjective because semantically, it shows a feature or a class and grammatically, it has the category of degree which is a characteristic only of these two parts of speech. This is to say that adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, another adverbs, determiners, nouns phrases, clauses or sentences.

(Jackendoff & Ernst, 2002) reviewed that speaker oriented adverbs indicate the narrators perspective in text and subject oriented adverbs indicate the narrators perspective and subject oriented adverbs indicate the perspective of the grammatical subject. Although both types can occur in the same sentence position, the difference depend on narrators intends and situation.

Dirges Overview

Dirge which is sometimes referred to as elegy, a requiem, funeral lament, chant or songs has a history that dates back to ancient times. It is a genre whose performance has gone through many metamorphoses. (Cuddon, 1998:227) referred to a dirge:

A dirge is a song of lament, usually of a lyrical mood. The name derives from the beginning of the Office of the Dead: Dirge, Dominie… Direct, O Lord… As a literary genre, it comes from the Greek epicedium, which was a mourning song over the dead and a threnody sung in memory of the dead. In Roman funeral processions, a song of praise for the departed was chanted….

Dirge is a term that is closely related to death. It has nothing to do with a particular metre, which must be used though it seems to abound in the lyrical form in most literature in the world. The composition of dirges is shorter, less formal, and is usually composed as a text to be sung. Similarly, (Akporobaro, 2001) defines funeral dirges as a highly stylistic form of expression that is governed by specific poetic conventions used to express the feelings of the mourners in a determinate form and performance procedure. (Ohwovoriole, 2006) states that dirges are poems, chants, recitations or songs of lamentation expressing sorrow at the loss and exaltation of the virtues of the deceased. A dirge will usually insinuate the causes of death and the suspected villains. Ohwovoriole (ibid) also notes that dirges are sung by women mourners because they involve wailing, sobbing and weeping and make them paricularly suitable for women as the women folks are seen as weaker than their male counterparts who can freely express themselves emotionally in the public. (Megbaru, 2009) categorized dirges under five thoughts: the deceased, death, God, socio-political issues and other reactions to bereavement. Similarly, (Teka, 2009) revealed that the people of Tigray use poetry to lament a dead person, to protest against tyrant leaders and to express emotional grief. Furthermore, (Apronti, 2007) looked at the structural unity in the Akan dirge using some of Nketia‟s dirges as the basis. According to Apronti, Akan dirges are concerned with a particular topic which is death, and they generally draw their vocabularies from a set field help such dirges to evince coherence of theme and of subject, internal devices such as repetition and parallelism further help in unifying the Akan dirge structurally.

While so much has been done on dirges in different parts of Africa, mention must also be made of the impact of Christianity, Islam, and Western lifestyles on the rendering of dirges among the Tangle, perceptions of death, their process of mourning the dead, and some values which are peculiar to them have not also been explored. These are the gaps in the study that this research seeks to fill. In short, though the deep structures or “the invariant elements,” as Levi- (Strauss, 2006: 6) would put it, are all the same for dirges all over the world, their surface phenomena or “superficial differences” are not the same. They vary from community to community, from country to country.

Discussions

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the funerals are hardly left unremembered. This is usually the case when the singers are directly affected by the loss either as a spouse, parent, or close relation. In this case, they tend to create songs with beautiful melodies using suitable patterns. While this may take time to compose. Tunes may automatically come with well inspiration to bid the departed farewell as the lament singers praise their friends, relations, clans, and account their personal experiences by exalting their virtues which may include kindness, hospitality, courage, etc. In all these, the singers’ skills are judged by onlookers usually the elders in the community. This is considered crucial in that the performers are somehow fulfilling a communal obligation which is prescribed by the tradition. While it may be a communal requirement, every Tangale woman is expected to possess some degree of competence in dirges, though some women are considered more accomplished then others in this regard. Nevertheless, every woman mourner is expected to sing or run the risk of being criticised possibly suspicion of complicity in the death of her husband. Thus, all or rather most performers are done greatly in the public and their audiences hear and admire their voices, and appearances. Demonstratively, fresh widows or/ and mothers of the deceased child/ren are all expected to be impressive in their delivery which can be noticed in vast array of glorification, swiftness and completeness of recalling vividly the life of the dead and the consequences lay ahead for the survivors.

The question of specialization remains a mirage as far this paper is concerned since apprenticeship is noticed. However, young men and women rarely participate fully at least in the singings. My interactions with some of the youth revealed an astonishing results where they told me that disfluencies in Tangale are their major challenges as many of them could not utter two or three sentences in the their mother tongue with traces of code – mixing or code – switching.

Specialized lamentations are very frequent in Tangale tradition. These songs as in ordinary dirges, are sung with stylized form, characterized by complex conventions accompanied by chants by specialists usually peers. Thus, the death of a renowned hunter, farmer, craftsman, blacksmith, etc. may attract special dirges by his fellow professionals. This may be composed in relation to the deceased only. However, there are instances where singers in this manner are rendered at other funerals. In this case, there is no particular reference to the deceased.

In royal dirges, the deceased skills or leadership qualities are mentioned. The dead is pictured as setting out on his journey and the mourners bid him farewell.

Results

The following dirges were sung by three women at the death of their husbands, although the culture explains that mothers and other relations could sing the song.

Mourners: Titi Andrew, Bome Musa and Maichibi Garba Dirges (1)

Albe!Ainabe!

Fidinna keni wayim bee, Na ya sal wulang Kanung bei? Laman tedek Kayebee? Aima! aina! Ainabee

Kwino, Sekko, meno meno kwadde bee Fidu kwakkan kude wukko teme Ai kolok kude akwaga ukko Ai ai!Meno na hadi soh? Ai meno, ai dar wulla! Wulla kulugo.

Oh! Oh! I have nowhere to go Whom will I marry?

The house is left empty

Oh! Oh! I am lost, my only husband My only husband

A male duck has fallen

Oh! Big baoba tree is down today, Oh! My lovely husband, knot of marriage Marriage has come to an end.

Above is an example of a dirge sung by a group of widows. While Titi is the widow, the other two are close relations to the deceased who sympathize with her.

There is an emotional expression through a tonal correspondence and the rhetorical questions, and the declaration; ‘I have nowhere to go’ indicates a hopeless situation precipitated by the vacuum created by the loss. The rhetorical question ‘whom will I marry? Is carefully conveyed the singer’s lonely state not only of the mind, but also emptiness. This message is passed across through the use figurative language, ‘the house’, ‘the duck’, ‘baobab tree’ and ‘the fallen tree’ all referring to the object, ‘my husband’. ‘The house’ signifies a shield against the scorching tropical sun, torrential rains and a mark of physical protection from extra marital advancement from men. Kolokakwaga (duck) is a symbol of providence for the family. Kolokakwaga can equally be translated to be a knot – instrument used to knit a building and the man’s demise signifies the collapse of the structure kept by the bond of the knot. The repetition of the exclamation, ‘oh’ indicates the singer’s emotional state of the mind ridiculed by death. The precision of reference achieved through the

use of possessive adjective, ‘my’ and the adjective of number, ‘only’ dispels any semantic vagueness and ambiguity through the devices such as metaphor and personification. The transference of a noun phrase, ‘my husband’ to other concrete objects makes the language vivid and suitable for oral productions. Similarly, adverbs and adjectives as used in the song contain some specific message of a gloomy future for the widow. For instance, in line (1) wayim (nowhere) is an adverb of place meaning ‘no place’ modifying the verb keni (enter). Furthermore, in line (4) & (5), only (kwaddai) is an attributive adjective whose function is to premodify the noun husband. ‘Only’ is a

sorrowful statement which indicates a lack of another companion. The assertion could also mean a lack leverage marriage especially if she is old. Line (3), tedekkaye

(empty) is a predicative adjective which describes the state of the house (lamana). Similarly, in line (6) kolokakwaga

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(7), big (kude) is a gradable adjective whose function is to modify the noun tree. In African traditions, great strengths are associated with size as the bigger the object, the stronger it is likely to be and vice versa. In line (8), lovely husband (mennon ni leshin), the lovely (leshin) is an

attributive adjective which modifies the noun husband. The semantic implication of the word, ‘lovely’ is that the marriage was based on affection as against material or the forceful type typically practiced among the Tangale people.

Wolo Muto sang by a widow whose Husband Who Died in a River by

Bome Saidu Age: 79 Dirge (2)

Oto meno ma’amo ko ku watu illuno takin Oh agotun pinei, dawuton wamsanan nung ba? Pobem yamba wato ku uknu,

ku woton meno mamo

An kwi nlek meno ku potuno ta pali a’mgom,

Ku monto wan ta angom tam ka ambor, ku ulak meno? Aina! Suiyo kotugo kwitam ku wato puduk mannon pinei Ku upuk angon ka ditto ka pandi ammun tunto.

Ai! tedu dikil, Woton meno mano.

Give me my husband or take me too Honey from ages, who is going to feed me?

Oh my God! Come and help me and give me my husband Take him out from the river and give me,

Leaving the one who lied on you and collapsed the pillar of my house Training your water, stay with your stones

May God give you your price

River that has been in existence for ages River dikil, give me my husband.

Above is a dirge by a widow whose husband is killed by a river. Dirges of this nature have a conventionalized form of language and the themes are usually centred on the dead and God. Also, figurative language characterizes the style as death is addressed as it was an animate object. Similarly, river assumes the attribute a living object capable of performing the act of giving her a particular property. Give me my husband; leaving the one who lies on you; the pillar of my house, etc. Besides figurative expressions, there are mimic nouns which convey the sense of idea in language which add to a vivid emotion to the recitations. In descriptive narrations, emotions are wrought upon, and pathos is stirred by this medium. The singer’s emotions are

shown in her quest to see her husband back. Thus, in line (4), tenteme (now) an adverb of time modifies the verb

give, whichshows that she wants her husband at the time of speaking, hence the command now not at a later time. In line (6), yara (pillar) is an adjective used attributively to modify the noun house. Similarly, the use of the possessive adjective my plus the head of the nominal group, husband

shows the degree of intimacy between the deceased and the widow. It also indicates that the family is monogamy. Pillar is generally a symbol of strengths that makes structures strong. In the context above, it represents the man who cared for the family.

Wolo Muto is a dirge sang by a mother whose son died

Mama Laraba Maimeli Age: 67 Dirge (3)

Ai lawon labuk yagon kaka bee? Ai ‘yagon ku bajei

Lawo yagon ku bajei ras bee Ai lawo, lawo saguka ko rembee.

Oh my child! Oh! child A fresh child

Oh! How did it happen? Oh! He was suddenly killed May a mourner mourn for me

Oh fresh child who died without enjoying the world.

Above is a lament of a lovely mother whose son died at a tender age without an heir to be remembered for. The incessant use of the emotive terms oh, the use of possessive subject, my and its objective variant me indicate that the deceased was truly the son of the mourner. This adjective form is carefully selected in order to seek for sympathy from the audience, hence the phrase, may a mourner mourn for me. Similarly, the adjective fresh in line (3) shows how young the deceased was. Furthermore, the adverb of manner suddenly in line (5) demonstrates the unexpected occurrence of the act. It can also be interpreted to mean that death is not supposed to take a young child. The

implication of the above statement is the mourner’s continued quest for relationship with the dead. The mourner expresses her sorrow and loss through a vivid description. While the expressions may look artistic, there are elements of sincerity as the mother was under a close watch by the community, for she was not only expressing her ordeal, but fulfilling the community service which she was saddled with. This is typical of most African setting. What affects the eye also touches the nose. It is this binding principle that makes other far members of the community to partake in the affairs

Wolo Muto is a dirge produced by two women at a demise of a Child by Mama Zainab Maimeli Age: 65

Mama Laraba Maimeli Age: 67 Dirge (4)

Muthunthum sajin mai kwing ta ki yellim mene na adin so Muthunthum sajin mai, aina ma yaro ka yamba

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Nung mwamo kad yelle ne ka yak merge Meruk taimo wa yanung pip

Sum tam ka nu sin womborno

Nang Ai yamba de monthuthon tam dok soloam widdi yur-yur

Monthuthon tam dok sum sing rugkuthukno Yisin pandi nan yogo ku kaddun yelli mwamo Pandi nan yogo, takin denni yeddago, mwamo ne ka baburne tibi

Ne ka motan kong miyen ne mutto

Yippu yabe pidin saga denni dok am sum Yanba.

Laliwin makaranta ma ya ro ka yamba Koddim ma diji ma yaro ka yamba

Wam dasssa fip, kwaya, wiwi ka men ma won ikkum taimo ma satan Ma sol yamba termen takaba pethawu wagu fip

beyi pip yamb wanthok togor kaye.

All should repent, one day we live this earth Will undergo the journey?

Oh God! Leave the only one for me So I can rest my mind on,

I am pleading with gushing tears, Leave the only one to comfort me.

Before, there is a stone that hit our legs I have now repented,

Now if a stone hits your leg again, The only solution does not change Motorcycles are available,

They say cars are good and people are dying, Like stones placed on the road,

But the only solution is God.

Students should go close to God, At the time you are sited on benches.

All bad things such as, hard drugs, Indian hemp and beer, You should stay away from them, for they belong to Satan. You all should plea to God first in all your knowledge, The rest of things will be added unto you freely.

In the contemporary Tangale society, the impact of Christianity on the African Continent is common for co - existence or overlap with the oral traditions. This is noticed with recourse to some Tangale dirges in many ways. For instance, some dirges are sung in verses as seen above, and have direct innovations with Christianity as they are marked by deep religious inspirations with the urge to mend one’s ways. Religious preservation of oral traditions in many modern African societies is gaining ground. The themes for such dirges have a close synergy with God, the great emphasis on frailty of this world, exhortation to the Creator, the awful works of death and the need to be closely knitted with God so as to avoid eternal damnation. The women sought for God’s intervention in order to spare the only child in the polygamous family who would have served as a source of comfort to them. Consider the use of exclamation, oh followed by the acknowledgement of

divinity, God. Oh God, leave the only one for me so I can rest my mind on.

In line (1) of the third stanza, Yisin (before)is an adverb of time which modifies the verb Nan (hit). The statement is uttered in a repentance mood or the Christian terminology, ‘born again’. On the hand, the use of the adjective Pip (all) appears severally in the dirge as a determiner which pre - modifies the adjective bad plus its head word, things. In the last line of the third stanza, kaye (freely) is an adverb of manner which explains how things will be added unto you.

The singer makes recourse to the Almighty who has the power to provide things for the pleasure of mankind, hence use of adverb freely which indicates costless gains accrued to all who believe in God’s supremacy. In line (6) of the third stanza, Kong (good)is an adjective used attributively to describe the noun car and motorcycle.

Wolo muto is a dirge sang by a relative of the dead by Pelle Garba Age: 78

(Dirge) 5

Mo ya kor mom dassa segi Ta meruk Yesu ta kitong Ki yellim lara done yi, Mu pip mo amdei kor ya kong. Kekku lij? Kigu massi? Ikko ne donji sum kal ka yi? Sum simbo kong tan ka waizik De lau yamba kalmu pip ka yi Mo ya lau yamba bez mum kiting, Koddi kan dimin mu pengom, Pond wam min pengo tukujim, Mum kebei kiji po monthom.

Demin, ai, kong im ya donji, Wam lau yamba wupei min leb kong Pitilmu lamji lijin wi,

Yid wanth ka tumar ya tommum.

A time will come, this sinful world will vanish When son of God will come from heaven A new earth will be built by Him.

All those that belief in Him will be in the world that is good, Do you believe? Are you people saved?

Are you ready to meet with him?

To have a good meeting with Him accompanied with praises. That Jesus will bring us all to him.

A time will come that Jesus will surprise all human being At the time we did we not expect

Through what we know is not hidden, He who believes will not be forgotten.

We should light, and we should be ready. What Jesus teaches us should be well accepted And our lamp should be lighten,

Sleeping like unwise is not our portion.

The above song is a typical illustration of a socio – religious and other ceremonial engagement in the

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transformation of the society especially through cultural contacts and religions brought about great changes in the manner in which songs such as dirges, ballads, etc. are being sung. This evidence could be seen in the frequent reference to God through the saving power of Christ. The singer admonishes Christian faithful to desist from any practice which is destructive since death is inevitable and possesses no clear sign before it occurs since sometimes terribly sick people got healed, while the hale and hearty ones died suddenly.

This type of dirge is mostly sung when a Christian man/woman passes away. Line 1: of stanza1, dassa (sinful) is an adjective which describes the noun koro (earth) predicatively. The singer acknowledges that while the world is sinful, but Christians could exempt themselves from committing sin through a personal relationship with the Saviour and adopt a new lifestyle. For instance, in line 3 of stanza 1, lara (new) is a predicative adjective describing noun koro (earth).

Wolo Muto by Mrs Pelle Garba Age: 48 (Dirge 6)

Oh yelli! Yelli furen tu pi mana Nung nung ka weigo

Ba nabei ta tul kenni Ka oh yamban ne kwilli

Oh grave!

Grave behind a house Whoever sees it

Will remember in his heart That death is real

From the above, it is noticed that the personification form is used in impersonal form of language. The song reminds people that both dead and the living co-exist hence, the use of a locative device behind to describe this reality. The reason being that although one is dead, his/her soul is still precious at least to the relations, hence the presence of the grave behind the house. Also, the location of the grave is a quick reminder of the inevitability of death to all human beings.

Wolo Muto by Mama Chindo Saidu Age: 70 (Dirge 7)

Aina bee! Aina bee!! Aina bee!!! Aina, ai koron kaye

Ai launowaigo bee! Ai na likwinong soh? Lau yak merge bee Ai ai launo bee Senning kaka?

Muto wannan tomno bee Senning na ya wayim.

Oh! Oh!! Oh!!! Oh! This empty world Oh! My child is gone Oh! Where will I put myself? My child has travelled Oh my child, what will I do? Death has visits me

There is nothing I can do.

Parallelism and repetition are marked features of such a dirge which take various forms and as have been illustrated above. In the stanzas, there are parallelisms of meaning as well as words with repeated identical words, my child, oh, although some of the repetitions are not exact, but they lead to the progress of the action. For instance, reference to the frailty of the world, this world is empty, is a predicative adjective which describes the now, world in line 1and the expression of hopelessness, where can I go? The motive of such a singer is to impression of the vulnerability of life in general since the singer cannot find solace. However, the acknowledgement of the death as a journey indicates the likelihood for the child to return home if the mission is accomplished, my child has travelled. In line (3, 4 & 5)

launo (my), is a possessive adjective which shows a mother

– son relationship. Sometimes, it goes beyond blood as it may include solace at the demise of the husband because the mother is insured by the assistance expected from the child after she may have grown old.

Conclusion

Tangle people believe that the person who died joins the ancestral spirits in the underworld. After death, funeral songs are rendered. They are usually short and repetitive choruses that are hummed at funerals.

Dirges are common phenomenon to all cultures in the world. While some of them are obtained in the written form, others are in the oral form especially in Africa. In whatever manner they are rendered, their execution is triggered by the occurrence of death in the society. The primary role of all dirges is to first of all provide a medium for mourning the deceased and to enable the living to emotionally express themselves using words that are spontaneous overflow of such emotions. It is almost impossible to write or sing a dirge without a verb or noun, since these parts of speech constitute many of the words in almost all languages including Tangle. Adverbs and adjectives modify verbs and nouns respectively; they give a better description of a noun and they let us know more exactly how verb is completed. Hence, adverbs and adjectives are used in dirges as parts of speech that provide additional information about other words. They are also known as content words that provide important information in sentences about the deceased and the death itself. In conclusion, the current researcher is of the view that appreciation of dirges as an art and its Unitarian aspect encourages the youth to shift their allegiance to their language. Furthermore, the researcher wishes to counter the claim that dirge performance is for those who lack cultural awareness. Dirges just like any form a culture could be maintained and improved upon in the years to come if the government and local authorities at the national, regional and district levels are able to make a conscious effort aimed at instructing the youth to appreciate the positive value of a culture. This could be done through formal education, radio or television programmes which can be broadcast in the local languages to encourage wide audience participation. Similarly, oral artistes of Tangle people need to organize themselves better so that they can preserve their culture in the multi-ethnic society of Gombe – Nigeria.

Bibliography

1. Alembi Ezekiel: The Abanyole Dirge: “Escorting the

Dead with Song and Dance: pp 122,

http//www.folklorel vol. 18/ alembic pdd 2002. 2. Awoonor, Kofi, “Contemporary Relevance of

Tradition” The Africa Predicate: collected esay, Accra: sub Saharan Publishers 2017.

3. Awoonor, Kofi, Guardians of the Sacred Word: Ewe poetry, New york: Nok publishers, ltd. 1974.

4. Apronti, E.O, On the Structural Unity of the Akan Dirge” (http/asrv008002007.pdf).

5. Akporobaro, John, Salvation in African Tradition, Nairobi: Evangel Publishing House, 2001.

(8)

7. Cuddon J.A, The penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, Fourth Edition, London, penguin group, 1998.

8. Deandra, Pietro, Fertile Crossings: Metamorph oses of Genre in Anglophone West African Literature, (crossing culture 53) New york: Rodolpi, 2002. 9. Deminaj, Sh: Grammatika e GjuhesshaipesMoctologia.

Trane, 2002.

10. Dorson, Richard. M, Folklore and Folklife: An Introduction, Chicago Press 1972.

11. Eka, David, Elements of Grammar and Mechanics of the English Language. SAMUF (Nigeria) ltd. 2002. 12. Feist J., Premodifiers in English: Their Structure and

Significance. Cambridge/Tokyo: Cambridge

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13. Finnegan, Ruth: Oral poetry: it’s Nature, significance and social context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.

14. Hofherr, P. C and Mutushansky, O: Adjectives: Formal

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15. HadruTeka, “Lamentations in Tigrigna Oral Poetry: A Thematic Analysis.” MA Thesis (Addis Ababa

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16. Levi-Strauss, Claude, Myth and Meaning, London: Routledge, 2006.

17. Marye, Tetera, “A Thematic Analysis of the Oral Poetry of the People ofFogera.” MA Thesis, Addis

Ababa University, school of graduate studies, 2008. 18. Megbaru, Esayas, “The Thematic of Analysis of

Amharic Funeral Dirges in West Gojjam” MA Thesis,

Addis Ababa. University, School of Graduate Studies, 2009.

19. Murphy, W., Contemporary English Grammar, New York. Bantan Books, 2007.

20. Ohwoviole, J.K, F, Trend Issues: African Literature Today, 18, ed. Eldred Jones, Nerscy: Africa World Press, 2006, pp 115-132.

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22. Saah, Kofi and Paul K: Adverbs in Akan and Ewe. A Contemporary Studies in the Language of the volta Basic: 4 part, 2004.

References

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