This chapter investigates the permutations of languages in insertional/intra-sentential codeswitching in two triglossic speech communities in Ghana, the Efutu community in Winneba and the Ewe community in Koforidua. Qualitative data drawn from naturally occurring conversations showed that in Koforidua four permutations of languages in insertional codeswitching are possible (where the first language is the matrix language/ML): Ewe-English, Ewe-Akan, Akan-English, and Akan-Ewe codeswitching. At Winneba, there are three permutations: Efutu-English, Efutu-Akan, and Akan-English codeswitching. Akan-Efutu, the equivalent of Akan-Ewe, is missing. Inspired by Winford’s (An introduction to contact linguistics. Blackwell, Oxford, p. 10, 2003) contention that “Every outcome of language contact has associated with it a particular kind of social setting and circumstances that shape its unique character,” the chapter investigated the functional distribution of languages across domains in the two communities in search of answers to questions about the presence or absence of the language combinations in codeswitching. It is found that (i) a pre-condition for languages to enter insertional codeswitching is that they actively share domains, and that (ii) a language may serve as an embedded language in codeswitching only if codeswitchers recognize it as a sociolinguistically dominant language or, at least, as a language with a status comparable to that of the ML.

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Insertional Codeswitching in Two Triglossic Speech Communities in Ghana: Efutu (Winneba) and Ewe (Koforidua) in Focus

  • Evershed Kwasi Amuzu,
  • Nana Ama Agyeman,
  • Enyonam Yawa Akpakli,
  • Faustina Nana Fosua Taylor

摘要

This chapter investigates the permutations of languages in insertional/intra-sentential codeswitching in two triglossic speech communities in Ghana, the Efutu community in Winneba and the Ewe community in Koforidua. Qualitative data drawn from naturally occurring conversations showed that in Koforidua four permutations of languages in insertional codeswitching are possible (where the first language is the matrix language/ML): Ewe-English, Ewe-Akan, Akan-English, and Akan-Ewe codeswitching. At Winneba, there are three permutations: Efutu-English, Efutu-Akan, and Akan-English codeswitching. Akan-Efutu, the equivalent of Akan-Ewe, is missing. Inspired by Winford’s (An introduction to contact linguistics. Blackwell, Oxford, p. 10, 2003) contention that “Every outcome of language contact has associated with it a particular kind of social setting and circumstances that shape its unique character,” the chapter investigated the functional distribution of languages across domains in the two communities in search of answers to questions about the presence or absence of the language combinations in codeswitching. It is found that (i) a pre-condition for languages to enter insertional codeswitching is that they actively share domains, and that (ii) a language may serve as an embedded language in codeswitching only if codeswitchers recognize it as a sociolinguistically dominant language or, at least, as a language with a status comparable to that of the ML.