Browsing by Author "Amuzu, E.K."

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Bilingual serial verb constructions: A comparative study of Ewe-English and Ewe-French codeswitching
(Lingua, 2013-12) Amuzu, E.K.
The paper compares serial verb constructions (SVCs) in Ewe-English and Ewe-French codeswitching (CS) spoken in Ghana and Togo respectively. It argues that Ewe, the Matrix Language (ML) in both cases, sets the morphosyntactic frames of bilingual SVCs and, thus, determines their structural possibilities. It demonstrates this by looking at the various properties of SVCs in monolingual Ewe (including monoclausality and the expression of aspect and modality categories) and comparing them to the ones found in Ewe-English and Ewe-French CS structures. It also demonstrates this by looking at the expression of complex motion using Talmy's (2000) typology. Although English and French belong to different types with English being satellite-framed and French being verb-framed, and, although neither language has SVCs, complex motion is expressed in CS with SVCs. The facts are accounted for by using Myers-Scotton's (1993, 2002) Matrix Language Frame model. One major significance of the paper is that it is the first cross-linguistic study of bilingual SVCs. It predicts that for bilingual SVCs to be characteristic of CS, the ML has to have SVCs even if the other language, the embedded language, does not have them. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.
Codeswitching in Academic Discussions: A Discourse Strategy by Students in the University of Education, Winneba
(University of Ghana, 2013-07) Quarcoo, M.; Dako, K.; Amuzu, E.K.; Shoba, J.A.
The purpose of this work is to investigate the use of codeswitching (CS) as a linguistic resource by students of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW). The study seeks to answer why students in the university conduct their academic discussions in CS contrary to what is expected of them; how the use of CS contributes to the overall meaning of the topics they discuss and how students use CS as a linguistic resource to negotiate their activities in the university community. The study focused on study groups at the South Campus of the University of Education, Winneba. The social network (Milroy 1980) and ethnographic research methods (Barton & Hamilton 1998) were employed for data collection and the Community of Practice concept of Wenger (1998) was used to describe the study groups. The Markedness model of Myers-Scotton (1993) and the Conversational Analysis of Auer (1984) were used to analyze the speech data. The study found that two types of CS operate on UEW campus. These are in-group CS and out- group CS. It found that Akan/English CS is the main language for many out-group interactions on campus and serves as a lingua franca in addition to English. It serves as a bridge language between Winneba town and the university. It is also used in many study groups to discuss academic work. Finally, it found that students do not have a positive attitude towards all the indigenous languages and non-Akan students protest the prevalence of Akan on campus. The study is significant because it will enable policy makers recognize that CS occurs at all levels of education and must be given the appropriate attention. It will also serve as a reference point for future research into language changes or shifts in Ghana. Finally, it will add to existing literature in the study of language use in education.
A comparative study of bilingual verb phrases in Ewe-English and Gengbe-French codeswitching
(Journal of Language Contact, 2014-05) Amuzu, E.K.
This article describes contact phenomena between two closely related varieties of the Gbe language cluster Ewe and Gengbe each with a Germanic and a Romance language. The focus is on a comparison of verb phrases in Ewe-English codeswitching, spoken in Ghana, and Gengbe-French codeswitching, spoken in Togo. It is the first qualitative comparative study of this kind although quite a number of local (West African) languages are in contact with English and French. It finds that because the two varieties of Gbe are morphosyntactically similar, there are remarkable morphosyntactic similarities between bilingual clauses containing English verbs and those containing French verbs. English/French verbs with the same transitivity value which assign the same set of thematic roles to their arguments occur in slots in Ewe/Gengbe-based clauses where Ewe/Gengbe verbs with those subcategorization features also occur. The explanation for this pattern, from the perspective of the Matrix Language Frame model, is that during codeswitching English and French verbs are treated as if they belong to the class of Ewe and Gengbe verbs which share their subcategorization features. Assuming language production to be modular (in the sense of Myers-Scotton 1993, 2002), it is argued that the pattern is illustrative of a kind of composite codeswitching (Amuzu 2005a, 2010, and in print) by which abstract grammatical information from one language about verbs from that language—here English or French—is consistently mapped onto surface structure through the grammatical resources of another language, here Ewe or Gengbe.
Composite codeswitching in West Africa: The case of Ewe-English codeswitching
(Lambert Academic Publishing, 329pp, 2009) Amuzu, E.K.
This book turns around questions about the grammar of mixed constituents in Ewe-English codeswtching, spoken in Ghana, West Africa. It outlines the mechanisms of language mixing being deployed by a people who are still experiencing very intensive contact between their two languages. Te analyses stem from Carol Myers-Scotton’s notion of matrix language, but the major finding contradicts her expectation about the matrix language in Ewe-English codeswitching: we find that the matrix language is COMPOSITE rather than CLASSIC. This finding has major theoretical implications and provides telling insights about the nature of bilingual competence in codeswtiching in West Africa and other post-colonial settings. The prediction is made that when the primacy of the original matrix language is undermined by shifts in each language’s role in society, then the classic may give way to the composite. Apart from students of codeswitching grammar, scholars who are seeking to understand the grammar of pidgins and creoles that are related to West African languages (specifically Kwa) will find this book valuable.
Composite Codeswitching in West Africa: The Case of Ewe-English Codeswitching. Saarbrucken
(Lambert Academic Publishing, 2010) Amuzu, E.K.
Discourse Analysis of the Language of Presidential Campaign in Ghana. Evidence from the 2008 General Elections
(University of Ghana, 2013-06) Michael, A.; Agyekum, K.; Amuzu, E.K.
The work discusses the use of stylistic devices and other devices in presidential campaign messages in Ghana. The author selects three of the 2008 presidential campaign speeches of Prof. Atta Mills, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom and Nana Akuffo- Addo the then presidential candidates of National Democratic Congress, Conversion People’s Party, and New Patriotic Party respectively for the analysis. The analysis is grounded on Fairclough’s (1995) in Critical Discourse Analysis, claiming that there is a close link across text, discourse practice, and socio-cultural practice. It also employs Walton’s (1997) observation in Propaganda Discourse Analysis, which claims that propaganda discourse is indifferent to logical reasoning. It employs one-sided argumentation, persuasive dialogue, emotive language and persuasive definitions. The work reveals that there is a link between the language (devices) employed by the candidates, and socio-cultural practices of Ghanaians. It also reveals that Ghanaian political campaign is audience-driven. The stylistic devices employed by the candidates include historical allusion, metaphor, anaphora and repetition, intertextuality, simile, personification, hyperbole and rhetorical question. The other devices deployed by the candidates include actor description, use of virtue words, polarization “We-They” categorization, vagueness, proof surrogate, ad hominem, emotive expression, appeal to masses, number game rhetoric, national self-glorification, downplayers, code-switching and promise. All the other devices are propagandistic in nature except code-switching and promise.
Double Plurality in Codeswitching
(Legon Journal of the Humanities, University of Ghana, 2009) Amuzu, E.K.
This paper deals with the phenomenon of double plurality in codeswitching, with illustrations from Ewe-English Codeswitching (CS). It shows that English nouns (but never Ewe ones) may take two plurals, the English -s and its Ewe counterpart wó. –s always occurs on the stem of the noun while wó occurs either immediately after –s or a few slots away. The paper demonstrates that the English noun-andplural units are consistently embedded in Ewe-based NPs in which Ewe modifiers of the English nouns occur in slots associated with them in monolingual Ewe NPs. While –s may be dropped from mixed NPs that already show double plurality, the dropping of wó from such NPs makes them unacceptable. Three theoretical questions are asked in our quest to explain this plural doubling phenomenon. One is why it involves only English noun heads. The second relates to why the two forms emerge as plurals even though –s is redundant. The third one is about the nature of language production involved: what bilingual processes are involved in the phenomenon of double plurality? It is shown that the two plurals arrive in their respective positions in the mixed NPs via separate paths in language production. The distribution of –s relates to processes that are conceptual (i.e. semantic-pragmatic) in nature. On the other hand, the distribution of wó relates to processes that are morpho-syntactic in nature. Another issue briefly explored is what this bilingual phenomenon reveals about the linguistic properties of the plural category in monolingual NPs. The paper ends with a discussion of the role that language typology plays in determining whether plurals may be doubled or not doubled in CS.
Double Plurality in Codeswitching
(Legon Journal of the Humanities (20) 151-180, 2009) Amuzu, E.K.
This paper deals with the phenomenon of double plurality in codeswitching, with illustrations from Ewe-English Codeswitching (CS). It shows that English nouns (but never Ewe ones) may take two plurals, the English -s and its Ewe counterpart wó. –s always occurs on the stem of the noun while wó occurs either immediately after –s or a few slots away. The paper demonstrates that the English noun-and-plural units are consistently embedded in Ewe-based NPs in which Ewe modifiers of the English nouns occur in slots associated with them in monolingual Ewe NPs. While –s may be dropped from mixed NPs that already show double plurality, the dropping of wó from such NPs makes them unacceptable. Three theoretical questions are asked in our quest to explain this plural doubling phenomenon. One is why it involves only English noun heads. The second relates to why the two forms emerge as plurals even though –s is redundant. The third one is about the nature of language production involved: what bilingual processes are involved in the phenomenon of double plurality? It is shown that the two plurals arrive in their respective positions in the mixed NPs via separate paths in language production. The distribution of –s relates to processes that are conceptual (i.e. semantic-pragmatic) in nature. On the other hand, the distribution of wó relates to processes that are morpho-syntactic in nature. Another issue briefly explored is what this bilingual phenomenon reveals about the linguistic properties of the plural category in monolingual NPs. The paper ends with a discussion of the role that language typology plays in determining whether plurals may be doubled or not doubled in CS.
Learning to Express Motion Events in Ewe
(University of Ghana, 2013-07) Adjei, F.A.; Saah, K.K.; Anyidoho, A.; Amuzu, E.K.
The focus of this thesis is to examine Ewe speakers’ linguistic organization of motion events and how such language patterns develop in Ewe- speaking children. The work is situated within Talmy’s Theory of Lexicalization Patterns (which examines the conceptual structure of motion events as well as the typological patterns in which this conceptual structure is parceled out in languages), Slobin’s Thinking-for-Speaking Hypothesis (which explores how particular typological properties will lead Ewe children to learn a particular way of thinking-for-speaking) and the Cognitive and Language-Specific Hypotheses. The cognitive hypothesis claims that children come to the task of language learning with a pre-existent cognitive representation of the world. In contrast, the Language-specific hypothesis claims that the language learning process is often under the semantic structure of the input language and that such influence begins from the very beginnings of language acquisition. Elicited production tasks with fifty 3-, 4-, 5-, 7- and 9 year olds (10 participants in each age group) as well as a group of 10 adults were carried out using three elicitation tools developed for research into motion expression. Findings of the study support the claim that typological properties constrain how speakers of Ewe talk about motion from early acquisition phases to adulthood. At age three, Ewe-speaking children used more path verbs than manner verbs in the expression of motion events. From four years onwards, they used the typical SVC constructions, a combination of Manner and Path verbs, to express motion events. They also mentioned only one piece of information about ground of movement in individual clauses. The children neither showed any ability at describing the physical setting in which movement takes place (until 9 years of age) nor fully develop the narrative habit of describing complex motion events. Ewe-speaking children’s performance in motion event description has been found to grow gradually with increasing age and adult performance is always more extensive than that of children at any age. These results also suggest that while Ewe children follow equipollently-framed structural pattern when talking about motion events at a tender age of three, equipollently-framed discourse characteristics in Ewe-speaking children do not achieve maturity until adulthood. The thesis provides evidence for some possible early cognitive tendencies and the place of language specific hypothesis in language development. It also lends support to the typological categorization of Ewe within the Talmian and Slobin’s frameworks which can be used in other comparative studies in future research.
"look me, hwϵ ha, ofainϵ kwϵm biϵ AHA mi fioo!!": Codeswitching at inter-ethnic traditional marriage ceremonies in southern Ghana
(Multilingua, 2019-05-08) Diabah, G.; Nuworsu, A.; Amuzu, E.K.
This paper investigates the use of codeswitching at traditional inter-ethnic marriage ceremonies in the southern part of Ghana. The study site is Accra, the multilingual capital of Ghana which is located in the south of the country, and was selected due to the high frequency of inter-ethnic marriage ceremonies which take place there. The data analysed were audio-visual recordings of interactions at such ceremonies, collected, by (Nuworsu, Anastasia 2015: Language use in inter-ethnic marriage ceremonies in Greater Accra. MPhil. thesis, Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon.). They were complemented with observations made at the event grounds, as well as follow up interviews with key actors during and after the events. The theoretical framework employed is based on a combination of Giles’ Communication Accommodation Theory, Hymes’s Ethnography of Communication and Myers-Scotton‘s Markedness Model. It is found that bilinguals who speak on behalf of families participating in the ceremonies often use codeswitching in innovative ways to convey various social messages. Significant uses were: (i) speakers use codeswitching to converge toward the speech of their in-laws in a bid to decrease the social and linguistic distance between the two families and (ii) they use it as a divergence strategy to, for instance, increase the social and linguistic distance between them when they wish to accentuate an ideological, or any other, difference between them. Overall, the study contributes towards insights about inter-group language practices in multilingual African settings, especially in urban areas.
Mechanisms of language maintenance in Ewe-English Codeswitching
(Journal of West African Languages (1-2), pp. 221-243, 2009) Amuzu, E.K.
In Ghana, the pervasive use of codeswitching (CS) involving each indigenous language and English, the official language and sole medium of instruction in school from primary four, has brought about intensive contact between English and each of these languages. The paper focuses on Ewe-English CS (and occasionally Akan-English CS) and demonstrates that the code-switchers are using certain mother tongue (MT) maintenance mechanisms to preserve not only the grammar but also parts of the lexicon of their MT from interference from English. It is suggested that Ewe-English CS illustrates the kind of CS produced by bilinguals who live in speech communities alongside monolingual MT speakers (as is the case in most post-colonial settings). It is also suggested that this CS contrasts with that which is produced by second or later generation immigrants (e.g. immigrants in Europe and North America) whose MTs are becoming weaker because of their exposure to dominant host languages. The analyses provide some insights about the bilingual language competence of codeswitchers.
Multilingualism and language practices of Nigerien migrants in Ghana
(Current Issues in Language Planning, 2019-02) Amuzu, E.K.; Nutakor, Y.E.; Amfo, N.A.A.
This paper aims at examining language socialisation practices of members of two groups of migrants of Nigerien origin living in Ghana, i.e. Tamasheque-speaking beggars in Accra and Hausa/Zambarima/Buzu-speaking hawkers at the Akuapem Ridge. We examine the migrants’ language practices in various domains, such as work and home, interrogate whether such practices reflect the level of socioeconomic integration they experience and ascertain the role that members of the host communities play in their language socialisation. The Communities of Practice (CofP) framework, an ethnographic approach (which involves long-term observation and unstructured recorded interviews) is employed in the collection of data on the migrants’ language practices. However, two sets of data, from questionnaire surveys in Accra and the Akuapem Ridge, were collected to help describe these host communities’ language practices, which the migrants are expected to encounter. Batibo’s triglossic structure model was relied on in conducting those surveys and in interpreting the data. This study finds that there is strong correlation between a migrant group's socioeconomic integration and their sociolinguistic integration: while adult Tamasheque-speaking beggars are generally unable to learn any new languages in Ghana because they choose to remain marginalised, their children, who are the ones who beg and are the bread winners, as well as the hawkers, who sell wares roaming streets along the Ridge, typically get to learn at least Akan, the dominant local language of their host communities.
Producing composite codeswitching: The role of the modularity of language production
(International Journal of Bilingualism, 2013-04) Amuzu, E.K.
The basic characteristic of composite codeswitching is that the languages involved share responsibility for framing bilingual constituents. This paper points to evidence of this characteristic in the nature of morpheme distribution in mixed possessive constructions in Ewe–English codeswitching, spoken in Ghana. An Ewe semantic distinction between two types of possessive constructions is consistently neutralized when English possessum nominals are used instead of their Ewe counterparts, and the paper demonstrates that the neutralization of this distinction results from direct mapping of English-origin grammatical information about English nominals onto Ewe grammar. It explains that this mapping of information from one grammar onto another one is characteristic of composite codeswitching and that it is facilitated by the fact that language production is modular in the sense of Levelt ((1989). Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) and Myers- Scotton ((1993). Duelling languages: Grammatical structure in codeswitching. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press; (2002). Contact linguistics: Bilingual encounters and grammatical outcomes. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press).
St. David’s dialect: a decreolised English variety?
(2017-04-13) Torossian-Imami, M.; Amuzu, E.K.
Bermudian English (BerE) has only lately been getting more attention. In a recent publication, Eberle & Schreier (2013), compare the morphosyntax of African BerE (ABerE) with that of Caribbean contact varieties (Bahamian English, Bahamian Creole, Jamaican English, Jamaican Creole, Bajan and Vincentian Creole) and conclude that there are definitely parallels between ABerE and English varieties in the Caribbean yet with different frequencies. Nevertheless, the most interesting question from a creolistic point of view has not been satisfactorily addressed yet, i.e. whether there ever was a creole in Bermuda. Reinecke observed that Bermuda “appears […] not to have a creolized dialect, but research is needed” (1975:377). Besides Swartz no one had considered the possibility of a decreolisation process in BerE (2001:3). However, given that there is evidence of a considerable number of slaves in Bermuda (Bernhard 1999, Lefroy 1877, 1879, Hallett 2005), it is not unlikely that BerE was once more creole-like than it is today. The present paper will explore the possibility of an earlier creole stage in Bermuda. Bermuda’s workforce consisted of African, Indian, Irish, Scottish and English slaves and indentured servants (Bernhard 1999). Although the origins of slaves has not been pinpointed yet, Bernhard proposes that some may have been imported directly from West Africa, while others might have been brought from the Spanish or English West Indies (1999:23). A substantial number of American Indians, predominantly Pequots, were brought to Bermuda in the early 1700s – especially to St. David’s Island (Bernhard 1999:56; 114), in the northeast of Bermuda. St. David’s is linguistically interesting for three reasons: 1. the inhabitants were isolated from the mainland until 1934, thus it is more likely to find some creole remnants on this islet. 2. the dialect is dying out, 3. it has not been documented yet. Bermudians report that the variety on St. David's is quite distinct, and this impression was confirmed during a field trip in 2016. In an attempt to find remnants of an early Bermudian creole, this study analyses selected structural features in the St. David's variety of BerE and, unlike the approach in Eberle & Schreier (2013), and compares them with different English variety types.
A Synchronic Sociolinguistic Analysis of Personal Names Among Ewes
(University of Ghana, 2014-06) Abdul, R.E.; Amuzu, E.K.; Dzameshie, A.K.; University of Ghana, College of Humanities , School of Languages , Department of Linguistics
The study is a synchronic sociolinguistic analysis of personal names among Ewe people in Ghana. It treats as its background Egblewogbe’s (1977) thesis in which he describes vividly the various types of Ewe names, their linguistic structure and their semantics. In this study a variationist sociolinguistic analysis is made to determine age, gender and regional and variations in personal names being given among the Ewe people. Four types of data were collected: registers from three Senior High schools, questionnaires, interviews, and personal observation. The study shows that the Ewe naming system has undergone some transformations due to language and religious contacts. It is shown among other things that there is a shift from traditional Ewe names to Ewe Christian religious names among Ewe people and the factors responsible for this shift are highlighted. The analysis also shows that Ewe personal names are marked morphologically and conventionally for gender. For the geographical variation, it is shown that some Ewe personal names vary depending on the location of the name bearer. The age-based variations also show that the older folks bear more Ewe names than the younger folks. On the dynamics of the use of names, the study shows that Ewes are addressed differently in different social domains depending on the participants involved in the interaction and the number of names they bear. Finally, the study shows that there is a discrepancy between the respondents’ preference for their personal names and their attitudes towards the use of their Ewe names.
Variations of [ɾ] in Dagbani female names
(SOUTHERN AFRICAN LINGUISTICS AND APPLIED LANGUAGE STUDIES, 2019-11-06) Amuzu, E.K.; Inusah, A-R.; Pare, G.A.
The article examines the sociolinguistic variations of the alveolar tap [ɾ] in Dagbani female names, a Gur language spoken in the northern part of Ghana. It focuses on how the language is losing the pronunciation of the alveolar lateral /l/ in some female names through sound substitution. The sound [ɾ] does not occur in word-initial position in Dagbani, but it is currently prominent in the pronunciation of some Dagbani female names. The article shows that the pronunciation of the alveolar tap [ɾ] in Dagbani speech communities provides the complexity of linguistic variation and language change. It also reveals that while the alveolar lateral /l/ variety is the prestigious form in Dagbani, the alveolar tap [ɾ] variety is spreading due to the Arabic education in the area. The article supports the Labovian paradigm and presents quantitative analysis of the data. The article suggests that the alveolar tap [ɾ] is frequent in the speech of the younger generation, while the alveolar lateral /l/ is frequent in the speech of the older generation