FAIS Journal of
Humanities’ 2011. Vol.5 (1), (pp121-130).
Cultural Scripts: The Analysis of Kunya in Hausa
Isa Yusuf Chamo
Centre for the Study of Nigerian Languages
[email protected]
This paper study the concept of Kunya in Hausa through the use of f conventional
methods of given description and Cultural Scripts approach as against the
traditional method of using only one perspective of analysis. The concept and it
associated terms were explained and some social hierarchies where kunya exists
in Hausa society, also the significant of maintaining it among the Hausa people is
highlighted.
Introduction
Cultural scripts is about the representations of cultural norms held in a given
society and reflected in language. “The term cultural scripts refers to a powerful
new technique for articulating cultural norms, values, and practices in terms
which are clear, precise, and accessible to cultural insiders and to cultural
outsiders alike. This result is only possible because cultural scripts are formulated
in a tightly constrained, yet expressively flexible, metalanguage consisting of
simple words and grammatical patterns which have equivalents in all languages. “
Goddard and Wierzbicka, (2004:153). Also Wierzbicka, (2002:1) has made a lucid
explanation about the cultural scripts theory as she said:
"Cultural scripts" are representations of cultural norms which are widely
held in a given society and which are reflected in language. The notion of "cultural
scripts" can be regarded as an extension of the idea of a "naïve picture of the
world", put forward thirty years ago by the Russian semanticist Jurij Apresjan
(1974): as shown by Apresjan, the lexicon of any given language reflects a certain
"naïve picture of the world" with which the speakers of that language are
intimately familiar and which they often tend to take for granted. The same can
be said about "cultural scripts": they present a certain "naïve axiology", that is, a
"naïve" set of assumptions about what is good and what is bad to do – and what
one can or cannot do – especially in speaking. In any given speech community it
is widely assumed that there are good ways of speaking and bad ways of
speaking, as there are good and bad ways of behaving; and although not
everyone has to agree with these assumptions, everyone is familiar with them
because they are reflected in the language itself. In contrast to various
universalist frameworks for the study of speech practices, the cultural script
model adopts the perspective of a cultural insider, and tries to articulate this
perspective in a non-technical way, which would make sense to the insider. For
example, many speakers of English are familiar with the following
assumptions:
[people think:]
I can say to another person: "I disagree"
I can't say to another person: "you are wrong"
if I want to say to another person that I disagree
it is good to say something else at the same time
it is good if this person knows
that I want to agree with this person about some things”
Cultural scripts is a theory like other Linguistic Anthropology theories like
ethnographic, anthropology, sociology etc that are emphasizing the relationship
between communication and culture or language and culture as Goddard and
Wierzbicka, (2004:154) put it,
“It perhap’s bears emphasizing that the cultural scripts approach is
evidence-based, and that while not disregarding evidence of other sources
(ethnographic and sociological studies, literature, and so on) it places particular
importance on linguistic evidence. Aside from the semantics of cultural key
words, other kinds of linguistic evidence which can be particularly revealing of
cultural norms and values include: common sayings and proverbs, frequent
collocations, conversational routines and varieties of formulaic or semi-formulaic
speech, discourse particles and interjections, and terms of address and
reference—all highly ‘‘interactional’’ aspects of language.”
Cultural scripts theory are intended to capture background, norms, templates,
guidelines or models for way of thinking, acting, feeling and speaking in a
particular cultural context and it differ in their level of generality and it can be
interrelated in a variety of way.
Semantic primes: the language of cultural scripts
The cultural scripts technique relies crucially on the metalanguage of empirically
established semantic primes. Semantic primes are simple, indefinable meanings
which appear to ‘‘surface’’ as the meanings of words or word-like expressions in
all languages. There are about 60 of them, listed (Goddard and Wierzbicka,
2004:154).
Table of semantic primes quoted after (Goddard and Wierzbicka, 2004:154).
Substantives:
i,you,someone/person,something/thing,people,body
Relational substantives:
kind, part
Determiners:
this, the same, other/else
Quantifiers:
one, two, some, all, much/many
Evaluators:
good, bad
Descriptors:
big, small
Mental/experiential predicates:
think, know, want, feel, see, hear
Speech:
say, words, true
Actions, events, movement:
do, happen, move
Existence and possession:
there is/exist, have
Life and death:
live, die
when/time,now,before,alongtime,
Time:
a short time,for sometime,moment
Space:
where/place, here, above, below, far
near, side, inside, touching
Logical concepts:
not, maybe, can, because, if
Augmentor, intensifier:
very, more
Similarity:
like (as, how)
Cultural Scripts for Kunya
Kunya is a culture key word which express pivotal Hausa cultural values,
it is a Hausa word whose meaning includes (at least) embarrassment, shame and
modesty. Kunya does not have the exact English translation, it partially
corresponds to the notion of English definition and explanation. Some English
dictionaries defined Kunya as shame, shyness, modesty, bashfulness, sense of
propriety. (Bargery,1951). While Abraham (1962:559) ,defined kunya as modesty.
Newman (2007:118) defined it as embarrassment, shame, modesty, reserve,
sense of propriety. The term can refer to a social core value that one is expected
to follow, or to a shameful act, usually referred to as abin kunya ‘shameful thing’
which results from going against this value. As a value it determines the way
people interact with each other. (Will,2009:261) .It is also a feeling which certain
social circumstances arouse.
One area where "kunya" is important is in social relations. There is a
saying in Hausa that ‘Kunya’ a ido take, ‘shame is in the eye’ or Tsoro na daji
kunya na gida, ‘fear in the bush shame at home’, which means that it exist within
the social contact, or to people that one is familiar with (Csnl Dictionary, 2007) .
But the concept is beyond that its part and parcel of the Hausa people, may be in
the soul. Because there was a story of a blind man that was backbiting someone,
unknowingly to him that person was with them so when the person uttered a
word, the blind man quickly left the venue because of the kunya, so this story
justifies the fact that kunya is beyond the eye. There was also a story of a man
who alleged to be a witch, he is taken to another town for a judgment but on
their way to the court in the town, he covered his face which symbolized that he
does not want people to see him because of the concept of kunya, so kunya exist
even out side not only at home.
Kunya is an important aspect to Hausa people, they always try to avoid
the breaking of the social, code. There is a proverb which emphasizes it
significance to the Hausa people, Da abin kunya gara mutuwa, ‘death is better
than a shameful act’.
The concept of kunya exists within different social hierarchies, there is
kunya between husband and wife in which the wife can not call the name of it
husband but rather used some non personal terms such as Malam sir’, teacher’,
Maigida ‘house owner, yaya ‘senior’ Alhaji ‘someone who had performed Hajj’ or
Baban kabir ‘father of Kabir which is barrowed from Arabic style of saying for
example, Abu Kabir. Also subject’s feell kunya to call the name of their rulers,
instead used terms like Yallabai ‘your highness’, Ranka ya daxe ‘May your soul last
long’ etc. There is also kunya between mother and her Childs more especially the
first one in which she can not call his/her proper name, but used some pronouns
such as shi ‘he’ for male ita ‘she’ for female, children also fell kunya to their
parents and strangers where they could not speak louder in their presence and
look down when talking to them instead of looking at their eyes. Kunya also
exists between In-laws in which non of them may like to be seen by another while
engaged in activities like eating or making noise. They also try to avoid contact at
all times. For example, in-laws feel "kunya" toward each other. A son-in-law
would not call his father-in-law by name, would assume a kneeling position while
greeting him, and so on. However before the marriage Parents-in-law are visited
when necessary and during such a visit a man is usually accompanied by at least
one of his friends who speaks instead of him to make the contact with in-laws as
indirect as possible. (Will,2009:262-3). Likewise parent-in-law visit their daughter
house when necessary and they make sure that they get there when the son-inlaw is out of the house, so that they will not see each other. Boyfriend and girl
friend also feel kunya where they will be avoiding to meet at day time. It also
exists between student and his teacher in which both of them can not do some
certain things in the presence of any one of them. For example a student can not
make noise in the present of his teacher and the teacher too can not tease or
laugh before his student or students. Women also feel kunya to pass through men
or to be looked at by men. The feeling of kunya is vice-versa in most of the
situations and it mostly exists between elders and the younger ones. One also
feels "kunya" when publicly caught violating some social restrictions for example
if a boy caught by his father or any senior member of his community eating with
left hand, the boy will defiantely feell kunya, according to the investigations
conducted kunya exists between all social classes and it being with the Hausa
people before their contact with any society because it’s also exists within the
Maguzawa.
It is a clear fact that no global English dictionary that capture the exact
meaning and the use of kunya, so for one to understand the concept should not
rely on any English dictionary equivalents. Due to the complexity of the term it
warrant to be considered as the expression of 3 other concepts as follows:
1. Kara (forbearance)
2. Kawaici (reservedness)
3. Girmamawa (respect or honour)
Using the NSM approach the above three concepts will each be explained in order
to come to a final definition or explanation of kunya by putting the aspects
together.
1. Kara
Kara is an important aspect in Hausa culture. As such it is basically a
norm. Bargery, (1951) defined the concept as ‘respecting ap’s feeling; refraining
from hurting a p’s feeling, lenience, forbearance, tolerance. The term involves
avoidance of hurting someone, keep on doing something without complaint,
respecting other people’s feelings, shying away from doing bad things.
The account presented for kara suggests that it is a social norm that one is
expected to posses and adhere to, in social activities. Kara gives a sense of social
order for the holder in socially expected ways, therefore, it is something positively
valued by others and also by the holder. It is clear that Kara involves human
relations and it is produced as the result of the interactions between individuals;
it is doing socially good to individuals. So the NSM for kara can be proposed as
follows:
kara
a. I have to do good things for person
b. It is bad if I don’t do this
c. If I do not do this, person can feel/say bad things because of this
d. Because of this, I have to do good things for person
e. I will do this all the time.
Component (a) and (b) refer to kara as obligation and good to do, to
a person. They also suggest an interpersonal relationship. Component (c) suggests
the consequences of one’s behavior both public and private. Component (d)
shows the necessity of keeping up with kara. Component (e) implies the
permanence in practicing kara.
2. Kawaici
Kawaici, another component of kunya is defined by Bargery, (1951) as
‘reticence, deservedness’, keeping silence while Abraham, (1962) also glossed
it the same with Bargery. The concept means keeping away from some things
in order not hurt someone even if the activity affect you or reservation of
emotions. The concept is very common within the Hausa people and deviating
from it symbolized the impatience of a person. However the NSM terms can be
formed like this,
Kawaici
a. I want be very good
b. I have to do good things
c. If I do not do it , people can feel something bad
Component (a) reflect the quality of good conduct. Component (b) refer to
kawaici as obligation. Component (c) suggest the consequences of one’s behavior.
3. Girmamawa
Another component of kunya is girmamawa. It is defined by bilingual dictionaries
as respect, honor, promoted (for more see Bargery, 1951, Abraham, 1962). It is a
term that is used to show respect , obedience, honor to some one, especially an
elder or any one that is above you in terms of age or sex, and refusing to do it can
make people to feel bad about you. There is an Hausa proverb which justify this
notion, Bin na gaba bin Allah ‘Obedient to elders is like obedient to God. The NSM
of the term can gather like this:
girmamawa
a. I have to do this
b. If I do not do this, person can feel/say bad things because of this
c. I will do this all the time.
Component (a) suggest an obligation. Component (b) indicated consequences of
one’s behavior. Component (c) implies the permanence in practicing girmamawa.
Kunya: A final construction in MSN terms
Based on three major elements discussed above, the detail explanation or
explication for kunya in Nsm terms can be constructed through the use of the
elements concerned, as follows:
Kunya.
a. People think like this
b. When I am with or in the presence of some people
c. I have to think like this
d. These people are people above me
e. Not people like me
f. Because I am with this people
g. I know I have to do something
h. I have to say something
i. I can not say some words
j. If these people say (me) they want me to do something, it will be good if
I do it
k. It will be very bad if these people feel bad because of me.
Component (a), ( b) and (c) show that kunya is an interpersonal
phenomenon. Component (d (e) and (f) indicate that kunya concerned social
hierarchy. Component (g), (h) and (i) suggest obligation . Component (i) and (j)
indicate that kunya concerns acceptable behavior or good conduct. Component
(k) shows worry for failure .
Conclusion
This study tried to find out the basic meaning and function of kunya by analyzing
it using both conventional methods of given description and cultural scripts
approach. It demonstrated that kunya the culture of being polite it manifested in
different social interactions. So a person of who, knows kunya and uses it, in it
accordance is polite in the use of his language and behavior. But there is a need
for further research in order to ascertain whether Kunya is understood to mean
the same thing across all social classes among the Hausa.
References
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