God is Life: A Sociolinguistic and Ethnopragmatic Conceptualization of Chi in Igbo Naming Practices

Abstract

Personal naming culture among the Igbos in South-eastern Nigeria is ethnopragmatically conceived to contextualize their collective worldview which communicates their religious and sociocultural connections. This paper explores an aspect of Igbo naming practices which shows the diverse conceptualization of Chi (God) from an ethnopragmatic perspective that situate names and meanings within the language and religious interpretations. Data for the study were generated through participant observation, semi-structured interviews and informal interactions with 40 recruited participants as representative sample of the name-givers, bearers and users among Mbaise and Ngwa people in Aboh Mbaise and Aba North Local Government Areas in Imo and Abia States of Nigeria. Findings show that the personal names contextualize Igbo Christians’ conceptualization of Chi as supreme, virtuous, extolling and trustworthy, giver of wealth and a faithful promise keeper. We conclude that Chi has a deepened value in the Igbo sociocultural and religious beliefs nuanced in their naming practices that construct particular circumstance(s) of the name bearer, parents and community. The emerging orientations expand the ethnopragmatic functions of the personal names beyond linguistic and sociocultural identities to situate Igbo as a society with supreme attachment to Christian religion, reverence to, and propagation of the virtues and nature of God.