College of Humanities
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Item “Ethnicity, conflict and language choice: the sociolinguistics of development communication in Ghana’s Northern Region”(2018-03-01) Kerswill, P.; Anderson, J.A.This talk will illustrate the kinds of latent ethnic conflicts that exist in many societies by taking the case of two Ghanaian villages, both located in the Northern Region and both highly multilingual. They differ in the relationships between the ethnolinguistic groups residing within them. In one, Daboya, the land is held by the Gonja following invasions in the eighteenth century, and members of other local groups generally assimilate by showing allegiance to the local Gonja chief and by becoming proficient in the Gonja language. In the other, Pong-Tamale, the land belongs to the Dagomba, a situation which is undisputed. Other groups are not expected to switch to Dagbani or to change allegiances. Ethnic conflicts in the Northern Region in the 1980s and 90s, both between and within several different ethnolinguistic groups, led to many deaths followed by a sharpening of the ethnic divides. This situation exists today. Our case study is a questionnaire-based and ethnographic investigation of language use in the two villages (Mahama 2005). The study thus deals with language choices on two levels, between local people and between members of external elites and local people. The study found that language choices varied between the two villages in ways which uncovered the latent conflicts, and that preferences for communication with development agencies differed considerably, tooItem The metaphysical and the imaginative: Asare’s play The Choice in performance.(2017-11-10) Dorgbadzi, S.; Ekumah, E.The manifestation of the metaphysical in artistic expressions is as old as the relationship between art and religion; drama and its theatre is no exception. In the works of most Ghanaian playwrights and dramatists, one identifies a transition from a cultural/folk lore and history into contemporary plays. This evolution becomes the vehicle for the artists’ creative process and it usually gives the work a grounding in the Ghanaian culture; the artist’s thought is then communicated in context. In an interview in 1994 in his office at the Ghana National Theatre, Yaw Asare, a Ghanaian playwright confirms that his works are inspired by Ghanaian folktales and other folk genres. In Asare’s play, The Choice, the said transition comes across in the form of the history and folklore of the people of Nkonya and Alavanyo in the Volta Region of Ghana. These genres are replete with metaphysical and supernatural characters and philosophical thoughts which he recreates in The Choice in the form of supernatural characters and more. This paper discusses the transposition of the metaphysical in The Choice, from text to the performance of the play at the E. T. Sutherland Drama StudioItem Language and Identity construction in Nigerian Pentecostal Churches(2016-11-17) Emeka-Nwobia, N.U.; Diabah, G.The paper investigates how the creative appropriation of linguistic genres in the Nigerian Pentecostal discourses contributes to the construction of collective identity among its community of members. The objective is to analyse how religious identities and experiences are expressed, determined and shaped by sociolinguistic features like language shift, naming practice, greeting and address system; and the socio-cultural issues that underpin the production and communication of these identities. Using Fishman’s principles of Sociology of Religion and Language (Fishman, 2006), which sees religion as dynamic and utilitarian, data was purposively gathered from three multitudinous neo-Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. I argue that the pragmatic and multimodal operations of the churches contribute to their creating a definite identity of belongingness and otherness; thereby aiding their widespread and acceptance by Nigerians and non-Nigerians.