Abstract:
This study is a sociolinguistic analysis of lexical and pronunciation variations among native
speakers of Kolangɛ in the Seikwa Township located in the Bono-Ahafo region of Ghana.
Kolangɛ exhibits important social variations which need to be described by linguists. The
aim of the study was to examine the speech forms of the older generation and the younger
generation and to establish any differences there may be. The study design was qualitative.
The main instruments used were interview and conversation. The target population was
native speakers of Kolangɛ and the sample size used for the study was sixty (60) native
speakers. Speakers spoke spontaneously on such topics as lexical and pronunciation forms
found in the home environment, the field of play and in the farm. The study revealed that
lexical variations exist among speakers. The older generation speech forms were identified
as original Kolangɛ forms whereas the variants that the youth speakers frequently use are
identified as Asante Twi and English lexical items. Pronunciation variations were seen to
occur in consonant deletion in the younger generation speaker forms. The younger
generation’s deletion involves the approximants /r/ and /l/ in the same environments where
the older generation speakers retain them. These variations, it was noted, do not impair
intelligibility. The findings of the study established that social dialects are prevalent in the
study area. This contributes to and strengthens the Labovian Resesacrh Paradigm. It adds
to the discussions on social dialects in the literature. The study recommended that the youth
speakers especially, should emulate the older generation forms of speech in order to
maintain the original form of their endowed language.
Description:
A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, FACULTY OF
FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND COMMUNICATION SUBMITTED TO THE
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE
MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY APPLIED LINGUISTICS DEGREE.
SEPTEMBER, 2016