The pragmeme of accommodation in Yorùbá death events

Abstract

Drawing on Mey’s (Pragmatics. Blackwell, Oxford, 2001; Pragmatic acts. In: Brown K (ed) Encyclopedia of language and linguistics, Elsevier, London, p 5–11, 2006) concept of pragmatic acts and Capone’s (J Pragmat 37:1355–1371, 2010) views on rituals of death, this chapter claims that death rituals in Yorùbá are pragmatic acts that may be situated within the frame of the pragmeme of accommodation. The chapter explores the activities around the events of death among the Yorùbá people of West Africa and categorizes the pragmatic acts produced in such rituals into linguistic and non-linguistic acts. While linguistic acts include greetings, words of encouragement, sermons, prayers, and promises, non-linguistic acts include pyschological acts, body acts and physical acts. Providing samples of speech from all of these situations, the chapter then analyzes these examples from the perspective of the pragmeme of accommodation. The chapter argues that activities in the Yorùbá community occur in a sociopragmatic as well as a socio-semiotic perspective with the aim of giving solace to the bereaved. It also shows that these acts are executed and interpreted within constituted orientations peculiar to the Yorùbá cultural society.