Structural and stylistic analysis of the birfor libation text.

Abstract

This study looks at the structural and stylistics analysis of the B℩rfor libation text in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. The study analyzed the structure, identified the stylistic features and outlined the occasions and some significance of the libation text. The study was descriptive with no quantification of numerals. The research approach used was ethnographic. The data collection strategies were through unstructured interviews, recordings, and participant observation. Qualitative method was used in the study. Purposive sampling was adapted in selecting the participants for the study. The study made use of primary data. The major findings are that Birfor libation text has structure and style. It also found out that the libation text is performed during specific occasions and gatherings. On the structure of libation performance, the performer presents the issue, invoke the gods by making a pledge and conclude the text. The structure of libation text takes three stages; invocation, explanation of the problem and supplication to the gods. The study confirms that B℩rfor also believe the hereafter hence perform libation for the dead before mourning especially the elderly. The data revealed that libation text has some aesthetic and stylistic features such as style, symbolism, repetition, apostrophe, ideophones, metaphor, synecdoche, euphemism, oxymoron, hyperbole, alliteration, assonance, rhetorical question, parallelism and compounding.