Department of Linguistics
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Item The Utility of Orthographic Design for Different Users: The Case of the Approved Dagbani Orthography(Language Documentation & Conservation, 2021) Hudu, F.A.This paper presents a critical assessment of the utility of the orthography of Dagbani. (a Gur language of Ghana) in the documentation, linguistic research, and literacy acquisition of Dagbani. While written literature on Dagbani dates to over a century, it was only in 1997 that the only known documented orthographic rules of the language, the Approved Dagbani Orthography (ADO), was put together. Its stated goal was to address inconsistencies that existed in the orthographic rules at the time. It has since largely served this goal and has remained a resource for linguists engaged in language documentation and linguistic research as well as adult and young learners acquiring literacy in Dagbani in formal and informal settings. The paper discusses the influence of orthography in the understanding of aspects of Dagbani linguistics and the challenges that remain with its use in modern-day multimodal communication. It shows that while the ADO has impacted literacy, documentation, and research on Dagbani linguistics, aspects of the design of the orthography have limited its potential impact and have given room for the emergence or maintenance of co-orthographic practices used for electronic communication and in the documentation of names in non-native official circles.Item Topics In Dagbanli Phonology: A Cross-Dialectal Study(University Of Ghana, 2021-07) Inusah, A.The thesis is a cross-dialectal investigation of various topics in Dagbanli Phonology. It is set up to contribute to the understanding of segmental phonology which concerns individual segments of speech and their patterns. It responds to basic empirical questions about suprasegmental phonology which realm is linked utterances. A cross-dialectal study of segmental phonology as well as suprasegmental properties of the dialects is discussed and assessed for the purpose of Dagbanli phonology. The prime objectives are to describe variations in Dagbanli dialects, to provide analysis of the topics in Dagbanli phonology across dialects and to advance sound correspondence and sound alternation across Dagbanli dialects. Ethnographic Approach is employed to solicit the primary data from bucolic Dagbanli speech communities. Descriptive Method is engaged for the analysis of both primary and secondary data available while Theories of Data and Free- Standing Theories are applied where necessary. Gbanjonsili ‘Gbanjon dialect’, Zundusili ‘Zundua dialect’ and Jimansili ‘Jiman dialect’ are discovered as the sub-dialects of the major dialects of Dagbanli; the suffix [-sili] in this context refers to a dialect. The sub-dialects have the velar fricatives [x, ɣ] confined to specific segmental contexts with a particular inventory stricture. It reveals that the voiced coronal stop /d/ in the standard dialect manifests as voiceless coronal stop [t] in Zundusili, voiceless coronal affricate /ʧ/ in Gbanjonsili and voiceless dorsal stop [k] in Jimansili through fortition process of devoicing. The thesis confirms coalesce of non-coronal labial /m/ and coronal fricative /s/ to produce dorsal fricative [x] in intervocalic in Gbanjonsili (e.g., /m+s/→[x]; /wʊ́m-sí/→ [wʊ́xɨ́] ‘tame’). The thesis describes assimilation and non-assimilatory processes such as lenition and fortition as the phonological units that account for dialectal differentiation in Dagbanli. Both lenition and fortition operate on segmental level and are not caused by neighbouring segments; while Lenition concerns phonological weakening (e.g., /s/→[h], /máːsílí/ → [máːhílí] ‘cool weather’), fortition employs phonological strengthening (e.g., /d/→[t], /díní/ →[tíní] ‘knee’). Four different models are attested in the description of segmental differences and similarities across dialects; these models, Relisational, Selectional, Systemic and Distributional, highlight the segmental properties as well as phonological processes affecting the surface realisation of the segments. The alternation of [a~ɔ], [ɔ~a], [a~o] and [i~u] are described in Dagbanli as selectional (random) but not distributional (rule-governed). The thesis suggests that the chief source of segmental variations in Dagbanli is in vowel quality. The thesis describes the basic patterns of harmony systems across Dagbanli dialects with focus on triggers and targets. It argues that backness harmony in Dagbanli and its dialects is progressive where harmonic features spread from root-to-suffix. It shows that mora-counting play significant role in the description of Dagbanli phonology and falling tone is a feature in Dagbanli. The thesis concludes that Dagbanli counts CV.V and CVN as heavy while CV as light convincingly showing moraic consistency. Also, tone is observed as the diagnosis for mora-counting in Dagbanli Phonology.Item A Cognitive Semantic Analysis of Perception and Cognition Expressions in Akan(University of Ghana, 2020-07) Eshun, E.S.This study examines linguistic expressions in Mfantse (Akan) that relate to the basic senses of the body such as seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing and touching. For each sense modality, both the literal and metaphorical expressions were investigated. It adopts the cognitive linguistics approach. Data were gathered from forty native speakers of Mfantse (Central region) in a variety of interview formats and elicitation from stimuli. The data gathered confirmed the empirical validity arrived at in the conclusions of the study. A significant finding of the study is that the perceptive verbs (PVs) do not only display physiological roles but also demonstrate diverse extended meanings depending on the context in which they occur. The study illustrates that hwέ (look) involves a durative process. On the other hand, hú (see) is a visual activity that occurs ‘on the spot’ or instantaneously. Sometimes hú can be durative where the visual line is directed towards compassion. Hwέ is volitional while hú is both volitional and non-volitional. These two PVs are classified as: intra-psychological (self-philosophies) and social-psychological experiences (interdependency). The findings from the gustatory expressions show six primary taste sensations in Akan: sweet/pleasant, salty, sour, bitter, congealing, and a semantically derived form, táblábáá (lacking taste; bland), in contrast to the five taste forms in English. The study also revealed that from the ethno-cultural background, dɛ́ẃ ‘sweet/pleasant’ can be described as a pleasant taste that includes: +/- sugariness, and non-food related experiences. Also, Mfantse (Akan) expresses different forms of specific perceived sour taste as: kàẁ, fèm̀and yèrɛ̀yèrɛ̀ẁ. Further, all the taste expressions revealed metaphorical expressions: Pleasant– gentle/good speech, enough money, sexual enjoyment, flattery and pampering. Bland – improper dressing. Sour– regret, disappointment, bad body odour. Bitter – offensive talk, difficulties in life, excessive judgment, and stinginess. Salty – dishonest. Results also show that Mfantse (Akan) profiles different semantic ways of representing and interpreting basic and extended meanings of olfactory, auditory and tactile sensory information. The olfactory sense revealed that m̀fáŕ/ǹká ‘scent’ may be understood to conflate good, bad, fragrant, stench and disapproving concepts in portraying odours. Also, the semantics of ǹká ‘scent’ demonstrates that there are few occurrences where ǹká ‘scent’ does not have a negative connotation. Perhaps the non-negative connotation can be explained in the context where the concept of ǹká ‘scent’ needs to be modified with positive adjectives. For extreme odours, Mfantse (Akan) identified specific terms: sùòǹǹ, kòóò, káńkáń, hùǹtùǹǹ and sùkùsùkù to describe them. Also, bɔ̀ǹ ‘bad odour’ exhibits: bad human body odour, lack of intellectual competencies and general bad odours. The term húáḿ indicate good odours. Additionally, the olfactory experience of hùà ‘to sniff/smell’ coded the sense of relaxation, satisfaction, love of, and to detect preference of the odour of an entity. Metaphorical resource show that olfactory experiences in Mfantse indicate: húáḿ ‘good odour’; ‘good mouth talk’ – ‘good/eloquent speech’; bɔ̀ǹ ‘bad odour’; ‘bad mouth talk’ – loud-mouthed or offensive speech; ‘bad breath/bad smell in the nose’– hostility, unfriendliness; ‘self-matter smells’– bad character. The study identifies two auditory terms: tsè ‘hear’ and tsíè ‘listen’. Semantically, meanings from these two verbs are contextually different, but they have similar syntactic structures in terms of the arguments they select. Extended meanings of the auditory sense display the following: tsìètsíèè ‘to investigate’, tsíè ‘give a hearing’ (legal context), tsíè no ‘agree’/‘permit’; tsíè nó àsò pá mù: ‘listen without prejudice’, tsíè /tsè… àsέḿ ‘obedience’, tsíé…ànó ‘act on hearsay’; à-tsè â ńńtséè: ‘pretence’ and tsè àsó mú: ‘listen to the right information’. Further, the tactile sense employed serial verb construction; kà…hwέ; súóm…hwέ; and míá…hwέ (touch). These constructions engage the hand for examining physical experiences as well as expressing feelings regarding metaphorical expressions such as comforting, subduing, pleasing, loving, stimulating, intimacy and painful expressions. Importantly, the Mfantse data make a contribution towards the concept of perception and cognition predicates normally moving in pairs as state and non-state pairs in Akan. Thus, for the state, we have concrete/non-metaphorical uses and abstract/metaphorical uses for the non-state roles. These play a major role in the range of semantic/pragmatic interpretations that allow for these. It is expected that comparable research will spring up from closely related dialects and in other Ghanaian languages, the Kwa language family as well as African languages in general to bring out similarities and differences in the linguistic analysis of these sensory modalities.Item Acquisition of English Syllable Structure through Explicit Teaching among Hausa Speakers(University of Ghana, 2019-03) Sadat, M.The debate between the effectiveness of explicit and implicit teaching has taken a center stage in the second language acquisition literature over a long period of time. Most of such debates center on grammar teaching and very few discuss suprasegmental features especially, syllable structure. All languages have some sort of syllabicity; however, the phonetic characteristics of syllables differ across languages. The difference can be seen in the types of sounds that can cluster together around a single syllabic nucleus. The current work examines the effects of explicit instruction on the acquisition of English syllable structure among native Hausa speakers. The work investigates the efficiency of interventions through explicit teaching on the English syllable structure in a classroom setting. English syllables have some structures that are absent in Hausa and these structures pose some difficulties for Hausa speakers who learn English. This work explores the structures and adopts explicit instruction as an intervention to remedy the difficulties through explicit teaching. The investigation was done on participants who are Ghanaian Hausa speakers learning English. Generally, the work adds to the literature on the efficacy of explicit teaching, and specifically on the teaching of English syllable structure among Hausa speakers. Finally, the work investigates some of the constraints that learners and teachers are faced with in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) and offers suggestions for improving the teaching of English pronunciation to Hausa learners. The study discovers that in disyllabic word, there is preference of trochaic syllable over iambic syllable, acquisition of onsets is easier than acquisition of codas and finally, explicit teaching is very effective in classroom.Item Acquisition of English Syllable Structure through Explicit Teaching among Hausa Speakers(University of Ghana, 2019-03) Sadat, M.The debate between the effectiveness of explicit and implicit teaching has taken a center stage in the second language acquisition literature over a long period of time. Most of such debates center on grammar teaching and very few discuss suprasegmental features especially, syllable structure. All languages have some sort of syllabicity; however, the phonetic characteristics of syllables differ across languages. The difference can be seen in the types of sounds that can cluster together around a single syllabic nucleus. The current work examines the effects of explicit instruction on the acquisition of English syllable structure among native Hausa speakers. The work investigates the efficiency of interventions through explicit teaching on the English syllable structure in a classroom setting. English syllables have some structures that are absent in Hausa and these structures pose some difficulties for Hausa speakers who learn English. This work explores the structures and adopts explicit instruction as an intervention to remedy the difficulties through explicit teaching. The investigation was done on participants who are Ghanaian Hausa speakers learning English. Generally, the work adds to the literature on the efficacy of explicit teaching, and specifically on the teaching of English syllable structure among Hausa speakers. Finally, the work investigates some of the constraints that learners and teachers are faced with in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) and offers suggestions for improving the teaching of English pronunciation to Hausa learners. The study discovers that in disyllabic word, there is preference of trochaic syllable over iambic syllable, acquisition of onsets is easier than acquisition of codas and finally, explicit teaching is very effective in classroom.Item The Phonology of Akan Loanwords in Ga and Dangme(University Of Ghana, 2018-07) Adomako, K.This thesis studies the loanword phonologies of Ga and Dangme (Kwa, Ga-Dangme group) languages. It focuses on investigating how Akan (Kwa, Tano Central group) source words have been phonologically adapted into Ga and Dangme. It has been observed that both Ga and Dangme have borrowed comparatively more Akan words into their vocabularies than Akan has borrowed from Ga and Dangme. However, not much studies have been carried out to establish the nature and extent of borrowings between Akan, on the one hand, and Ga and Dangme, on the other hand. The thesis, therefore, seeks to investigate how the two target languages have adapted some Akan segments, especially non-native segments (both vowels and consonants) into their vocabularies. It also explores how Akan source prosodic features such as syllabic nasals and tone have been realised in the two target languages. The data for this study were collected from the entries in both Ga-English and Dangme-English dictionaries. The study concludes that the phonological adaptations in general are motivated by a combination of phonological and perceptual factors. Phonologically, the adaptations of non-native vocalic and consonantal segments can be accounted for within OT due to the crucial ranking of some markedness constraints. In terms of tone, it has been concluded that the source tone melody is generally preserved in both languages. However, additionally, the same source melodies can be adapted into other melodies present in the targel languages.Item Segmental and Prosodic Structures in Ɛsahie(University Of Ghana, 2019-07) Ansah, V.O.Studies show that one quarter of the world’s languages are spoken in Africa, yet most of these languages remain unstudied or not fully described (Blench 1998). This may have driven (Crystal 2000) to caution that most languages will be in extinction by 2020, hence the need for inter-generational transmission to help preserve them. One such means of preservation is documentation. Unfortunately, for Ɛsahie, a Kwa language with over 580,000 speakers (2010 National Population Census) located in the Western North Region of Ghana, not much documentation is available, compared to other languages such as Akan, Ewe, Ga and Nzema. Accordingly, using the qualitative research methodology, this study examines some phonological issues in the language. It investigates the principles that underlie and therefore regulate the organization of segments and prosodic units in Ɛsahie. The study discusses the inherent features of Ɛsahie speech sounds and the constraints on their distribution and sequencing, and establishes the repair strategies available in Ɛsahie for dealing with impermissible sound distributions and sequences. The study further examines the tonal structure of nouns and verbs, both in the basic forms and the non-basic forms. On nouns, the thesis establishes three tonal groups for basic nouns and examines the tonal structure of affixed nouns, deverbal nouns, and reduplicated nouns. The study shows that while nominal suffixes trigger tonal change in the base nouns, nominal prefixes do not. For verbs, the thesis looks at the tone of inflected as well as reduplicated verbs to identify the tonal processes that occur when tones interact and how they influence lexical and grammatical patterns in the language. It establishes three tonal groups for un-inflected verb forms in Ɛsahie. It further shows that tone influences the inflection of verbs in the language and that tone assignment varies, depending on the verb’s tense, aspect or mood but there is no attendant segmental alternation in the lexical verb. The study is based on data from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data is from field trips to some selected towns in the language community, while the secondary data is from literature written in the language. This thesis is instructional as it will add to the linguistic information available on Ɛsahie and contribute to our understanding of the segmental and prosodic systems of African languagesItem Aspects of Kaakye Grammar(University Of Ghana, 2018-07) Abunya, L.N.This thesis examines some aspects of Kaakye grammar within the functionaltypological framework. These aspects primarily concern noun class system and animacy distinctions, relativization, complementation and serialization. Kaakye is one of the least studied Guan (Kwa, Niger Congo) languages, spoken in the northern part of the Volta Region of Ghana. The data collected for the study was mainly based on natural discourse from native speakers in the Kaakye speaking community. The corpus included spontaneous spoken text of various genres, elicitation and data from written sources. Adopting a singular-plural pairing notion, Kaakye nouns were classified into six classes. The classification revealed a clearer semantic basis for at least three of the noun classes. It also showed that the language is sensitive to human/non human distinction on one hand and animate/inanimate distinction on the other hand. Nouns agree with numerals and a few adjectives with some restrictions within the noun phrase. The synchronic data analysed for the study showed that Kaakye has maintained the Proto-Guan noun classes (Snider 1988) in the development of its noun class system. Nonetheless, there are two emerging noun class pairings and the loss of singular and plural prefixes. Evidence is also provided to show that the noun class system is undergoing decay. Regarding relative clauses (RCs), it was shown that Kaakye RCs are strictly post-nominal. Both the head noun and its referent within the RC are obligatorily expressed. Unlike some Kwa languages, the head nouns obligatorily take a definite determiner. Kaakye uses both the pronoun retention and the gap strategy to indicate the canonical positions the head noun occupies in the RC. The study also demonstrates that all the NP positions are accessible to relativization in Kaakye. Kaakye, however, contradicts two constraints of the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy. Kaakye employs a relative marker kɛ́ to mark the beginning of the relative clause. Evidence is provided to suggest that the relative marker is diachronically derived from the manner demonstrative adverb kɛ́ nɩ̀ŋ̀ ‘like this/that’ through a grammaticalization process. On complementation, it was revealed that Kaakye employs five distinct complementizers and two complementation strategies: nominalized strategy and relativized strategy, all of which serve as the object complements of complement taking verbs (CTVs). The choice of these complementizers and complementation strategies is, to a large extent, determined by the semantics of the CTVs and to some extent by the tense, aspect, mood and negation effects of the CTVs reflected in the matrix clause. The study identifies four semantic types of CTVs in Kaakye: perception-cognitive-utterance (P-C-U) verbs, manipulation verbs, modality verbs and evaluation verbs. Examining the coreferential relation, tense, aspect, mood and negation between the CTVs and the complement clauses, it is observed that Kaakye generally conforms to Givón’s (2000) notion of event integration. A diachronic account of the source of the complementizers shows that unlike most Kwa languages of West Africa, none of its complementizers is derived from the verb ‘say’. Finally, the discussion on Serial Verb Constructions (SVC) in Kaakye showed that Kaakye SVC can have the same syntactic subject which may be expressed once on the initial verbs or on every verb. The verbs in series may either share the same object or each may have their own objects. The verbs may have different aspectual and transitivity values. The verbs in most cases share the same tense, aspect and mood which are marked once on the initial verb. Negation is marked only once on the initial verb. Kaakye, like its closelyrelated and non-related neighbouring Kwa languages, shows a pathway to grammaticalization through serial verb constructionItem Aspects of Gurenɛ Phonology(University Of Ghana, 2018-03) Adongo, E.A.The thesis provides a detailed description of aspects of the phonology of Gurenε, a Gur language under the language family of Niger-Congo and a dialect of Farefari spoken in the Upper East Region of Ghana. The aspects of Gurenε phonology discussed in this thesis are the phonemic system, the syllable, tone, harmony and other phonotactic processes. The analyses were pursued within linear and non-linear phonology frameworks. Within the Linear Phonology approach, the Distinctive Features Theory was used to describe the sound system of Gurenε. While within the Non-Linear Phonology framework, the Moraic Theory was used to account for the syllable structure and the Autosegmental phonology was employed to analyse tonal and segmental processes at the different points of the Gurenε syllable and word. The findings show that Gurenε has twentyfive consonants consisting of twenty-one simple consonants, four complex consonants, which include a pre-nasal labial velar sound. Gurenε also has sixteen distinct vowels and one derived vowel, which is the schwa. These vowels comprise nine oral vowels and seven nasal vowels. All the nine oral vowels can be nasalized. Isolated vowel syllables have also been observed in Gurenε. The CV and CVC are the basic or core syllable types, while the mora is the tone-bearing unit in Gurenε. It has also been established that Gurenε has three light and three heavy syllable types. It is observed that harmony is widespread in Gurenε. Thus, the types of harmony that occur in Gurenε include vowel harmony, vowel-consonant harmony, and nasal harmony. It has also been established that there are three level tones (low, mid and high) and two contour tones (falling and rising) in Gurenε. The verb has a default low tone while the tone of the noun varies depending on the context in which it occurs (a simple word, compound or phrase). Tonal processes in Gurenε include downdrift downstep, tone shift, tone preservation and tone spreading or assimilation. Data for this research come from two sources: primary data and secondary data. The primary data consist of recordings of utterances of native speakers of the language. The secondary source of data includes the Gurenε English dictionary and other Gurenε literature. In addition, the researcher’s intuition as a native speaker of the language and insights from key native speaker linguists of the language has been very useful.Item Sεdeε Wɔde Akan Kasa Di Dwuma ɛnnɛ Mmerɛ Yi Wɔ Radio Ne Tv So(University of Ghana, 2015-10) Wiafe-Akenten, E.N.A.Akwannya wɔ hɔ ma ꓛman ba biara sε sua kasa bi anaa ɔde di dwuma biara a ɔpε. ɔman yi amammuo mmara (1992 constitution of Ghana (article 21 (1) a)) ma ho kwan sε ɔman ba biara tumi kyerε n’adwene, ka de3 ɔpε, nanso Akan amammerε mu deε, kasa mmara no mma ho kwan saa. εwɔ sε ɔkasafoɔ no hunu asεm a yetumi bɔ so penpen ne deε wɔde fa kwatikwan bi so. Bio, εsε sε ɔhwε beaeε pɔtee a ɔrekasa no. Wei na εboa te nkutahodie mu haw so. εno na εkyerε sε ɔkasafoɔ no apɔ, ɔnim n’amammerε. Kwatikwan kasa ho hia pa ara wɔ yεn daadaa ne badwam kasa nyinaa ara mu. Nhwehwεmu yi hwε sεdeε radio ne TV so akasafoɔ de penpenkasa ne kwatikwan di dwuma, εnnε mmerε yi wɔ Akan radio ne TV so. Lengwesteks adwenemusεm a yεde yεε mpεnsεmpεnsεnmu yi ne Fairclough (1995, 2012) kasa mfeefeemu nnyinasoɔ “Critical Discourse Analysis” (CDA). Yεde ayε kasasuo no sukyerε mpεnsεmpεnsεnmu. Yεahwε nsεm nkorεnkorε no mu, na yεahwε akasafoɔ no botaeε. Yεgyee nsεmmoano no firii Peace F.M. ne Adom F.M.-Nkran, Kessben F.M. ne Fox F.M.- Asante, Eastern F.M. ne ɔboɔba F.M.- Apueε mantamu. TV; Ghana Television–GTV ne UTV. Yεfaa penpenkasa ne kwatikwan kasasuo no firii anɔpa dawubɔ mpεnsεmpεnsεnmu dwumadie mu, mpamu nsεm dwumadie, ne kaseεbɔ; 6:00an, 12aw ne 6:00anw. mu.