dc.description.abstract |
In our everyday activity, language plays a tremendous part in our daily interaction with each
other. Arguing, taking position and making judgment happens daily in our interaction with
one another. The need for stance expression and making the position of a speaker clear about
what they are discussing is well documented in the literature (Biber, 2006; Kelly &
Bazerman, 2003; Hyland, 2005; 2008; Molino, 2010; Myers, 1989; Williams, 2006). This
thesis examined the stance markers used in Akan discourse. (Akan is a Niger-Congo Kwa
language, widely spoken by both natives and non-natives in Ghana, and part of Cote
d‟Ivoire). Using a qualitative case study, data were collected from 450 purposively sampled
native speakers of Asante Twi at social gatherings, class discussions, and focus group
discussion in the Abrepo community for textual analysis. The analysis revealed that Akan
native speakers use phrases and clauses as the structural patterns to produce stance markers.
Again the types of stances used by the speakers in their conversations were found to be
epistemic, attitude, evidential, style and deontic. It was also discovered that the markers were
used to express certainty, doubt, imprecision and other functions such asattitude, evidence,
style and deontic in conversation. Based on the results, it is argued that it is important to take
note of what to and how to use stance marking as they help in taking position and making
judgments about issues. |
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