The Use of Ghanaianisms in Aidoo's Changes Djoleto's Money Galore and Nyantakyi's Ancestral Sacrifice

Abstract

What is linguistically appropriate and acceptable in one geographical area may be proven a linguistic misfit in another geographical location. This is always evidenced in second language situations where the second language seems inadequate in expressing the culture and belief systems of the people. The result is for the people to resort to localized lexical items or to ‘bend’ some of the foreign lexical items so as to let them acquire meaning quite different from their original or dictionary meaning. The Ghanaian creative writer (GCW) does this by Ghanaianising the lexical items by means of indigenization, pidginization, transliteration, code switching and other means. The work sets out to find out Ghanaian lexical items known as Ghanaianisms in Aidoo’s Changes, Djoleto’s Money Galore and Nyantakyi’s Ancestral Sacrifice by categorizing the lexical items under the creativity category, interference category and deviation category. Each category has local classification markers out of which the various Ghanaianisms are grouped. The findings are that creativity category carried the greatest number of Ghanianisms followed by interference category and finally deviation category. Taboos influenced the tilting of English lexical items to acquire meaning according to the Ghanaian culture. Also, GCWs use Ghanaianisms not for lack of vocabulary but for the sake of self-identity and avoidance of circuitous expressions.