Formulaic Creativity and Oral Versification in Tiv Dirges

Abstract

The oral formula is a creative or innovative possibility and prospect for oral versification in contemporary society. Using three dirges of Tiv traditional singers, the theory of oral formulaic composition is re-lived with the attempt to re-prove its applicability. This work explores the ontological possibilities of rethinking the oral-formulaic theory in the process of oral verse-making and exhumes diverse shades of inspiration for contemporary consideration to orature. The study reveals that Tiv dirges consist of metrical words and/or lines by means of formulas and formulaic thematic expressions. The aim is to verify the secret behind the nature and process of verbal composition and performance and to articulate the reason Tiv dirges possess the kind of characteristics they have. The dirges belong to a tradition of oral verse-making, created through a traditional style of learning, memorizing, composing, performing, and audience participation. The formula is not a strictly spontaneous approach which stifles the poet’s poetic grammar into a static, almost impersonal, technical language. Rather, within the inherited formulaic, imagistic and ancestral traditions, the Tiv singer can develop a unique brand of poetic grammar with which to express their personality and aesthetic views, the same way a language speaker can have their own idiolect. The formulaic study is, therefore, an important tool for investigating Tiv vernacular poetry, both from the viewpoint of its aesthetic qualities and the degree of its yielded-ness to the oral traditional and/or formulaic style.