Linguistic Features of Traditional Birth Attendant Communication in Ebonyi State

Traditional birth attendants remain important figures in maternal healthcare delivery in many rural Nigerian communities, and their communicative practices with expectant mothers carry significant consequences for maternal health behaviour, institutional referral patterns, and birth outcome experiences. This study examines the linguistic features of traditional birth attendant communication with pregnant women in Ebonyi State, focusing on directive language, explanatory discourse, and emotional support communication. Data were collected through audio-recorded consultations between six traditional birth attendants and twelve pregnant clients in two rural communities in Afikpo North and Ohaozara LGAs, with participants' informed consent secured. The recordings were transcribed and analysed for directive speech act frequency, hedging strategies, biomedical terminology integration, and emotional co-construction sequences. Results show that directive speech acts constitute the largest pragmatic category in all recorded consultations, delivered predominantly in direct unhedged form consistent with the attendants' authoritative community role. Explanatory discourse is characterized by extensive use of indigenous metaphor and analogy rather than biomedical vocabulary, facilitating client comprehension in a culturally resonant framework. Emotional support communication is present in all consultations but is brief and formulaic, concentrated at greeting and closing sequences. The study discusses implications for community health communication training and advocates for linguistically-informed integration of traditional birth attendants into referral pathway communication. Keywords: traditional birth attendants, health communication, Ebonyi State, directive speech acts, maternal health.