http://41.74.91.244:8080/handle/123456789/755 2026-04-08T15:37:47Z http://41.74.91.244:8080/handle/123456789/5124 Euphemism as an indirection strategy in communication among the Dagaaba Bayor, D This study examines euphemism as an indirection strategy in communication among the Dagaaba. The study adopts a qualitative approach, incorporating ethnographic methods, observation, interviews, and discourse analysis to examine the meaning of euphemistic expressions in conversation in some identified themes and contexts such as; the theme of death, the theme of sexual intercourse, and sex organs, the theme of menstruation, the theme of pregnancy and the theme of alcoholism/drunk. It explores the functions of euphemistic expressions in conversation among the Dagaaba. The study also investigates the influence of modernization on euphemisms in communication among the Dagaaba. The data used for this study were mainly gathered from primary sources. The study employed Brown and Levinson’s 1987, politeness theory in its data analysis. The analysis of the data revealed that the Dagaaba use euphemistic expressions in their everyday interactions under various themes and circumstances. Also, the study found out that the Dagaaba does not only use these euphemistic expressions as taboo avoidance, and politeness strategy but also to disguises reality, develops intellect, reinforces cultural values, excludes participants in a conversation, and to be humorous. The study further revealed that modernization has positively enabled the younger generation to adapt new euphemistic expressions, and negatively declined oral traditions, such as storytelling, where the Dagaaba euphemisms are orally transmitted. This resulted in less transmission and usage of euphemisms within families and communities among the Dagaaba. A Thesis in the Department of Gur-Gonja Education, Faculty of Ghanaian Languages Education, summited to the School of Graduate Studies, University of Education, Winneba, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Philosophy Degree in Ghanaian Language Studies (Dagaare). DECEMBER, 2024 2024-12-01T00:00:00Z http://41.74.91.244:8080/handle/123456789/4806 Contextual analysis of Gonja Idioms. Yussif, K. This study discusses the contextual analysis of Gonja idioms a Guan language spoken in the Savannah Region of Ghana. The study was conducted in the East Gonja Municipality. The study examines the categories, a thematic classification, and the contextual usage of Gonja idioms. The purposive sampling technique was adopted for the study, the research design was ethnography, and the study's approach was qualitative. It involves ten (10) respondents, comprising five (5) males and five (5) females, who were from age 41 and above. The instruments used in the study for the data collection were unstructured interviews and observations. The study employs a descriptive method in the data analysis. This was done with one hundred (150) Gonja idioms. The idioms were categorized and analyzed under different themes. The major findings of the study were that the meanings of Gonja idioms depend on the contexts in which they are used. In addition, it was also found that idioms improve the communication skills of the people and that the interpretation of some of the idioms is also a major challenge, particularly for the youth. It was again realized that the use of the idioms in varying contexts reflects the native speakers' grasp of their social reality that encompasses their interactional relationships and the cultural prisms of domains that characterize their co-existence in a speech community. A thesis in the Department of Gur-Gonja Education, Faculty of Ghanaian Languages Education, submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy (Gonja) in the University of Education, Winneba 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z http://41.74.91.244:8080/handle/123456789/4798 Structural and stylistic analysis of the birfor libation text. Tolitey, E.C. 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. A thesis in the Department of Gur-Gonja Education, Faculty of Ghanaian Languages Education, submitted to the school of graduate Studies, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy (Dagaare) in the University of Education, Winneba 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z http://41.74.91.244:8080/handle/123456789/4745 Compounding in Sɩsaalɩ Jambadu, J.B. Words are the building blocks of language and “knowing the structure of words and their formation in a language empower speakers to form new words in the language without violating the morphotactics of that language” (Lawer 2017, p. 1). The morphology of Sɩsaalɩ is yet to receive the attention it deserves. Consequently, considering the importance of compounding as an interesting linguistic phenomenon, this study explores the phenomenon in Sɩsaalɩ to unravel the nature of compounding in the language and to distinguish compounds from other complex structures like NPs and derived nominals in the language. Data for the study is drawn from electronic media (radio discussions), interactions with speakers of Sɩsaalɩ, books and documents in Sɩsaalɩ. This was augmented by the native speaker intuition and introspection of the researcher. The study reveals that, the syntactic constituents of Sɩsaalɩ compounds include Noun-Noun, Noun-Adjective, Verb-Verb, Noun-Verb, Noun-Verb-Noun, Noun-Noun-Adjective. It is also observed that there exit personal names in Sɩsaalɩ that are compounds which constituents are a combination of different syntactic categories. It is revealed that, in Sɩsaalɩ, N-N compounds are nominal and the most prevalent forms of compounds. It is observed that, there exist both endocentric and exocentric compounds in Sɩsaalɩ. The endocentric compounds in Sɩsaalɩ could right-headed or co-ordinate despite the existence of a few left-headed ones. Using Construction Morphology, it is claimed that the semantic relation between the constituents of Sɩsaalɩ compounds are subjective to the syntactic constituents. The phonological processes that are involved the compounding is also looked at. It is observed that, some phonological processes that occur in Sɩsaalɩ compounding include: vowel harmony, homorganic nasal assimilation, vowel elision segment deletion and syllable deletion A Thesis in the Department of Gur-Gonja, Faculty of Ghanaian Languages Education, submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of degree of Master of Philosophy Ghanaian Languages Studies (Sɩsaalɩ) in the University of Education, Winneba 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z