FIGURATIVE CONTENTS OF INNUENDO IGBO PERSONAL NAMES

Adindu, Mary Chinturu and Ibeneche, Charles Chinweolu
Keywords: Metaphor, Satire, Irony, Euphemism, Dsyphemism, Cacophemism
Clifford University International Journal of Development Studies (CLUIJODS) 2023 3(1), 118 - 128. Published: December 2023

Abstract

Names in Igbo land are in types. We observed that an innuendo personal names is one of the many types of names that lack attention by researchers. Some other types of names have been exhaustively investigated by many researchers except innuendo names. Just few authors such as Alan and Burridge (1991) and Alan (1996) have said few things on innuendo names at a passerby. We have observed that this type of name that harbor a great wealth of information on Igbo society culture and world view are gradually moving into extinction .The inability to interpret the figurative contents of these names has been a major challenge of innuendo names which has given rise to misinterpretations and semantic loss. It is on this backdrop that this paper investigated inherent figures of speech in Igbo innuendo names. In doing this, we adopted the descriptive survey method where we used the typical sampling technique and introspection. The mutual contextual belief theory was used. It was found that Igbo innuendo personal names are forms of utterances seen in figures of speech which are also illocutions used to express intentions which also have illocutionary effects. It was observed that the proper understanding of the figurative contents of the Igbo innuendo names give credence to the names. We concluded that the figurative contents of innuendo perform what Austin consciously and unconsciously called performatives –using utterances to do something instead of saying.