Abstract
Proverbs are words full of wisdom which are used to warn, advise, criticize, educate, tease and ridicule members of society. Long ago, they were passed on from generation to generation through word of mouth. Nowadays they are available even in written texts.
There is limited research conducted on siSwati and isiZulu proverbs, especially on literary works, hence the study purposes to provide a detailed critical analysis of siSwati and isiZulu proverbs identified in selected literary works such as short stories, poetry and drama. The study adopted the qualitative approach to data analysis and the textual and critical analysis methods were used. The focus was mostly on data which was collected from existing literary texts and thereafter transcribed and analysed. The theories relevant in the analysis were also applied to make the research more grounded. These include: The Relevance Theory, Cultural Criticism and Kamera’s approach to proverb analysis.
Moreover, the proverbs were critically analysed in terms of their origin, linguistic/grammatical and poetic structures, literal, figurative and contextual meanings. The roles of the proverbs in the literary works, as well as the author’s intentions in their use, were also discovered. It was then concluded that, indeed writers make use of proverbs together with other stylistic devices to display their creativity, enrich their dictions and to set the tone, mood and atmosphere in their stories. The proverbs also assist the writers tackle sensitive subjects, judge and ridicule bad behaviour or commend good and socially acceptable behaviour.
Thus, the study recommends that more contextual studies be conducted on proverbs and even idioms so as to uncover more about these distinct genres of literature.