Legon Journal of the Humanities

LINGUISTIC MARKERS OF MODALITY IN GHANAIAN PRESIDENTIAL INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECHES

2025-07-07T10:03:14+00:00

Using Halliday’s SFL theory and modality framework, this study investigates linguistic markers of modality in Ghanaian Independence Day speeches. Eight speeches of John Dramani Mahama (JDM), former president of Ghana, and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (NADAA), current president of Ghana, were sampled. The analysis revealed that the top five linguistic indicators for modal meanings are modal auxiliary verbs, lexical verbs, adverbs, lexico-modal items and subjunctive mood. The presidents used modal verbs to state their certainty about their propositions, awareness of some factuality, ability to execute an action, probability of the occurrence of some events and their desire to see a change. JDM mostly described himself as an agent central to completing an action. NADAA, on the other hand, used modal auxiliary verbs mostly to state his confidence and certainty of the truth value in his propositions. The findings affirm the unrestricted semantic (modal) value of modal auxiliary verbs. This study provides evidence of modality use in Independence Day speeches.

The role of address terms in Iraqw conversational greetings

2025-07-07T10:03:15+00:00

This study investigates the functions of address terms in Iraqw verbal greetings. The previous study investigated the categories and factors influencing the selection of address terms in Iraqw language, indicating a lack of information on the functions of address terms. To address this gap, qualitative data on the patterns of verbal greetings were collected using voice recorder. Then, the data were transcribed into written text. After transcription, address terms utilized within greeting exchanges were noted. Thereafter, interviews were held with six knowledgeable Iraqw indigenous speakers to gain insight into the functions of address terms used in greeting exchanges. Then, the data underwent thematic analysis. The analysis revealed five functions of address terms: showing respect, denoting intimacy, indicating a familial bond, reflecting social identity, and demonstrating unfamiliarity. These roles demonstrate the significance of address terms in shaping and navigating social bond between speakers and addressees in social interactions.

African History and Poetic Decoloniality: The Poetries of Kamau Brathwaite and Kofi Anyidoho in Perspective

2025-07-07T10:03:15+00:00

Abstract

Debates on decolonisation of any genre of African literature have been mostly focused on the use of English and other European languages as medium of expression. The reason for the trend might not be far-fetched as most postcolonial critics like Brown, Boehmer and Ashcroft admit that what constitutes the aesthetics of a postcolonial text is its hybrid language. However, the critics’ focus on language creates a gap in their notion of the postcolonial aesthetics. Using Kamau Brathwaite’s and Kofi Anyidoho’s works, this paper proposed that what constitutes the aesthetics of postcolonial literature is not limited to the “hybridity of the language of the postcolonial texts” but includes dialectics of history and tradition. The paper therefore examined how the two poets adopt history as a decolonisation tool to challenge and rewrite colonial masters’ erroneous account about Africa and her history. An exploration of The Arrivants and Ancestral Logic and Caribbean Blues revealed that the postcolonial writers’ adoption of history and oral tradition as a medium is effective in regaining African authentic history, which has been debased by European crooked account about the precolonial and present states of the continent and her people. Therefore, debates on decolonisation of any genre of African literature should not be restricted to the language of postcolonial texts. Other aspects of texts should be explored.

Key words: Decolonisation, African history, Colonialism, Poetry, Oral tradition, Oral history.

REVISITING A REGISTER ASSUMPTION FROM SFG PERSPECTIVE: THE CASE OF GHANAIAN NEWSPAPER EDITORIALS

2025-07-07T10:03:16+00:00

The study tests the register theory’s position of extensive similarity in the dominant linguistic features of texts with similar contexts in the face of scholarly claims about the existence of significant linguistic differences in the language of state and private newspapers in Ghana. The data comprised three-month publications of Ghanaian newspaper political editorials published in four leading state and private newspapers. Using SFG’s transitivity as a tool for analysis, the research examines the patterning of the dominant linguistic element as the test of the assumption. The findings indicate that the Material process formed the dominant linguistic element, and its patterns of similarity extend to the dominance of the Transformative Elaborating Material process across the state and private newspapers. The study concludes the editorials of both groups characteristically possess extreme similarities in the patterning of their dominant linguistic features to be considered registers.

Celebrating the Past in Peacetime: The War Dance of the Bulsa of Northern Ghana

2025-07-07T10:03:16+00:00

Abstract

This article explores the annual leelik, war dance of the Bulsa in the northern part of Ghana in the context of the feok festival. Leelik, expresses the warfare narratives of the Bulsa people in a beautiful and stylized cultural music and dance performances of their victory over Babatu, a Slave Raider and his warriors. Drawing on ethnographic data and archival material, the article argues that the Bulsa war dance performed in peacetime in contemporary Bulsaland is a significant historical phenomenon utilized for purposes of entertainment, cultural identity, strengthening of bonds of unity among the people and community development. The article concludes that, for the Bulsa, a war dance is not just bodily movements accompanied by music, but a way of life celebrating the past and reinforcing we-feeling, spirit of unity, values and norms and a deeper sense of belonging.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND DANCE PRESERVATION IN GHANA: NAVIGATING AUTHENTICITY AND GLOBALIZATION.

2025-07-07T10:03:16+00:00

The present research investigates the intricate dynamics that exist in Ghana while technological advancements and the preservation of traditional music and dance coexist. This work explores the complexities associated with the transmission, adaptation, and preservation of the authenticity of culture, addressing the difficulties that arise when attempting to protect intangible cultural heritage while allowing for its ongoing evolution. With the employment of mixed methods and an extensive examination of relevant scholarly works and case studies, this research elucidates efficacious approaches to reconciling the imperative of adaptation with preservation, thereby safeguarding the vitality of these cultural manifestations for posterity. The significance of regulatory frameworks, community participation, and technological adaptation in promoting this equilibrium is underscored. In the fields of theory and ethnomusicology, cultural studies, and heritage preservation, the findings provide policymakers, educators, and cultural practitioners with valuable insights that contribute to the discourse on cultural adaptation and preservation.