Stubborn Child Keep Quiet, Let Me Touch Your Mother’s Breast: An Ethnopragmatic Dimension of Efik Lullabies

This study examines, from an ethnopragmatic perspective, how the Efik people in Akpabuyo Local Government Area, Cross River State, Southern Nigeria, use lullabies to transmit language, indigenous values, cultural wisdom, and meaning. The study explores their philosophical categorisation and subjective interpretations, highlighting their role beyond child-soothing functions. Ethnographic qualitative data were gathered through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and metalinguistic conversations with twenty participants aged 25–70 who have participated in lullaby performances. Findings reveal that Efik lullabies serve not only therapeutic purposes but also symbolic and communicative functions. They confer value and status on children, praise God, comment on difficult marital experiences, and negotiate sexual relations. The findings further show that the meanings these lullabies convey are deeply embedded in the sociocultural experiences and worldview of the Efik people. The study therefore shows that lullabies function as important communicative resources through which cultural knowledge and social values are expressed and transmitted across generations. The study deepens understanding of how Efik lullabies serve as vital cultural resources for preserving and disseminating Efik worldviews, values, cosmology, and lived experiences within their indigenous sociocultural context.