Probing the Relevance of Some Northern Sotho Proverbs in the 21st Century through Rakoma’sMarema-Ka-Dikatša Sesotho saLebowa: a Socio-cultural Evolution Model

Abstract

The aim of this study is to probe the relevance of some Northern Sotho proverbs in the 21^st century through Rakoma’sMarema-Ka-Dikatša Sesotho saLebowa by endeavouring tooutline and present Northern Sotho proverbs for interrogation, analysis and interpretation in order to establish their efficacy in contemporary society. Proverbs form an integral part of the Northern Sotho language in that the language is not aesthetically complete without them. In the 18^th century, Northern Sotho proverbswere only oral (not written) in that they were transmitted from one generation to another by word of mouth. Rakoma collected all available, valuablewealth of frequently used Northern Sotho proverbs and compiled a book called Marema – ka- dika: Tṡa Sesotho saLebowa in order to preserve them for posterity.This study contends that some of these proverbs must be scrapped because they do not edify contemporary society. Socio-cultural Evolution Model which seeks to “understand the relationship between technologies, social structure, the values of a society, and how and why they change with time”(Lenski, 2005:1), underpins this qualitative study. Rakoma’sMarema – ka- dika: Tṡa Sesotho saLebowa waspurposively sampled because of its relevance to the study, and then probed through the textual analysis technique.  This study recommends thatirrelevant proverbs be scrapped from use in all platforms in favour of progressive ones for the benefit and development of humanity.