Abstract:
The study on nyadodo has been motivated by the conviction that apart from the well known oral artistic genres of the Ewe, nyadodo texts also provide a lens into the oral literature and values of the people. Looking closely at nyadodo texts by the use of literary tools, the study revealed a beauty of language whose quality is enhanced through tropes that are drawn from the people’s physical environment as well as their social and biographical experiences. The study discusses nyadodo as a genre that shares some micro and macro elements with other oral genres of the Ewe, even though it has a unique structure of attribution. The study collected a number of nyadodo texts and employed rhetorical-sociolinguistics, a composite analytical tool, for data analysis. The result revealed various levels of meaning and a delineation of typology of referents. Further, the analysis showed an interlocking of aspects of Ewe world view, its socio-cultural norms and values in the tropes. The study concludes that the Ewe use nyadodo to interrogate life, examine character and to guide members to live a responsible life. Further investigations into other aspects of nyadodo such as author delineation, cross-cultural study and gender forms are recommended.
