Classifying Mwaghavul Idioms

Abstract

This study explores idiomatic expressions and attempts their classification in the Mwaghavul language, a West Chadic language of the Afro-Asiatic phylum spoken in some parts of Plateau State, Nigeria. The study uses data collected in the natural linguistic area of Mwaghavul through face-to-face interviews with seven informants who are competent native speakers of the language. The analysis of the data is carried out within the framework of Peirce’s pragmatic theory of meaning and in view of the classification of idioms in significant works in the linguistic literature, notably Cacciari and Glucksberg (1991). The study describes several idiomatic expressions in Mwaghavul language and groups them into two main types, namely opaque idioms, otherwise referred to as decoding idioms (idioms in which there are no obvious semantic relations between the meaning of the idioms’ constituents and the idioms’ meaning), and transparent idioms otherwise referred to as encoding idioms (idioms in which there are obvious semantic relations between the meaning of the idioms’ constituents and the idioms’ meaning). The study concludes that these two types of idiomatic expression are used by Mwaghavul native speakers on a daily basis and contribute to the wealth of expression in the language.