A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF SELECTED TABOO FOLKTALES IN YORUBA LANGUAGE

This study examines the pragmatic aspects of Yoruba taboo folktales, with special focus on selected tales from Ogbomoso. While Yoruba folktales have often been explored for their literary and artistic merits, their pragmatic roles, particularly as acts of communication, have received less attention. The aim of this research is to investigate how taboo folktales function as speech acts and employ politeness strategies that uphold social, moral, and spiritual order in Yoruba society. The study relied on eight taboo folktales, which were collected through oral interviews with competent Yoruba speakers and later translated into English. The data were analyzed using Speech Act Theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969) and Leech’s Politeness Principle (1983). Direct and reported utterances from the folktales were examined at the locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary levels, and further classified according to Austin’s and Searle’s categories of speech acts. The politeness analysis assessed the cultural purposes of the utterances, as well as the ways in which they conformed to or violated conversational maxims. Findings reveal that Yoruba taboo folktales are not merely entertaining stories, but performative acts that sustain cultural values. They preserve spiritual balance, instill discipline, and transmit ancestral wisdom across generations. Further research can focus on the linguistic philosophy underlying Yoruba taboo folktales, with attention to the deeper cultural beliefs and worldviews they embody