Auteur(s)
MAZUNDA PASI Oscar
Mots-clés
Riddle, definition, yaka language and culture.Résumé
Despite the massive cultural shift in Africa owing to the impact of colonialism and globalization, folklore has remained resilient and retained its place in most societies in Africa, and by extension, the Yaka society. Riddle as a genre of folklore has equally survived technological advancements and has continued to play great roles in shaping the life and actions of Yaka people. Riddling is carried out by the Yaka people mostly at night after a day’s work and play significant roles which are both latent and manifest. It is fallacious to believe that riddles are an exclusive preserve of children because it is performed by people of all ages, gender and social status; and plays educative, social, intellectual and cosmological roles. It is therefore not out of place to encourage its continuous practice even beyond the Yaka cosmology. This paper therefore takes a look at the importance of riddles in Yaka cosmology using the functionalist theory as its framework. Data for this study is collected orally from native speakers of Yaka language within the Camp-Luka municipal of Kinshasa city. Findings from the analysis of the collected riddles show that riddles are functionally dynamic to YAKA people and serve the purposes of entertainment, memory training and didactism among others.
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