Onomastic peculiarities of selected Christian congregational place names in Ghana

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