« Ifá sait la parole, l'histoire, les proverbes » (Yoruba, Nigeria)

The approach to the notion of speech by the Yorubas is treated on two levels. The level of the real where the basic terms and proverbs linked to speech are analysed and the spiritual level where the myth of origine is examined. The analysis of the myth establishes a relation between the two levels : speech, conceived as an extraordinary energy fragmented in order to be accessible to man, is reunified by the proverb which is its most accomplished manifestation.