HERMENEUTICAL METADISCOURSE OF PROVERBS IN CULTURE-SPECIFIC LITERACY DISCOURSE

Abstract

This paper foregrounds the importance of the fusion of sociolinguistics and pragmatics in maximisingliteracy efforts through the prevalent social knowledge transfer mechanism, inherent in a given literacy(social) or communicative context. Knowledge is fertilised by this social reality which forms thespringboard for literacy. Literacy is the ability to interpret squiggles and assign meaning to them; createideas within the experiential knowledge platform, identify and understand realities in order to infer andcommunicate effectively “using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.†Thispaper uses sociopragmatic enactment to highlight how literacy can be achieved reasonably through“local†condition strategy. That means achieving the maximal knowledge or information about theworld around us which comes alive through the printed or written words, powerful images or sounds ofmulti-media culture. Fifty students were used for the assessment. It was observed that applying the“local†condition, strategy within a particular sociocultural milieu, helps the students achieve literacyat superlative level.