Pretentious Performance of Language Use in Marriage Rituals in the Urhobo Culture

Abstract

Culture being the totality of the way of the life of the people is full of many intricacies and complexities. The Urhobo people of the Niger Delta is not exempted from this display. Marriage as a union that ties two families together in the tradition as one of the ways to showcase their heritage. Marriage activities in the Urhobo culture are very complex. Complex in the sense that the processes involve are characterized with aesthetic performances that needs a practitioner. The purpose of this paper therefore, is to itemize, review and to analyse the pretentious acts displayed during marriage rituals in the Urhobo culture. It was discovered from the data presented and analysed from the begging to the end of the marriage rituals is characterized with dramatic acts of pretence wherein a lot of euphemistical words are used having pragmatic effects. It was observed that the key two actors (spokesmen) who must be men must be very conscious and knowledgeable in the tradition as to avoid chaos and misunderstanding. It was concluded that the display of these pretentious words in the course of the marriage rituals are not meant to deceive but to show connotative meaning of the words, the beauty of the rituals, the richness of the culture among other things.