THE SPEECH FORM OF PROVERBS AND RIDDLES IN CHISHONA UNDER SIEGE

Proverbs and riddles are representative samples of any African language’s rich tapestry. They form the distilled wisdom of a nation or ethnic group. Proverbs and riddles as parts of speech, form the curriculum of the social traditional higher education for transmission and practice of a nation’s values, beliefs, knowledge system and legislative framework. This article seeks to explore the threats and consequences of language change and development befalling the continued use of proverbs and riddles in everyday human speech communication by the current generation. Technological development, migration across boundaries, social change necessitated by improved infrastructure and communication networks has become agents of language and culture change. The change has perpetuated the gradual disuse of proverbs in modern interactive speech.