Abstract:
A congregation’s name is a linguistic badge that normally serves as a medium of
communication to its own clientele (actual and potential). As a result of that, this
research sought to find the linguistic features used in naming selected Christian
congregational place names of Ghana. The study specifically sought to identify the
naming patterns of Christian congregational place names of Ghana, analyse their
onomastic peculiarities and examine their toponymic typology. The study closely
examined sixty (60) Christian congregational place names that were recorded verbatim
from signposts and buildings of these places of worship. These sampled names were
purposively selected from the Kumasi metropolis in the Ashanti Region specifically,
the Ahensan – Kuntenanse (Lake) road. The findings of this research evidently
indicated that the selected Christian congregational place names had peculiar onomastic
naming patterns which set them apart from all other names. These peculiarities were
mirrored in their generic and quasi-generic terms that epitomised their identity as
Christian places of worship. The study further established that, syntactically, the group
of words that formed the names of these churches were noun groups because their head
words (obligatory element) were nouns (i.e. the generic and quasi-generic terms) and
their optional elements were specific expressions of varied forms which were used to
modify these generic and quasi-generic terms. It concludes that the Christian religious
linguistic landscape of the Ahensan – Kuntenanse (Lake) road is English language since
none of the vocabulary and expressions used in all the Christian worship names in these
research sites was written in any Ghanaian language despite the fact that Twi, a variety
of the Akan language, is the predominant language of daily interaction in these towns.
Consequently, this research recommends among others that language lovers and
potential name givers of churches in Ghana should consider exploring creative names
in Ghanaian languages that can equally compete and raise their status among the
linguistic landscape
Description:
A thesis in the Department of English Education,
Faculty of Foreign Languages Education and Communication,
submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(English)
in the University of Education, Winneba
DECEMBER, 2019
