Sociopragmatics of Requests in Logba

Abstract

This thesis investigates the sociopragmatics of requests in Logba, a Ghana-Togo Mountain language spoken in the Hohoe District of the Volta Region of Ghana. It aims at examining the use of request expressions in the language by systematically describing the various strategies and some socio-cultural situations where request expressions are used among the Logbas. The study shows that interlocutors‟ choice of request expression is contingent on variables such as gender, rank, age, power and distance. People who are lower in any of these variables are supposed to make requests to their higher level counterparts in ways that are not face-threatening. However, the higher placed ones are not obliged to make requests in similar fashion. Request expressions used in everyday interactions, sermons, arbitration in the chief‟s palace, financial transactions and ceremonies of various rites of passage were recorded and examined. Though the main theoretical framework adopted for this study is Watts‟ (2003) Politeness Framework, data was also analysed based on the sociolinguistic variable of GRAPD (Agyekum 2005) and the acronym SPEAKING (Hymes 1986). The study suggests that the use of politeness markers such as honorifics, endearment terms, and address terms are aimed at getting the attention of the requestee in order for the requester to achieve his/her request goal. Keywords: requests, face threats, politeness markers, endearment terms.