Sociolinguistic analysis of Dagaaba appellations

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.