Dialects as Text-Style Markers: Insights from Ifá Oracular Discourse in Ọ̀yọ́-Ìbàdàn  and Èkìtì Dialects

Oluwọle  Okewande

Oluwọle Okewande Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

Keywords: Ifá, dialect, stylistics, style marker, language variation

Abstract

Ifá is believed to be the foundation of Yoruba culture, one of the major divinities which cuts across all Yoruba speech communities. Despite this pedigree, however, scholarly works on the style of Ifá texts in relation to Yoruba dialects are rare. This study, therefore, examines style markers in Ọ̀yọ́-Ìbàdàn and Èkìtì dialects as evinced from Ifá corpora. Ifa texts available in the Ọ̀yọ́-Ìbàdàn dialect are contrasted with similar texts in Èkìtì dialect for phonological and lexical variations. Findings show that there are variations between the two dialects in the area of tones, words and speech sounds manipulations which serve as markers of style in the two dialects. The shifts however do not result in major semantic variations. The study concludes that dialectal variations serve as style markers of Ifá divination discourse through which Ifá texts can be appropriately described or differentiated.