A study of the impact of Akan intonation on English in Ghana.
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Date
2018-08
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KNUST
Abstract
The aim of this research is to investigate the intonation patterns of English employed by theAkan speakers in Kumasi, Ghana. The researcher hypothesises that the intonation patterns Ghanaian speakers of English use varied from those of the L1 speakers of English such asBritons and Americans. It is further hypothesised that the intonation patterns of Ghanaian speakers of English are influenced by their L1 i.e. Akan for the purpose of this study. In finding out the validity or otherwise of these claims, the researcher studies the intonation patterns of Akan and Ghanaian English. Also, the intonation patterns of Ghanaian English and those of Akan, American and British English are compared. To achieve this objective, the researcher selects declarative and interrogative statements with intransitive, transitive and ditransitive verbs. The stress patterns are rotated among the initial and the final words of the statements in the data. Two males and one female participants having Akan as first language are selected from Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, Ghana. The data set is recorded and saved in wav. format. The sound files are run on PRAAT and operated to get rid of unwanted points in the speech contours of the statements recorded. Ending intonation patterns are kept in the form of images and later branded in accordance with the ToBI theory of intonation. Speech patterns of Akan and Ghanaian English produced by Akan speakers are then paralleled. The frequency of the patterns are created and tabulated. The outcomes of earlier studies relating to American and British speakers’ use of intonation patterns are used as a tool for comparing intonation patterns of Ghanaian English and those of the native varieties of English. In the end, I map the speech patterns of Ghanaian English on that of Akan, American and British English. The outcomes show that the pitch contour of declarative statements in Akan and Ghanaian English is similar. It similarly indicates that there is a vivid variation in the American, British and Ghanaian English speakers’ use of speech contours for declarative statements. Identical is the outcome for yes/no and wh-interrogatives since the influence of Akan on the intonation aptterns of English in Ghana is obvious. The discovery shows that the Akan speakers of English in Ghana transfer the first language’s speech contours to English which is a second language to them. The study again establishes that the speech contours employed by Akan speakers of Ghanaian English are poles apart from thoseof the Americans and Britons. The study highlights the importance for teachers of English in Ghana to incorporate an exhaustive discussion of speech patterns in teaching and learning to highlight the diversity between Ghanaian, American and the British speakers’ use of speech contours in English.
Description
A Thesis Submitted To The Department Of English In Partial Fulfilment Of The Requirement For The Degree Of Master Of Philosophy In English.