ISSN 2360-7998
Abstract
Accepted 14thOctober, 2020.
The word love may be said to be user-friendly in the sense that it is liable to diverse meanings. Love connotes a strong feeling or deep affection for something. This could be a member of your own family or friend. Thus, one could love his/her wife/husband, children, parents or neighbours. The paper makes an appraisal of theexpressions of love between couples in Traditional and contemporary Tiv society. The study is motivated by the need to fill the void in studies on love especially amongst Tiv couples. The study employed the primary source in observation and oral interview and the secondary sources in books, journals, newspapers/magazines and e-sources. The study established that there were several ways by which couples expressed lovebetween themselves in Tiv Traditional Society. These signs were noticeable during courtship and after the couple had married. Signs of love amongst married couples could be seen in hugging, eating together, feeding each other with morsels/pieces of meat and exchange of gift items like handkerchief, etc. The study further established that love breeds respect between the couples and strengthened the family bond. The paper also observed that money seems to have taken over love and its expression in contemporary Tiv society as kindness, unselfishness, helping, smilingetc which expresses genuine love no longer count, money is the vogue such that a person who gives a lady much money is said to love her.The paper calls for the sustenance and enhancement of love amongst couples hence love is the greatest of all things and conquers all things (Cf. 1Cor. 12:31; 13:13)
Keywords:Love, Expression, Couples, Tiv Traditional Society