Concept of Traditional System of Communication

Concept of Traditional System of Communication                         

          Traditional system of communication has been in existence since creation, even though there have been changes which have in no small measure affected every aspect of human development. On its origin Okunna (1999) posits that communication is as old as humanity. The first human beings to inhabit the earth lived in cases; they cooked and behaved more like apes. It also confirmed that even during these pre-historic time, some communication exists. Before the development of language, communication was mostly through touch (tactile communication) and vocal signals. Ugboajah (1995) asserts that “traditional communication are grounded on indigenous culture produced and consumed by members of a group”, that the simple message transmission and feedback matrix that goes on between the chief of a village and his villagers through the medium of a gong man or other modes that include drums, market forums, village square and other meetings, rites and rituals festivals can be seen through these medium mentioned above.

          Wilson (1987) viewed traditional of communication as “those media which have not been dislocated seriously by western culture or any other external forces”.

          According to Ogbuoshi (2010) traditional system of communication are those forms or channels through which members of traditional societies share information, ideas, attitudes that can help the members of such groups to solve their problems and to be happy with each other. In traditional societies, there are various types of communication channels such as town criers, drums, flukes and smokes. Time immemorial, the African society was a virgin society. It was the period when societies was natural in its political, social, economic and cultural settings. At this time, they had never had contacts with other countries of the world especially the western countries. Traditional communication is the system of communication obtainable in the traditional society. Some call it indigenous communication while others call it folk media Ugboaja refers to it as oramedia. Wilson (1990) capture the concept of traditional communication as “a admixture of social conventions and practices which have become sharpened and blended into veritable communication models and system which almost become standard practice for society”.

          Traditional media of communication is a system of communication that is obtainable in rural or ancient communities. Traditional media of communication involves the use of traditional channels such as; town crier, drums, gunshots, gongs, trumpet, flute, palm frond, age grade, masquerade, animals, schools and churches etc to communicate to the ruralities (p.23).

          Talking drums particularly were common among all humans societies. Taking drums could be used to praise, to call, to motivate soldier at battle front, to incite during civil style, to greet, insult and to pass all sorts of information as the case may be. It is interesting to note that despite the modern inventions and technological advancement, we still use the traditional media means to make contact, on top of our voice, to call or communicate to someone far away from us. In traditional societies, we still use facial expression to communicate to one another especially when we do not want people to understand what we are saying. It appears according to Ugboaja (1995) that there is no amount of innovation and invention that can eliminate the traditional media of communication from human society. This is true because, the human race is yet to develop a device that can interpret the thoughts, feelings and ideas in the minds of individuals, unless he has expressed these thoughts, mood, facial expressions in words. So, it is clear that from time immemorial, human beings have been communicating among themselves. So communication is as old as the human race. During that time, communities were in their virgin form, and each community among the traditional society was known as traditional system of communication. The traditional media of communication is rooted in the cultural systems of communities. As society advances, civilization started, and men invented modern systems of communication. In the present day, traditional systems of communication have survived and are still used except that modern systems of communication are dominant. So people are now integrating traditional systems into modern systems of communication are swallows or cannibalizing the traditional system. Traditional communication involves all the social conventions and practices, modes of speech and social organizations whose chief concerns may not be with communication but with other activities (p.24).

2.2.3  Nature and Characteristics of Traditional                                               Communication

          Traditional media of communication is a complex system of communication which pervades all aspects of rural and urban life in Africa. It is complex in the sense that it is not only one system but a network of media systems, which operates at various levels of society. In reality, it is simple in its operation and it depends on trust for its credibility.

          It displays different types of characteristics which makes it unique. These characteristics include; its dynamism and it is also a multimedia with multichannel system. It is authoritative, culture bound, credible, definitive time, time honoured, transactional, customary, ubiquitous, integrative, low cost, non-alienating, adoptable and invariably popular.

          They are usually unvalued and marginalized by those who do not know them. They share many things in common, some are verbal others are symbolic communication in forms. They are utilitarian in nature. Some are purely for leisure and they utilized by a fixed number of people in a hamlet, village and small segment of people. Many of them are used for teaching while some are used for initiation into age groups (Ogbuoshi, 2010).

2.2.4 Role of Traditional system of communication

          Traditional system of communication plays vital roles in the traditional societies. Some of the roles include the followings:

i.                   It is used in mobilizing people: Traditional media are used in mobilizing people at the grassroots level, towards community development and national consciousness. Through mobilization, people contribute their quota in community development.

ii.                 It helps to preserve culture: It helps for cultural identity in a community and also to preserve and promote cultural heritage of a community. Traditional communication is rooted in the culture of the people concerned. So, it helps to maintain cultural identity as well as preservation and promotion.

iii.              It promotes peace and unity: Traditional communication promotes peace and unity in the community. Through communication, people understand each other better and this promote healthy understanding in the community, which will in turn promote peace and unity.

iv.              It encourages social interaction: Traditional communication encourages social interaction among the community residents. Through communication, people participate in social functions and ceremonies.

v.                 It is used for entertainment: Traditional media of communication through various cultural programmes entertain people in the community, thereby making appreciate their culture. These culture programmes include; art and cultural festivals/musical shows, dramatic performance by choral and masquerade groups, and the musical and theatrical groups.

vi.              Belief and trust: The traditional societies are trusted, and the majority of the people seem to believe in what comes out of them and supplement them with whatever additional information that may filter through opinion levels about events and occasion.

vii.            It is also a source of cultural, political, health and other educational and enlightenment programmes for the masses, leading them towards self actualization and national development.

viii.         It is equally used for intracultural, intercultural and communication purposes, leading to group and national unity. Yam festival is a typical example of large traditional communication setups, which brings about intercultural and mass communication (Ogbuoshi, 2010).

2.2.5 Problems of Traditional System of Communication

          There are numerous problems facing the traditional system of communication in Nigeria such as:

i.                   There are no universal appropriate languages that can be applied to all similar and identical concepts at the rural setting. This problem as its origin in the diversity of languages in Nigeria, and contributes to the scanty audience we find in many rural settings. There is absence of appropriate language which can be universally applied in the description analysis, and conceptualization of the media.

ii.                 The traditional society’s technology cannot transcend space and other barriers as we find in the western communication system. This apparently results in problem of time value of information between the western and the traditional media of communication system.

iii.              The diversity which exists in the traditional political system, and the relative conflict between it and the adopted system which usually requires the use of certain media structures, polices and facilities. It should be noted that what affects the political systems invariably affects the communication process.

iv.              The socio-economic problem: The socio-economic development in a country, influences the communication activities of each society but does not support the limited reach and effectiveness. The traditional society suffers from poor economic and social conditions, and they have to be improved so as to promote their systems of communication.

v.                 Scientific and technological problem: The present level of development of the media and channels of communication in the society is low because of the technical hardware are not easily preserved even though they can be produced cheaply. Also, there is low level of scientific explanations. There is no logical analysis.

vi.              High level of acceptance on the credibility is limited to the area of operation. In traditional communicatioDismiss

 n, the channels of communication are usually peculiar to a particular community and as such may not have the same influence and functions in another community (Ogbuoshi, 2010).

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