A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree of Licencié en Pédagogie Appliquée, Agrégé de l'enseignement secondaire en Anglais.

Résumé,

The present study entitled a pragmatic study of some identified Kirundi proverbs related to the Concept of Intelligence, aims at unveiling the implied meanings of the Kirundi proverbs related to the concept of intelligence. To achieve this, the researrcher formulated the following hypotheses : "Proverbs related to the concept of intelligence embed two types of meaning that is, literal and implied meaning. The illocutionary force of the proverbs related to the concept of intelligence has an impact on the hearer. Two or more proverbs related to the concept of intelligence can interchangeably be used in the same context of use". Therefore, a recorded interview instrument on fourteen sampled informants, seven men and seven women aged from 40 and above was conducted in Bugendana Commune of Gitega Province. Data were collected, presented and analysed. The interpretation of the data helped me to answer the formulated research questions. Referring to the data, the researcher has determined the respective locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutonary force of the sampled proverbs and determined which ones are contextually interchangeable. The proverbs were categorized into ten themes and the hypotheses were validated. The study closes with recommendations to the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture and Communication, Kirundi Language Teachers, Mass media Editors, parents and Kirundi Language Speakers to promote those proverbs.