Characterisation in Dagbamba folktales

Abstract

This thesis examines characterisation in Dagbamba folktales. Dagbani is a Mabia language spoken in the Northern Region of Ghana by the Dagbamba. The study aims at exploring the characters in Dagbamba folktales that reflect the philosophies of the Dagbamba in the viewpoint of mimesis as a theoretical framework. It also looks into the individual themes found in these tales. The study reveals that, just as in many other cultures, the Dagbamba employ animals, human beings, objects and supernatural beings as characters in their tales. These characters exhibit unique traits such as hardwork, compassion and generosity. These characters depict the Dagbamba viewpoint of the world. The study uncovered specific themes such as respect for others and unity is strength in the individual Dagbamba tales. Data for the study were qualitatively collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews and native speakers‟ intuition, whiles the secondary data were collected from a Dagbani story book with the title, Dagbani Salin’nyaɣisa, which means, “Interesting Dagbani stories” It is expected that findings of this thesis would contribute to the prevailing literature on characterisation cross-linguistically.