A SPEECH ACT ANALYSIS OF SELECTED YORUBA ANTHROPONYMS

This work employs a speech act approach to the analysis of Yoriaba indigenous names to emphasize that they are not mere labels. Thirty-eight Yoriaba indigenous names were classified into eight different groups, using factors like relationship to royalty, acknowledging the greatness of Islamic, Christian or traditional deities, circumstances or events at birth, family vocation or profession, infantile mortality, importance of children to the family, 'natural' names and admonitions. From the analysis carried out, Yoriaba indigenous names were shown to perform speech acts like 'assertive', 'directive', 'commissive', 'expressive' and 'declaration', together with varying sub-acts. This shows them to be utterances that derive their meanings from the cultural beliefs of the Yoriaba people, rather than being mere labels. Thus their understanding will help in understanding aspects of the cultural practices of the Yoriaba people and, consequently, the people themselves.