By
Obododimma Oha
Igbo people sometimes register the authorship of some proverbs. Who says that ancient people have no idea of giving honour to whom it is due? Today, when we talk about plagiarism and create plagiarism checkers, we forget that the ancients had ways of identifying and recognizing authorship.
Including the author of a proverb in citing or using it, apart from using the opportunity to give honour to whom it is due, is also a testimonial strategy or appeal to authority, that means borrowing somebody's famed knowledge to construct one’s own. In that case, one is expected to weave in the source in the discourse well enough for the listener to realise essential boundaries in expressed knowledge.
This somewhat calls to question the idea of collective wisdom in the culture, or draws attention to the fact that there are still significant players that are recognized as authors of some things in the culture. There is fossilized collective wisdom, but there is still personal wisdom hailed by many.
Of course, this authorship (of proverbs, particularly) is sometimes playfully given as belonging to animals, not just humans. The dog said X, the goat uttered Y. In such cases, even animal authorship may be used in constructing "unquestionable" human wisdom!
Another thing to note here right at the outset is the failure or continuity of memory. Community may forget authorship with time, but appropriate citing (as expected) helps in recuperating and retaining authorship. At this point, let me briefly enumerate some ways that authorship may be kept.
(1) Phrasal introduction that indicates source, as in the case of proverbs.
(2) Personal names or praise names that keep memory.
(3) Faithful recounting of narratives.
(4) Good transmission/Frequent use of narrative.
One proverb that involves the registering of its author and which I heard from my father during a discussion with him, is the one that says: "Mgbada nyụa ka enyi, ọhụ agbawaa ya" ("If the antelope defecates like the elephant, its anus would break to pieces" ). But who the hell is this Okenwa? The proverb is attributed to Okenwa of Ihiala who uttered it first in response to a challenge in Cameroon in a corn-beer drinking criticism in the early days. This origin was explained to me, helping me to realise how the original context has coloured the authoring of the proverb. Thus, those who speak and try to bring up the ghost of Okenwa in discourse would often start by saying, "Okenwa sị: ...." ("Okenwa said....."). Without some knowledge of the original context, one may be lost and would be wondering whether this Okenwa is just a fictional character .
You see, there is a problem. It means that some knowledge of history still matters. Nowadays, when it appears that we dispense with the past and with narratives that we should know (such as narratives of the family tree), one shudders. We are not aware of the fact that we are dispensing with essential knowledge. So, we have to step into the unknown future without knowing about the past or just where we are coming from? Sad.
We do not need to be students of history in every matter, but we can try. If we have deep knowledge about the discourse, it pays greatly.
Let us try to articulate how the citing of authorship often in Igbo discourses:
(1) "Okenwa si...."
(2) "Nkita si...."
(3) "X bara aha...."
(4) "Ndiigbo na-ekwu na-asi...."
(5) "A si onye...."
(6) "Ndi mbụ kwuru sị... ."
(7) "Nna nna ha na-ekwu sị.... "
In the first case, there is individual authorship and it is known. Okenwa is known as the source. Indeed, wise sayings are not from Heaven but from humans in moments of reflection. That means that it is in everyone of us and only needs to be expressed. It is also subject to the competence we have in the language we speak. So, the Maker also installed the expression of wisdom in our brains. Okenwa is, therefore, not special as the utterer. Finally, we are back to the expression of a common knowledge among humans.
Then, there is this attribution of sayings to lower animals, which we have said is a mere rhetorical attribution. Any animal could be cited, but that which is cited is often presented as a challenge to rational thinking. The idea is, "If X can say so, what of you?"
But one noteworthy feature is how the phrase introduces the saying.Fom "si" ("said"), a boundary is introduced in the assertions. We do not need a blade to cut the tape of speech, to know what X says and what Y says. This territory creation in discourse, which could be seen in all the examples, is very necessary to the attribution.
Sometimes, it may turn out that the entity to whom a text is attributed is not the real source. This may be because of forgetfulness or sheer misapplication. For instance, the wise saying, "Onye zọrọ ụkwụ n'ala, ya mara ụkwụ ya" ('Anyone who steps on the ground should try and know his or her footmark") is attributed to several people, which only shows confusion on its authorship. Obviously, such a saying is on its way to collective or commonwealth, as we can see in the fourth example. Its authorship is no longer that of an individual. It is that of community or, rather, it has been claimed by the rhetoric of the community.
But, very interestingly, communal ownership may be routed through the ancestors or the ancients. In attributing authorship to them, we are supposedly borrowing a heavier and a more authoritative text in the culture. This only happens in a society or age where the ancients are still revered as people who saw life better or wrestled with its in a unique way.
We also need to comment on the use of indefinite pronouns in making attributions. The indefinite pronoun, "A," as in "a sị onye," which, when translated into English loses the indefinite status, has no gender value. The sayer may be male or female and is even unknown. The unknown is better and more strategically marked as such in the discourse. This may look like a mystification of authorship. But the point is that there is authorship and it is unknown.
One of the examples shows that authorship may be suggested in naming, too. In that case, the name is used in giving examples. The idea is that the bearer of the name, maybe by choice, is the authority that deserves to be referenced. One could see that paying due respect to source is the tradition.
One just wants to call attention to the fact that authorship is still very important in the African world, even if proverbs are involved. In addition, the different shades of authorship are noteworthy. Finally, also noteworthy is how the personal could become communal property.
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