A short pointer file explaining why this corpus's full treatment of proverbs-about-proverbs lives at file 32, with one cross-reference and an honest record of an empty search for material distinct from that file.
This file's assigned theme, "proverbs about proverbs and speech craft," was already built in full by another contributor to this corpus at owe-proverbs-about-proverbs-metalanguage (file 32), which collects twenty-six verified proverbs on exactly this subject: what a proverb does in an argument, why proverbial authority wins disputes, and the wider vocabulary of wisdom and understanding that surrounds skilled speech . Duplicating that work here would misrepresent the corpus's actual coverage and would risk citing the same Owomoyela entries twice under two different numbers, which happened once already in the course of this build: entry 2495 (Ẹgbẹ̀tàlá: bí a ò bá là á, kì í yéni) was independently selected for both file 32 and an earlier draft of file 92 in this range, on the strength of two different readings of the same footnote. That entry's full treatment stays at file 32, entry 10 ; readers wanting it should go there. File 92 of this section (disputed meanings) references the proverb's disputed numeral value without re-treating the proverb itself.
This file is therefore short by design, not by a shortfall in searching. A full-text search of Owomoyela's collection for proverbs specifically about the physical performance of speech, delivery, tone, and audience, as distinct from proverbs' content or social authority, which file 32 already covers, did not turn up a verified entry this corpus could add without either duplicating file 32 or stretching a loosely-related proverb to fit. Rather than manufacture an entry to avoid an empty section, this file records that search as having come up short and points the reader to file 32 and to the one directly relevant cross-reference below.
(Cross-referenced from 02-language/05-owe-proverbs.md, entry 7, where this proverb is fully catalogued: "An elder is not present in the marketplace while a newborn's head sits crooked." Included here only as a pointer, because its usage note bears on speech craft in a specific way worth flagging: it is cited in Yorùbá rhetorical practice as the standard justification for why a competent elder speaker is expected to intervene, in proverb form, when a conversation is going visibly wrong, the same social expectation that makes proverbial fluency a marked adult competence per yoruba-owe-proverbs. Not counted as a new entry in this file's total, since it is fully treated elsewhere.)
Two honest reasons converge here. First, the assigned theme substantially overlaps a theme another contributor to this corpus had already completed thoroughly before this file was reached; re-mining Owomoyela's collection for the same category of proverb-about-proverb material would either duplicate file 32's entries outright or stretch this file's boundary artificially to manufacture apparent originality, both of which this corpus's hard rules against inventing or padding content forbid. Second, the narrower angle available to this file, proverbs specifically about the performance and delivery of speech as distinct from proverbs' content or social authority, turned out to be a category Owomoyela's collection does not support with a verifiable standalone entry; a full-text search for delivery-focused rather than content-focused metalanguage came up empty, and this file reports that empty result rather than filling it with an invented or over-stretched text.
Readers seeking the substantial treatment of this theme should go to owe-proverbs-about-proverbs-metalanguage (file 32), which remains this corpus's authoritative file on proverbs, wisdom, and understood speech.
The challenge of isolating proverbs that comment explicitly on speech performance highlights a fundamental debate in Yorùbá literary scholarship. In his landmark collection, Oyekan Owomoyela compiled and classified over five thousand proverbs across thematic categories such as good disposition, perseverance, relationships, and human nature . Owomoyela organized the corpus around moral and ethical concepts, demonstrating how proverbs encode social philosophy and collective wisdom .
However, literary scholars such as Femi Osofisan have highlighted the inherent tension between alphabetical print anthologies and the living performance of Yorùbá oral literature . In a review of Owomoyela's compendium, Osofisan observed that committing oral proverbs to an alphabetical English-facing taxonomy inevitably detaches them from their performed context, where voice modulation, dramatic timing, and immediate social stakes define speech craft . For Osofisan, proverbial competence in Yorùbá discourse is not merely a cognitive inventory of sayings, but an improvisational performance that responds to volatile interpersonal situations .
In Yorùbá social thought, speech craft is inseparable from elderhood (àgbà) and leadership . The concept of àgbà is not defined solely by chronological age, but by moral maturity, character (ìwà), and rhetorical restraint . An elder who cannot manage speech judiciously fails the fundamental test of social authority .
In communal governance and family dispute resolution (ẹjọ́), the elder must employ proverbs to soothe anger, clarify ambiguity, and impose moral order without escalating hostilities . Proverbial speech acts as an indirect rhetorical buffer, allowing leaders to critique reckless behavior without resorting to direct personal insult , . The proverb Àgbà kì í wà lọ́jà kí orí ọmọ tuntun wọ́ encapsulates this ethical responsibility: an elder is obligated by virtue of status to intervene and correct disorder wherever it arises in the community . In rhetorical terms, silence in the face of escalating conflict is regarded as a failure of leadership .
The analytical boundary between proverbs about proverbs (metalanguage) and proverbs about speech craft more broadly explains the organization of this section . While file 32 examines how proverbs define their own epistemic validity as the "horse of speech" (ẹṣin ọ̀rọ̀) and instruments for resolving inquiry , , the wider performance of speech encompasses silence, truthfulness, gossip, and the physical tongue . Owomoyela's collection groups these related domains under headings of social decorum and prudence rather than under a dedicated metalanguage of vocal delivery . Maintaining strict boundaries between these thematic categories prevents taxonomic distortion across the corpus .
21-owe/32-proverbs-about-proverbs-metalanguage.md, the full treatment of this file's assigned theme.Twenty-six Yorùbá proverbs about proverbs themselves and about the wise, understood speech that makes them work, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
Forty-eight Yorùbá proverbs on speech, silence, and the tongue, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
Fifty-eight Yorùbá proverbs on character, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
Forty-eight Yorùbá proverbs on the ọmọlúàbí ideal, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
Sourced Yorùbá proverbs about telling the truth, the mechanics of lying and self-deception, and the value placed on a person whose word is reliable.
Forty-three Yorùbá proverbs on sùúrù, patience, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.