Yorùbá Folk Communication and Digital Age: Understanding the Relationship

Cite this article as: Owolabi H. F & Adekunle G. M, (2025). Yorùbá Folk Communication and Digital Age: Understanding the Relationship. Zamfara International Journal of Humanities, 3(3), 5-12. www.doi.org/10.36349/zamijoh.2025.v03i03.002.

YORÙBÁ FOLK COMMUNICATION AND DIGITAL AGE: UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP

Hamzat, Fatahi Owolabi
Department of Mass Communication
National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Abuja

And

Ganiyu, Mutiu Adekunle (PhD)
Department of Mass Communication
National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Abuja

Abstract: The umbrella of folklore covers the traditional beliefs, customs, stories, songs, and popular sayings of a particular geographic region or community, which is often passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition. This paper aimed at examining the concept of indigenous communication with a view to bringing up its advancement and relationship with the recent digital phenomenon. It gives a deep exposition of verbal and non-verbal Yoruba traditional means of communication. Verbal means of communication covers verbal arts such as Storytelling, folktale and folk-riddles, proverbs and lineage praise. Non-verbal means of communication includes symbol talking (àrokò) and drum talking. This paper suggests ways in which traditional means of communication can be aided by digital materials. The paper concludes that placing the Yorùbá indigenous system in the digital world will enhance the popularity, preservation and relevance of Yorùbá indigenous folk information.

Keywords: Yorùbá, Folklore, Tradition, Communication, Digital Age

Introduction

Folklore is an aspect of culture that entails beliefs, customs and norms, food, dressing, medicine, songs, drums, dance, oral traditions, and other folk aspects of life of a group of people in a common region. It also includes the myths, legends, and tales associated with a certain society. The life of early people of any society is basically built on indigenous folk practices. The human society from inception have considered folklore as a reservoir of their culture which are passed down from generation to generation. This is in line with Taylor (1948) submission that folklore is the material that is handed on by traditional either by word of mouth or by custom and practice. Also, it may be folk songs, folktales riddles, proverbs or other materials preserved in words. Furthermore, it may be traditional tools and physical objects, traditional ornamentation, traditional symbols, traditional procedure, traditional belief and others. Summarily, folklore encompasses the way of life of a particular people.

To Finnegan (1970), folklore describes the supposed customs, beliefs, and culture of both ‘early’ man and his presumed equivalents today. It is a reflection of the way of life of a given people and this is why Islam (1985) and Dundes (1965) as a component of culture and a mirror of culture. In Africa, folklore plays a major role in the documentation, dissemination and transformation of their social activities, probably, this is a result of the lateness of their embracement of written culture. Even after the adoption of written culture and Western civilization, it is also not easy for Africans to drop their traditional oral heritage like folk-beliefs, folk-food, folk-dressing, folk-songs, folk-dance, folkfestival, folk-tales and many more, and all these can be referred to as folk-life of Africans.

Moreover, the traditional setting of Yoruba African people is full of different means of verbal or non-verbal communication, by which they pass information across themselves. These include orature and code talking. Among the Yorùbá, as it concerns this paper, the orature through which they can communicate their opinion and express their feelings are proverbs (òwe). Folktale (àlọ̀ àpamọ̀), riddles (àlọ́ àpagbè), lineage praise (oríkì) to mention but few. Yorùbá code talking involves distorted verbal language paralinguistic means of communication such as use of signs (àrokò).

Meanwhile, Coker and Coker (2009) noted that culture embodies religion, language, literature, artistic expressions and the philosophy of the people. Thus, it can be inferred that African folklore encompasses legends, myths, proverbs, tales, and superstitions that express the cultural identity, history, and worldview of a people. Therein, supernatural elements such as ghosts, spirits, magic, and monsters, and offer explanations for natural phenomena such as the origin of humanity, the behavior of animals, and the changing of the seasons are found. In establishing folklore, creativity of the mind is essential to showcase and pass the message that it aims to pass.

The aesthetic impulse in the folklore implies the imprinting of the elements of the idea of what beauty is, as well as the use of artistic elements in creating, preserving, as well as transmitting folklores from one generation to another. This is because folklore aims at shaping the values, morals, and traditions of a society, and also used to teach important lessons and convey cultural identity. Going by the current digital and technological reality obtained in the world today, it is required that folk information through folklore be made to conform to this digital age. Hence, the need to look into the means and ways by which folk information transmission is efficient and effective such that this information will not be lost along the way and preserved for future generations, through the adoption of modern-day mass communication technology.

This paper examines the relationship between folk information and digital age by showcasing an understanding of the impacts and effects of mass communication technology on the creation, transmission and preservation of folk information.

Yoruba Indigenous Folk Communication

In the day-to-day workings of the society, communication is required. Communication entails the passing and transmitting of ideas, concepts, and information from one person to another. According to Aarti (2009), communication is exchanging information in the form of messages, symbols, thoughts, signs and opinions” which are passed across through channels of communication. Also, Lievrouw (2006) considers communication as a process of sharing ideas, information, and messages with others in a particular time and place”. From the scholars’ conception of what communication is, it is evident that communication is a necessity which the society hold dear to their heart. Language conveys meaning and influences our way of man’s thinking. The primary function of a language is effective communication Tanyea et.al. (2016).

 

On indigenous communication, Mundy and Compton (1995) as seen in Ojebode (1999) note indigenous communication as the communication system that existed before the arrival of mass media and formally organized bureaucratic systems, and still exists today despite changes. Dalhatu (2014) also defines the indigenous communication as the communication system that has existed in our different communities before the coming of Radio, Television and Newspapers and have survived both the advent of these mass media and colonial government. From the views of these scholars, indigenous means of communication can be referred to as folk- communication.

 

Yorùbá indigenous folk communication refers to the traditional methods and practices of the Yorùbá people through which their beliefs, norms, values, as well as culture are communicated. These methods and practices include storytelling, proverbs, chants, songs, dance, and folklore. Coker (2012) has this to say about the Yoruba folklore: Owing to the fact that the verbal resources emanate from the Yoruba culture which was essentially oral, the survival of this resources are intrinsically linked to regular activities which ultimately ensure their continued existence.

More importantly, Odunola and Segun (2009) opine that those African folktales is enshrouded in myths and legends. Apart from being a great source of entertainment especially for the young, folktales have been identified as a great channel of oral tradition through which education and information is passed down from one generation another. The stories are often narrated in a way that encourages audience participation, with call and response patterns, repetition, and gestures. ‘À lọ́’ which is of two types; folktales (àlọ́ àpagbè) usually used for didactic purposes and folkriddles (àlọ́ àpamọ̀), a kind of indigenous verbal puzzle which aims at testing the thinking abilities of the children. Lineage praise (Oríkì) is another form of Yorùbá of folk communication.

 

In this Lineage praise, members of each lineage line are informed about the various events associated with their lineage. These include, their origin, ancestors, indigenous occupation, lineage taboo and tradition, information about their physique, and other information about their lineage. For these purposes, Ademuyiwa (2023) views lineage praise from an archetypal perspective.

Proverbs "òwe", which according to Mieder (1993) is a “short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation”, is also an important form of communication. These are short sayings, or phrases that contain wisdom, moral lessons, and advice. They are used in everyday conversations and are often used to settle disputes and provide guidance. Mieder (1993) also emphasizes that “Proverbs are concise traditional statements of apparent truths with currency among the folk”.

Proverb is short and apt because according to Odunola and Segun, (2009) is generally believed in Africa that too much talk on an important issue makes it to lose credence. Thus, proverbs are economical in the presentation of important and pertinent issue”. Songs and chants are used in Yorùbá traditional festivals and ceremonies. They are often accompanied by drumming, and the lyrics are filled with symbolism and cultural meaning. Dance is also an important form of Yorùbá folk communication. The movements and costumes used in traditional dances are often symbolic and represent important cultural values and beliefs of Yorùbá people.

Code talking, otherwise known as “ẹnà” is another variant of the Yorùbá indigenous communication system. This has to do with the linguistic manipulation of Yorùbá language. Apart from speaking direct Yorùbá language (the real language), Yorùbá people can also communicate in code through the re-arrangement, insertion, or elongation of the lexical or sentential linguistic level of Yorùbá language. This manner of communication according to Efemini and Adémùyíwá (2018) is òdì èdè which means ‘second phase’ of the language and it can be used for the purpose of secrecy.

Yorùbá people have different form of ẹnà pattern of communication which could be used either by certain groups of people or the society at large. For example, the consonant sound /g/ plus the vowel sound of a syllable can be inserted to separate each syllable in a word as shown below:

a.                  Ẹnà: Agà tigi dégé

SY: A ti dé

English: We have arrived.

b.                 Ẹnà: À gàwàgà làgàgbàgà, agadigì ̀rẹgẹ fungunfungun làgàgbàgà agadigì ̀rẹgẹ, àgàwaga làgàgbàgà

SY: À wa làgbà, adìrẹ funfun làgbà adìrẹ, àwa làgbà

English: We are the older one, the white fowl is the older fowl, we are older.

Another form of this variant of communication in Yorùbá language is an insertion of a bi-syllabic word “di” in between each syllable in a word as shown below:

a.                  Ẹnà: Adi tidi dedi.

    SY: A ti de.

    English: We have arrived.

b.                 Ẹnà: Adiwadi ladigbadi,        adididirẹdi      fundifundi ladigbadi adididirẹdi, adiwadi ladigbadi

SY: À wa làgbà, adìrẹ funfun làgbà adìrẹ, àwa làgbà

   English: We are the older one, the white fowl is an older fowl, we are older.

It will be difficult for a person who does not belong to the society or group that speak a form of ẹnà to understand what they are saying or to speak it like them. So, the coding and decoding of the pattern is restricted only to the members of the cult.

Another phase of Yorùbá indigenous communication which is worthy of notice in this paper is the aspect of non-verbal communication as a Yorùbá traditional way of passing information. This non-verbal communication simply means talking without speaking or using the mouth. One of the most important Yorùbá nonverbal communication is symbol talking (àrokò). This is a traditional way of sending signs to pass across messages. Such can be from one person to another or from one community to another. This system involves the mutual knowledge of the sender and receiver on the meaning attached to an object or collection of the materials passed around.

The meaning of each element is usually deduced through the name or socio-cultural function of the material. There is also a synergy between sign and religion affinities in Yorùbá society. Some particular elements are attached to certain religion that whenever an adherent of such religion or devotee of a deity uses a material that is symbolically connected to a religion or deity, he/she has communicated his/her religion without even saying anything, he/she has passed the message about his/her faith affinities.

Some of Yorùbá deities and their symbolic element are shown in the table below:

Deities	Colours	Drums	Beads	Materials
Ọbatala	White	igbiǹ	sẹ́sẹ́-ẹfun	ọ̀pá̀ òrìṣà
Ifa/Ọrunmila	White	aran/ipese	òtútù-opọ̀n	ikin/ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀
Sango	Red	Bata	Kele	Osé
Ọsun	white	lukoridi	Oyinde	O mi
Ogun	-	àgẹ̀rẹ̀	-	imọ̀ ọ̀pẹ
Èsù	black	-	-	yangí
Ò rìṣà-oko	-	Igbìn	-	Ò jé

Drum talking is also a significant non-verbal means of Yorùbá indigenous communication. Akpabio (2003) affirms that African drums are capable of “talking”. Oluga and Babalola (2012) term Yorùbá indigenous drum talking as drummunication which means an act of communicating with drum, and they refer to the drummer as drummunicator, which means a person who communicates with the drum. Apart from the fact that almost all Yorùbá drums are talking drums and that some drums signify deities as listed above, some drums are attached to symbolic meaning. When a member of society sees or hear the drums, he or she knows what the drums stand for. For example, in Ọ̀yọ́ town, they beat gbẹdu drum for the lamentation of the death of the king, they will say ‘wọ́n dá gbẹ̀du àkàlà’. (They beat the vulture’s gbẹ̀du). Once a member of the society hears the sound of this drum, he or she will certainly know that the king has died. In some Yorùbá communities, there is a kind of war drum (ìlù ogun) that they usually beat for war waging.

Yoruba Folk Communication in a Digital Age

Mass communication in these present times refers to the process of transmitting information, ideas, and messages to a large and multiplicity audience through various means. These means of transmission include but not limited to television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the internet to communicate to a large number of people at the same time. The development of modern mass communication can be considered as a blessing as it is having profound impact on society and has changed the way we communicate and interact with each other. Mass communication aims at providing information, and entertainment, influencing opinions and attitudes, as well as promoting social or political change in the society and the world at large.

Folklore has a significant role in mass communication as it helps to shape cultural identity, narratives, and beliefs. It has been used in various forms of media such as literature, radio, television, and film to create engaging stories that are relatable to a wide audience. Folklore often serves as a reflection of societal values, and mass media is a powerful tool for disseminating such stories to a broader audience. The use of folklore in mass communication can serve many purposes, from entertaining to educating and informing. It can be used as a tool for social commentary or to promote cultural awareness and understanding between different groups to preserve cultural heritage and traditions.

Because folklore is considered to be deeply rooted in cultures, the use of mass media can help spread folklores of different cultures from their locality to the world thereby making these cultures accessible to people across the world. Thus, there will be the globalization of folklore which will in promoting cultural exchange and understanding across cultures. Since mass communication plays such significant role in the creation, transmission and promotion of folklore, it is not gainsaying to say that as it will help to shape the cultural values and beliefs in society. This is because, folktales used as means to imbibe values and morals are showcased through mass media thereby enhancing the spread of these tales to a wider audience, making cultural exchange and understanding more accessible.

 In the digital world in which the Yoruba society is also following the global trends, it is pertinent to note that the folklore of the Yoruba people needs to be inculcated into the digital world and this is done in the following ways:

i. Recording of Oral traditions such as Yorùbá folktales, myths, and legends which is to be passed down for generations. Such recordings will make such folklore to be able to be preserved without the fear of the custodian of this Oral tradition passing away with them.

ii. There are many written works that chronicle Yorùbá folklore, including books, journals, and academic papers. Some of the most notable Yorùbá folklorists include Ulli Beier, Abiodun Oyewole, and Amos Tutuola. A lot of publications still needs to be done in this regard. Such publications should not derail from the main purpose as some books supposedly on Yoruba folklore are nothing to write home about.

iii. Museums and cultural centers in Yorùbá communities which will feature exhibits and displays that showcase Yorùbá folklore can be fully encouraged and supported. This is because these institutions can provide a wealth of information on Yorùbá mythology, traditions, and customs.

iv. Currently, there are many digital resources available that document and celebrate Yorùbá folklore. Websites, blogs, and social media platforms can provide access to stories, songs, and artwork from Yorùbá culture. Further engagement of people in these aspects will go a long way in making folklore digitalized.

Conclusion

It is evident that it is not a mere talk to say that folklore has come to stay in this world of ours, whether digital or not. This is because folklore is a living tradition, and Yorùbá folklore continues to evolve and change over time. As such, it is best to devise various folklore friendly digitalization which will serve as a source to gaining a comprehensive understanding, emulation and preservation of the Yorùbá folklore. The two means of Yorùbá folk communication were examined. The verbal means of communication involve code talking, storytelling, folktale and folk-riddles, proverbs and lineage praise while the non-verbal means of communication includes and drum talking. Ways by which traditional means of communication can be aided by digital materials was also discussed. These include recording of Oral traditions, encouraging more publications of folk information materials, need for establishment of more Museums and cultural centers and further engagement of people on the internet in the form of websites, social media platforms to fast track the process of making folklore digitalized.

 

This paper concludes that the business of preservation of folk information is a serious business and as such, there is need for all Yorùba people to be serious with the digitalization of the Yorùbá folk information and by extention the Yorùbá tribe as a whole. Placing the Yorùbá indigenous system in the digital world will enhance the popularity, preservation and relevance of Yorùbá indigenous folk information.

 

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