Browsing by Author "Nuworsu, A."
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Item Language Use in Interethnic Marriage Ceremonies in Greater Accra(University Of Ghana, 2015-07) Nuworsu, A.Accra, the capital city of Ghana, is highly multilingual and has a fair representation of most of the major languages in the country. In this regard, a lot of intercultural activities are expected to occur. This study explores an underrated importance of language use in forming congenial relationships during intercultural encounters such as interethnic marriage ceremonies in Greater Accra. The study analyses how language is negotiated and used during these ceremonies. It reveals that the languages to be used for the ceremonies are often negotiated for prior to the day of the ceremony. Using Fairclough’s (1995) model of Critical Discourse Analysis, the study shows language imperialism and misinterpretation as some of the problems associated with language usage within the context of interethnic marriage ceremonies. The study also examines the socio-pragmatic factors that inform the language choices of speakers during the course of the ceremonies following Myers-Scotton’s (1993) Marked Model. It shows that speakers make marked choices for the purposes of giving directives, to accommodate other interlocutors, to sing songs and for quotations.Item "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.