SOMALI PROVERBS AND POEMS AS ACCULTURATION INDICES

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Band 34, Heft 4, S. 552-559

Abstract

The investigation attempted to test the hypothesis among Somalis that there would be a positive r between knowledge of proverbs & poems & the degree of acculturation. Groups of nomads, semi-nomads, & students in a teachers-training Coll were asked to supply proverbs & poems related to particular topics, & they also sought to complete the 2nd half of traditional proverbs whose 1st half was provided by the investigator. The knowledge of the nomads signif'ly exceeded that of the seminomads; the elite students, however, fell in-between the other 2 groups. The good performance of the students is explained in terms of their patriotic interest in their country's tradition. Whether or not proverbs & poems were retained, therefore, depended on the function they served for each group. AA.