By
Obododimma Oha
Exclamation abounds in discourse and is often used in expressing shock, anger, dismay, hope, despair, commendation, etc. In Igbo discourse, the expression of despair through exclamation is peculiar and calls for a closer look at the style deployed.
The expression of despair in Igbo life could be in words, in symbolic forms, or with parts of the body. In verbal forms, we could hear the following :
(1) A nwụọla m. (I am dead)
(2) Ewu ataala m ịgụ n'isi (Goats have eaten palm-fronds that I'm carrying on my head)
(3) Chi m egbue m (My personal god has killed me)
A little more light on (1) to (3) above.
It could be seen as grossly untrue for someone alive to claim that he or she is dead. Can a dead person still talk? So, literally, "I am dead" looks like a joke.
Does the speaker intend to frighten if as a dead person this speaker is addressing a mortal? Maybe the speaker, if really dead and talking to the living, wants to make a revelation to cause a flight or another despair!
But if the speaker is figurative, we can stay but would be interested in the experience. In that case, the statement is asking for a narration of an experience or assumes that hearers are aware of the experience.
However, this statement is an exaggeration. The impact of the experience on the speaker is put as much, even excessive. It is incumbent on the speaker, then, to prove that it is excessive.
As an exclamation, it is an eruption and may overstate situation. So, it is pardonable in discourse.
As for goats eating the leaves of fronds still on one's head, it depends on how hungry the goats are. They could be extremely hungry and would risk eating the leaves anywhere. Moreover, as tame creatures, they may not fear any human any longer. Fronds being on human head just means delay in feeding tame goats!
Let's say, the cultural assumption is that hungry goats would just chew their cud, afraid to go for the fronds, because they are afraid of human beings. Not always the case. And it is not only human beings who can take risks. Goats, too, can take risks and damn the consequences.
These days when horned beasts can move around and enter anywhere they like, goats eating palm-fronds still on the head should not surprise us. Cows and goats are now courageous. It is animal rights winning from the province of pastoralism.
The third exclamation ordinarily looks like an accusation, but it is a challenge thrown to the personal god, as if to say "What are you doing?" It reminds us of the challenge "You are in the boat here sleeping while the tempest is consuming us!" The personal god would get up and defend the devotee. The personal god would only kill the devotee by doing nothing.
In exclaiming, generally, one is into an assertion about an experience being what is not expected. An exclamation tilted towards despair would naturally express the least expected as a very irredeemable situation! If one's personal god has killed one, one is beyond redemption. But one's personal god would not like to be indicted as the problem! That personal god would, therefore, fight to redeem his image.
I believe you have also heard other exclamations of despair such as the following :
(4) Ụwa wara awa (A world broken to pieces)
(5) Ike gwụrụ (Quite tiring!)
(6) A na-paachị, ọ na-eliiki (One is patching up, but it is still leaking)
The world cannot be that fragile to break to pieces. In fact, what is crucial is that play on words - - the "wa" in "ụwa" is treated as if it is a morpheme in "ịwa" (to break). And so it would look as if "wara awa" (broken) is natural. In other words, an internal rhyme is created between "ụwa" and "wara awa" even though this is unnatural.
There is, of course, that exaggeration to fan despair. Our world has not gone to pieces. It is not a claypot. Even if hit by an asteroid. We thank the creator and nations that have been watching out, in case.
In #5, we have that feeling of total helplessness. But that exclamation is sometimes used when a speaker is completely overwhelmed. But the challenge is still there. Human beings still have to do something to try to save the situation. It is really debilitating, but one has to handle it.
In #6, where we have the insertion of English morphemes into Igbo word structure, the presence of antonyms could be noticed. Things are in opposition and it seems the solution is elusive. Patching is meant to stop a leakage, but this leakage continues.
This expression of despair is often uttered to exaggerate an endless struggle but it also asserts that somebody is trying. Note also this exemplifies Igbo and English coming together.
But personal god is not responsible for the leakage.. If humans are intelligent robots, they just have stop the expression of despair and and try to do something. It is a risky adventure we know but that even makes it interesting.
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