A semantic and a sociocultural analysis of euphemistic expressions in Dangme

Abstract

This thesis examines the semantics and the sociocultural implication of euphemistic expressions in Dangme, a Kwa language spoken in the Greater Accra and some parts of Eastern regions of Ghana. It looks at the meaning and the sociocultural implications of euphemistic expressions. It also tried to explore euphemistic expressions found in some recorded Dangme conversational data. The study investigates the correspondence between the source and the target domains of euphemistic expressions concerning the life cycle of human beings using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Data were drawn from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data were obtained from sixteen native speakers of Dangme from Ada Foah, Big Ada, Kasseh and Koluedor through interview and recordings of the following; marriage ceremonies at Kadjanya, a funeral rite at Gorm, funeral announcements and a culture programmes held on Radio Ada. The secondary data was obtained from a Dangme book (Akpanya masu hwo-gbaku). The study revealed that Dangme has euphemistic expressions across the life cycle of the human being, ranging from birth, puberty to death. It revealed that in some of the recorded Dangme conversational data, euphemistic expressions were present. Also, these euphemistic expressions were conceptualized in various ways. It was noted that Dangme employ more death euphemistic expressions than birth and puberty in the human life cycle which come in metaphorical terms.