CULTURAL SYMBOLS AND SIGNS IN SOME SELECTED LANGUAGES IN NIGERIA: A PRAGMATICS READING

Abstract

This paper attempts to do a pragmatics reading of cultural signs in some selected Nigerian languages in South-South Nigeria (Urhobo), Northern Nigeria (Karimjo) and South-Eastern Nigerian, (Nsukka). Signs which are indicators of something else are products of culture and their interpretations and uses are culture specific as the meaning and use of a particular sign may vary from one culture to another. The paper adopts a pragmatics approach towards the analysis and interpretation of symbols and signs with the aim of identifying the pragmatics roles of them and of variables that underlie their use. Relevance pragmatics theory is applied with insights from the Piercean semiotic approach. From the analysis, the relevance of pragmatics to the interpretation of cultural symbols and signs and the communicative effect of them are observed through pragmatics interpretation. The paper concludes that a pragmatics approach to the study of them will not only show how their systems reflect the culture of their users but also the social-cultural beliefs and the world view of the people.