Title Sociolinguistic Analysis of some Akan proverbs

Jonas Agyemfra, Solomon Owusu Amoh

Abstract


This study examined the sociolinguistic analysis of some Akan proverbs. With this, the analysis predicated on the social contexts that bring about the use of the proverbs and their sociolinguistic implications. The data sourced from the research participants were analysed alongside Dell Hymes’ (1974) “Ethnography of Communication”, which also served as the theoretical framework that underpinned the study. In all, twenty one (p.21) proverbs were analysed which saw the various factors of communication, as postulated by Hymes (1974) coming to bear. Discussing the analysis, it was indicated that the home is the place where proverbs are mostly used. The time for the use of proverbs also saw the evening dominating in the data analysis. With the addressers under participants, men were found to be the people who mostly use proverbs in the Akan society. Anybody, be it a man, woman or child in the Akan society, qualifies to be addressed with proverbs, per the analysis in this study. The end of the use of Akan proverbs is to encourage, rebuke, admonish and warn the addressee. Finally, the key, which also manifests as the tone under which a particular proverb is used saw serious tone as the most frequently used tone in the analysis, as most Akan proverbs are used to direct the paths of its members, whenever they go wayward.


Keywords


Proverb; Context; Sociolinguistics; Akan

Full Text:

PDF

References


Adedimeji, M.A. (2003). The semantics and pragmatics of Nigerian proverbs in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are not to blame. A lore, 13, 54-79.

Adu-Gyamfi, A. A. (1999). Akan mmɛbusɛm mu bi. Kumasi:University Press.

Agyekum, K. (2006). The sociolinguistic of Akan personal names. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 15(2), 206-235.

Agyekum, K. (2012). Akan proverbs and aphorisms about marriage. Research Review, 27(2), 1-24.

Agyeman, B. C., Asumeng, A. M., & Amponsah, B. (2015). The relevance of Ghanaian Akan proverbs to explanations of contemporary human resource principles and corporate values. Journal of Business Research, 9, 16-27.

Appiah, P., Appiah, A. & Agyemang-Duah, I. (2007). Bu me bɛ: Akan proverbs. Accra: Centre for Intellectual Renewal.

Brookman-Amissah, J. (1986). Akan proverbs about death. Anthropos, 1(3), 75-85.

Chienjer, C. L. (2004). Communicative competence (Dell Hymes). Retrieved from https://db2.hireology.com/dell_hymes_wikipedia_pdf on 11/12/2018.

Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Christaller, J. G. A. (1879). Tshi Proverbs. Basel: Basel Mission.

Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. London: SAGE Publications.

Dzokoto, V. A. A., et. al. (2018). Romantic relationship rules in Akan proverbs. An International Journal on Personal Relationships, 12(1), 1-22.

Franuik, R., Cohen, D., & Pomerantz, E. M. (2002). Implicit theories of relationships: Implications for relationship satisfaction and longevity. Personal Relationships, 9, 345-367.

Hymes, D. H. (1962). The Ethnography of Speaking. In T. Gladwin & W.C. Sturtevant (Eds.), Anthropology and human behaviour (pp.13-53). Washington DC: Anthropological Society of Washington.

Hymes, D. H. (1974). Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelpia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Hymes, D. H. (1989). Ways of speaking. In R. Bauman & J. Sherzer (Eds.). Explorations in the ethnography of speaking (2nd ed., pp.433-451). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Johnstone, B., & Marcillino, W. (2010). Dell hymes and the ethnography of communication. Pittsburg, PA: Carnegie Mellon University.

Kquofi, S., Amate, P., & Tabi-Agyei, E. (2013). Symbolic representation and socio-cultural significance of selected Akan proverbs in Ghana. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(1), 86-98.

Maledo, E.A. (2015). A sociolinguistic analysis of Urhobo proverbs. M.A Thesis presented to the Department of English and Literary in the Faculty of Arts, University of Nigeria.

Obeng, S. G. (1996). The proverb as a mitigating and politeness strategy in Akan Discourse. Anthropological Linguistics, 38(3), 527-549.

Opoku, A. (1997). Hearing and keeping: Akan proverbs. Accra: Asempa Publishers.

Owu-Ewie, C. (2012). Introduction to traditional and action research. Accra: Vision Xpress Sec. Service.

Quan-Barfour, K. P. (2011). The wisdom of our fathers: Akan proverbs and their contemporary educational value. Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies, 21(1), 30-38.

Yankah, K. (2012). The proverb in the context of Akan rhetoric. New York: Diasporic African Press.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/11876

Refbacks



Copyright (c) 2020 Jonas Agyemfra

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Share us to:   

 

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/sll/submission/wizard

Please send your manuscripts to sll@cscanada.net，or  sll@cscanada.org  for consideration. We look forward to receiving your work.


We only use three mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; sll@cscanada.net; sll@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Studies in Literature and Language are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE Editorial Office

Address: 1055 Rue Lucien-L'Allier, Unit #772, Montreal, QC H3G 3C4, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail: office@cscanada.net; office@cscanada.org; caooc@hotmail.com

Copyright © 2010 Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture