Lexical variations in the Ewe language spoken in Ho

Abstract

The study looks at the lexical variations that were noticed in the Ewe language that is spoken in the Ho community. It sets out to investigate the variants that were noticed in the speech of the indigenes as well as that of the immigrants from around the capital of Volta Region, Ho. To analyse the data, Labov’s Variationist theory of 1996, as well as Giles’ speech accommodation theory of 1973, were brought to bear. Data was collected from indigenous settlements and settlers who found themselves in the region of the study. The qualitative research approach as well as purposive sampling techniques were used. The data were obtained by the use of observation and interviews as well as the analysis of recorded radio programmes. Investigations revealed that there is a significant degree of regional and social variations in the Ewe spoken in Ho which has significantly resulted in the use of diverse linguistic features in everyday language. These variations manifested as lexical, phonological, and grammatical differences existing among all the dialects which seem to be in contact within the speech community. Among the three dialects, some lexicons are common to all three dialects, some are common to only two of the three dialects while others are distinct from each other. Interestingly, the study confirms that the dialectal backgrounds of language users within the speech community do not affect the issue of understanding each other as the Eedome, Aŋlↄ and Tↄŋu dialects can be considered as being mutually intelligible.