Abstract:
The African has been a creator, performer and a lover of verbal art for centuries.
He has created and handed down (orally) to successive generations an organic
library of songs, poems, narratives, proverbs, riddles and many other oral literary
forms, such as appellations. In our African societies, appellations, as well as many
other oral literary forms, do not only show their aesthetic qualities and values
through their literary devices, but also they contribute in the moral up-bringing of
the African child, and play some other important roles in the field of language and
culture. The role of the genre in socio-cultural development of the people of
Asogli cannot be overemphasized. In this study, I use Sapir-Whorf linguistic
relativity hypothesis to discuss the sociolinguistics of the appellations in the
Asogli state in the Volta region of Ghana. Appellations can be said to be
identifying word or words, by which someone or something is called and classified
and distinguished from others. The research is aimed, among others, at tracing the
source of the appellations, bringing to light the meanings of the appellations, and
find out the spiritual connotations and beliefs surrounding them. It is also
important for this study to identify the place of these appellations in the lives of
the people of the Asogli state. Having drawn data from all the traditional areas that
make up the original Asogli state, I carefully analyzed it, using descriptive
method. It has been found out that, most of the appellations emanated as a result of
the Ashanti-Asogli war, and the migration of the Ewes from Ŋɔtsɛ. Careful
examination of the meanings of the appellations also revealed that, to some extent,
the worldview of the Asoglis are influenced by their appellations. Again, I
observed that some of the appellations are backed by beliefs and the spirits of the
land. The spirits are normally invoked by the mention of the appellations.
