Nigerian Greetings

As learned in class, every culture/society uses language. Language is used to communicate with other people, and can be expressed through words, body language, sounds, etc. Language is used to not only evoke emotions and thoughts, but also to display power, social hierarchy, a sign of respect. This falls in line with the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis , which is

the notion that language shapes our experiences and our perceptions

(class notes). In other words, this means that

language determines behavior, a people's way of life (culture), and conditions our worldview

(Tabang and Kachua 2019: 99). This brings the topic of morality in Nigerian societies, especially through greetings.

Greetings

According to the Collins English Dictionary, a greeting is:

something friendly that you say or do when you meet someone

(Collins English Dictionary nd: np) (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/greeting). This is further elaborated in Femi Akindele’s article in which he described greetings as:

the exchange or good wishes between two people interacting for the purpose of fulfilling social obligations, or for the establishment of interpersonal relationships

(Akindele 2019: 1-2)(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09544169008717707?journalCode=cjac19). Based on these definitions,greetings can be thought of as a cultural practice which is described below.

Morality

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, morality is:

conformity to ideals of right human conduct

(Merriam-Webster Dictionary nd: np) (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morality). In an article written by Adeyinka and Ndwapi, they define morality, in regards to character development, as

the possession of good character, good conduct, and positive attitude to societal norms, rules, and regulations. It is the exhibition of a behavior that is in line with social expectations

(Adeyinka and Ndwapi 2002: 20). (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1468-0122.00225). Morality is an important concept in that it serves as one of the primary focuses on character development in African societies. In many African societies, respect, obedience, honesty, and integrity are characteristic traits taught for children to maintain in their lives and give onto others. This ties to greetings in which physical and verbal greeting serves as one way to uphold those valued moral characteristics.

Greetings as a Cultural Practice

Greetings can be considered as a cultural practice because it is an activity every society takes part in, and it varies from one society to another. It is a very widespread cultural practice because it starts off a conversation. Depending on the Nigerian community and who makes up that community determines the style of greetings that occurs in that society. In Hausa/Fulani communities, these people greet one another by squatting (First picture above). The Igbo communities greet people similarly to Americans in which the women embrace each other while the men shake hands (Second picture above). On the other hand, the Yoruba communities greet in which the woman kneels down while the man lies prostrate (Third picture above) (Nottidge et al. 2019: 132) (https://www.ajol.info/index.php/gmj/article/view/187709). This is to note that although greetings like these occur very often in these communities, these forms of greetings are more so reserved for greeting elders or people older than you.

These communities participate in such practice for several reasons. In the Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba communities, they believe that one should treat elders in a higher regard than other people in similar age group or younger. They squat/prostrate/kneel as a sign of respect for their elders, which includes their parents. As a distinction, the Hausa/Fulani men squat versus prostrate because living in mostly northern parts of Africa and Nigeria, many of them practice Islam (or are Muslim), and they reserve prostrate to when praising the Allah (Tabang and Kachua, 2019) (https://oapub.org/lit/index.php/EJLLL/article/view/96/126).

This different way of greeting is beneficial to these communities and might help them survive and thrive in various ways. By engaging in this style of greeting, it most likely provides a sense of social tranquility and stability in which everyone in the community understands the hierarchy of people within the family and in the community. To elaborate on this, if every child is raised to conduct himself/herself in a particular way toward others, there would be no confusion on who should have more or less social status. Adopting this sort of practice allows for this community to have strong moral obligations and conduct which will make work ethic and teamwork easier. In addition, these forms of greetings minimizes negative feelings or misunderstanding amongst one another which makes communication between everyone much smoother. Nigeria being a country that is dependent on teamwork, social interactions, and collectivism, having a set way of greeting and properly executing it would produce less tension and negative energy between people which, in turn, would make team tasks less stressful.

Learn More

Much more can be learned about this unique style of greeting. Akindele points out in his article that besides the action of greeting, what is said can vary especially in Yoruba communities (Akindele 2019: 2) (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09544169008717707?journalCode=cjac19). Verbal greetings are usually dependent on some factors such as sex, age, and status. A woman is expected to greet a man first unless the woman is considerably older than the man in which the man/boy would greet her first due to her age. In addition, author Folarin Schleicher mentioned in her article how for the same phrase, there’s even different words one would use when speaking to a person their age versus and an adult; in addition to different phrases said during special situations (i.e. seeing a pregnant woman, festivals, holidays, etc) (Folarin Schleicher 1997: 341) (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1997.tb05493.x). Lastly, Nwoye mentions in his article how feelings and emotions (happiness, concern, sympathy, etc) can be depicted at the start on a conversation just based on the type of greeting that was said (Nwoye 1993: 40-41) (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1771763).

Works Cited

Adeyinka, Augustus A., and Gaolekwe Ndwapi. 2002. “Education and Morality in Africa.” Pastoral Care in Education 20(2): 17–23. Retrieved October 1,2019 (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1468-0122.00225).

Akindele, Femi. 1990. “A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Yoruba Greetings.” African Languages and Cultures 3(1): 1–14. Retrieved October 1, 2019. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09544169008717707?journalCode=cjac19).

“Greeting Definition and Meaning: Collins English Dictionary.” Greeting Definition and Meaning, Collins English Dictionary, Retrieved October 1, 2019. (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/greeting).

“Morality.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, Retrieved October 1, 2019. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morality.

Nottidge, Bolanle A., et al. 2019. “Development and Structural Validity of a Nigerian Culture- and Environment-Friendly Low Back Pain Outcome Measure: Ibadan Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire.” Ghana Medical Journal 53(2): 126-134. Retrieved October 1, 2019 (https://www.ajol.info/index.php/gmj/article/view/187709).

Nwoye, Onuigbo G. 1993. "An Ethnographic Analysis of Igbo Greetings." African Languages and Cultures, 6(1): 37-48. Retrieved October 1, 2019 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/1771763).

Schleicher, Antonia Folarin. 1997. “Using Greetings to Teach Cultural Understanding.” The Modern Language Journal 81(3): 334–343. Retrieved October 1, 2019 (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1997.tb05493.x).

Tabang, Bisong M., and Effumbe Kachua. 2019. “Language and Behavioural Patterns of the Hausas, Igbos, and Yorubas of Nigeria.” European Journal of Literature, Language, and Linguistics Studies 3(1): 97-109. Retrieved October 1, 2019 (https://oapub.org/lit/index.php/EJLLL/article/view/96/126).