On Language attitudes and Language endangerment: The Dompo Language of Ghana in perspective

Abstract

There are talks of a few thousands and even a few hundreds of speakers left of a language. In some instances, languages with these numbers of speakers are classified as being endangered. A language with native speakers as few as below ten will be categorized as highly endangered and on the verge of extinction. The Dompo language, spoken in the North-Western part of the Bono Region of Ghana is one such language. The language has a remaining aged fluent speaker base of about three people, and a few other natives who have some basic knowledge of its vocabulary. Dompo has lost its vibrancy to the Nafaanra language, whose speakers are believed to have migrated from the neighbouring country of Ivory Coast. Nafaanra is currently not only the language of everyday usage in the Dompo community but is also the first language of most of the native Dompo people. This paper discusses the results of a survey of 100 local respondents in the Dompo community about their attitudes towards Dompo and their views on the causes of the degeneration of the language. 66 respondents identified as native Dompos while 34 stated that they were Nafaanras. All the native Dompos recounted that while they have a positive attitude towards their language despite its current state, they bemoan its non-transmittance to them by their older kinsmen. Intermarriages between Dompos and Nafaanras, which further led to the subjugation of the language, emigration of fluent speakers to other communities, lack of interest on the part of the younger generation to learn Dompo, the language being used as a secret language to tattle about others are among some of the reasons given for the decline of the language.