Abstract:
This thesis focuses on the sociolinguistics analysis of Dagaaba appellations. The research
took place in Eremon traditional area in the Lawra Municipality of the Upper West Region
with sixteen (16) participants. The research was conducted qualitatively with data collected
from two sources; primary and secondary. The researcher used the descriptive method for
the study. The study analyzed the structure of Dagaaba appellations, the roles appellations
play in the lives of the people and also the literary devices that are embedded in the
appellations. The researcher employed observation, interviews and personal discussion as
data collection instruments. In all forty appellations were collected and thirty-two of them
were used for the analysis. There researcher came out with the following findings; five
structures were identified as freeform, rhyming scheme, repetition, sentence structure and
layout of the appellations. Roles of appellations to the people among another things are
commendation or praise, inducement to action, vehicle for recording history, identification
with clan members or relations, source of entertainment and development of intellect. The
findings also brings to light some literary devices that are found in the appellations, some
of them are, repetition, parallelism, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, allegory, personification,
euphemism, alliteration, assonance, proverb, apostrophe, rhetorical questions, rhyme and
onomatopoeia.
Description:
A Thesis in the Ghanaian Languages Education,
Faculty of Languages Education, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment
of the requirement for the award of the
Master of Philosophy
(Ghanaian Language Studies, Dagaare) degree
in the University of Education, Winneba.
