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Scroll down to read the article. Research Review MS Vol.4 No.1, 1966

THE MULTILINGUAL ENVIRONMENT IN THE ADA DISTRICT M.E. Krcpp Dakubu

1. DffBDDXTICN are rather small villages (see Table 1). The Ala District is an administrative Almost every village along the beach ves district of Eastern Rsgion of , surveyed, but in inland areas such ccrrplete which more or less coincides geographi- coverage was not possible. The sanple was cally with the traditional Ada state. constructed according to a quota, the para- It is bounded by the Volta River on the nBters being age, sex and degree of formal east, the sea on the south. To the west education, fto one under the age of 15 was it is banded by the Ga-Oangbe District interviewed. which traditionally speaks the same Table 2 shows the structure of the sanple language as the Ala District, nanely in terms of the first two of these para- Dangme (also known as Atengne, Dangbe, meters. It is rather more evenly distributed Adangbe). To the north its closest than the general population, because of the neighbours are Be-speaking. The Ala method of selection. The relatively large area is traditionally regarded as spea- proportion of respondents from the oldest king a distinctive dialect of Dangne, age group is probably relatable to the and although there is considerable amount of leisure tine people have to spend internal variation, (Apronti and Dakubu, answering questionnaires. The ratio of men 1972) this view can be accepted. This paper is concerned with a portion to women in the sanple is also not a reflec- of the data collected as part of a tion of the structure of the population at sociolinguistic survey of the Dangns- large. 27.0 of the sanple - 37.4 of the speaking area, which was carried out in males and 15.7 of the ftmales - had been to connection with the multidisciplinary school. This is somewhat lower than in the Dangne Area Survey of the Institute of population at large, and probably reflects African Studies, Legon. The AJa District the disproportionate amber of older people. was the first to De surveyed. The data exMined herein were collected by Dangne- The Ada District is almost wholly speaking studentSLin the long vacations rural. Big AJa is the focus of the of 1972 and 1973.2 I atterrpt an initial traditional social and political examination of the district as a multi- organization, and Ate Fba is the current lingual area, showing the relative administrative centre and the home of status of the various languages spoken such institutions as the Ate Secondary within the district. The paper is School and the govemnent-run Health limited to a definition of the broad Post. Otherwise the main occupations are linguistic configuration of the area. The data are drawn from a total of fishing and fish processing and trading, thirty-three localities, most of which farming and salt extraction and trading. 35 TABLE I

THE SAMPLE - GEOGRAPHICAL

Villages Surveyed No. Respondents Population 15 and over (1970 Census)* Coast: East: Afrive 30 105 Azizanya 31 422 Otrokpe 48 230 Totimekope 46 591 Oeanseykope 27 352 Anyakpor 26 113 Patunkope 17 124 Adedetsekope 22 270 Songutsoekpa 9 154 Elevanyo 35 262 Puteh (Upper + Lower) 81 546 Totope 29 331 West: Lolonya 56 561 Goi 74 882 Akp^abanya 65 771 Anyamam 77 964 Wektmagbe 35 391 Total 708 7069 Ada: Big Ada 67 2282 (Upper + Lower) 119 2394 Total 186 4676 Inland: Togbloku 49 477 Kunyenya 17 ? Bedeku 41 322 Tansatoku 34 646 Dogdbcm 18 296 Adokope 20 492 Bonikope 54 156 Koluedor 33 521 Toflokpo 84 215 Agbedrafor 20 Junction 53 620 Sege Nakomkope 51 186 Koni 17 ? Luta 11 ? Total 502 over 3741 Total 1396 Entire District: 27,374 * ? indicates that the locality was not distinguished in the Census report. 36 TABLE 2

S1MFLE - BY AGE ANr SEX

Coast Adas Inland Total Age M F M F M F M F 15 - 19 . 50 36 9 14 44 35 105 85 65 20 - 24 52 14 18 41 39 120 109 25 -• 29 55 53 13 10 35 39 103 102 30 - 34 35 34 7 8 26 23 68 65 35 - 39 33 27 5 '9 18 21 56 57 40 - 44 32 23 ia 7 18 17 61 47 45 - 49 24 23 5 5 17 15 46 43 50 - 54 23 23 7 6 17 12 47 41 55 - 59 21 33 8 7 19 16 48 56 60+ 38 28 13 10 26 24 7 62 Total 376 332 92 94 261 241 729 667 708 186 502 1396

For purposes of ccrrparison the district lingual ism among the unschooled on the is divided into three. The Adas are coast frcm Ada to Prampram, undertaken treated as a geographical unit in virtue as part of the survey, have provided of being relatively urbanized as well as tentative confirmation of this hypothesis being a socio-political centre for the Afrive is actually on an island in the entire district. The coast and the Volta opposite Ada, but as a fishing inland villages are distinguished, in village is included here with the coastal virtue of the different occupations of villages. their inhabitants, namely fishing plus sons fanning versus fanning, "me coast is further subdivided into an eastern 2. A UNOJISTIC PROFILE section, between the Volta and the Songaw Lagoon, and a western section, 2.1 DC STATUS OF HN9C frcm the western side of the Songaw to Dangns, and in particular the Ada Wakumagbe. It is hypothesized that the dialect of Dangie, is unquestionably the Lagoon, which is a large one, is a major linguistic vehicle of the district at natural barrier to comunication, and least as far as this sample can show. For that somewhat different configurations well over 90% of all respondents, the Ada may occur on either side of it. Dialect dialect was "home-town" language (ma gbi), study and an investigation of multi- the first language learned in life, and the

37 language spoken best at the time of tne directions. survey. The figure is slightly lower in, Vhen the language of ethnic identity, the the /Was than in the other sections of the- ma gbi, is not the same as the first langua- sanple: ge learned, it means (usually) that a shift Coast: 688 97.1* has occurred in the primary linguistic Adas: 172 92.4% patterns not of an individual but of gene- Inland: 483 96.2% rations in a family group, or at any rate Total: 1343 96.2% between the individual and one of his Exceptions to this pattern seem to be parents: an individual learned one language clustered mainly around Big Ada and the first, although one or both parents spoke a larger settlements east of the lagoon. different one. The sanple showed one or Anong the fifty-three individuals involved, two shifts of this kind betwen Ga and Ada, one or more of an individual's home-town Ewe and Ada, Ada and another Dangne dialect, language, first language learned in life, in both directions, one shift from Ada to or the language currently spoKen the best Akan, one from Ningo to Aten, and one from was another dialect of Dangne: Ningo, Shai, Fula to Ada. Krobo or Osudoku; or another southern in no case were more than two languages •Ghanaian language, namely Ga, Akan or 6*>; or dialects involved in patterns of shift. or another West African language, namely That is, ethnic, first and best language Hausa. One individual reported her "hone- were never all different. If the language town" language to be Fula, although her of ethnic identity was the same as the first language and the language she thought first language learned, then the language she spoke best were the Ada dialect of currently spoken best might be one of these Dangne. or a different one, but if they were diffe- For twenty of the fifty-four, the Ada rent, then the current best language was dialect of Dangne ves the language they now spoke best, but twenty-one were completely always the same as one of them. It the non-Ada, in that neither ethnic, first nor language of ethnic identity and the first best language was Ada. This included nine language were not the same, then either the Dangmes, for whom all three categories of first language •continued in later life'as language were the Osudoku (1), Shai £3), best language or there was a "return" to Ningo (4) or Krabo (1) dialect. Four had the language of ethnic identity. Be, three had Ga and one had Akan in each In almost all cases, the "home-town" category. Four, living in Ada Foa, had language or language of ethnic identity can Hausa for all three. be interpreted as the language of' the In several cases the first language previous generation, and specifically as learned and the currently best language the language of the respondent's father, were not the same, indicating a shift in fine Dangns are essentially patrilineal in the linguistic behaviour of the individual, social organization.) The exceptions to either frcrn one dialect of Dangne to another this are insignificant statistically for or from one language to another. Five this sanple, but interesting as indicators people had shifted from the Ningo dialect, of socio-linguistic patterns that. might which was their ethnic ("Hcme town") and repay further study. Two individuals said first-learned dialect, to Ada, and one from that their "home town" language was Dangne, Ada to Shai. Seven had shifted from the which was also their mothers' language but Btte language to Ada. For five of them, Ada not their fathers', even though they said was also the language of ethnic identity. they had learned their fathers' language One had shifted in the opposite direction. (Ewe) first. It may be significant that There were also a few cases of shifting both were female. Two others said that between Ada and Ga, Ada and A«n, in both their father's language, mother's language,

38 and their own first and best language were ledge of other languages. This proves to all Dangne, but gave something else as be so, although it must be stressed that their language of ethnic identity - one more than a quarter of the whole sample each for Ga and Be. The actual history and a third of the women in it are by of each case is not known, but it seems their own report monoglot speakers of likely that a shift to Dangne as best Dangne. Dangne was itself a second langua- language (at least) had already occurred ge for 29 respondents, and Ma was a in the previous generation, but that the second dialect for 8. language remains as a symbol of group Ga, Mean and Ewe, which are the languages identification. that principally appear as occurring with Another interesting case was that of a Dangie in the ethnic-first-best language man who gave Dangie as his "home town" system, are also the major second languages, language and first language and mother's with the addition of English. Table 3 language, but stated that his father had lists the main languages that respondents two languages, Dangne, from the father's reported themselves as speaking, whether mother, and Ga from the father's father. they thought they spoke them well or only a It seems likely that the choice of response little. to "hcme-tcwn" language in such a case is In the district as a whole, 6a is clearly related to where the respondent decides to the dominant second language, but there is settle. also significant geographical variation in In all cases where the "home-town" langua- this respect. Table 4 compares the two ge was Dangie but the first language learned sections of the coast. At the eastern end was something else, the first language had of the coast Ewe is equally popular, but in been acquired outside the Dangne-speaking the western part this is not the case. area, except in two cases where the first There is evidence that the popularity of Ewe language learned (in both cases Ewe) was continues to fall and that of Ga to rise as also the language of the respondent's one continues west beyond the Ada District. mother. In the Adas themselves, however, near the The interpretation of "home-town" language eastern end of the coast, Ga is markedly as language of ethnic identity, identified more widely known than anywhere else in the particularly with the father, is not valid district. for the four individuals in Ada Foa who Polyglottism is in fact generally higher gave their "hems-town", first, best, father's in the Adas, the relatively urbanized centre, and mother's language all as Hausa, but than elsewhere, as the figures for average gave Gonja as their "tribe" (and did not number of languages per speaker and also the make any claim at all to speak the Garja figures for monoglottism (i.e., those who language). The position of Hausa among know only one language,) show. It is also northerners and especially Muslims (one of the only section of the district where the the four gave his profession as Imam- second most widespread second language is butcher) is special, and invites further not Ewe but English, although in the Inland investigation fcee Dakubu 1977). areas English seems to have a very slight edge over Ewe among man. 2.2 SHXN) LANGUAGES In the district as a whole English and Dangne is not a language that is widely A«an seem to be just about tied for third known outside its own area. It is also not place, but again there is considerable particularly large, in the Ghanaian context, variation, this tine related to sex. In all in terms of the mmber of its speakers three geographical divisions English is more (slightly over half a million). One might widespread than Akan among men, but the therefore expect a fairly widespread know- reverse is true amonq women. The differences

39 TABLE 3

NTM3ER OF SPEAKERS PER LANGUAGE, IN PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL SAMPLE Coast Adas Inland Total M F M F M F M F Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Ga 57.9 100.0 100.0 44.2 72.8 64.8 47.1 Bnre 49.7 55.9 49.1 52.7 51.3 35.2 47.8 39.3 34.0 Akan: 34.4 44.7 35.5 40.3 Akwaplm 6.3 8.4 5.7 19.1 16.8 17.8 Fanti 11.5 13.3 12.3 2.3 4.5 2.1 4.2 3.0 4.9 2.6 4.6 3.5 Other 11.4 12.6 10.8 17.2 13.7 11.2 12.2 English 12.7 12.4 35.6 11.4 60.8 42.5 36.7 13.6 39.3 16.6 28.5 Hausa 1.5 1.5 11.9 6.3 6.8 4.5 4.8 Nzema 3.2 4.0 0.5 0.3 2.1 0.0 1.1 2.9 0.9 DagbanI 0.2 1.1 1.0 0.6 3.2 0.0 0.7 0.0 0.8 0.2 0.5 Yor\iba 0.2 0.3 3.2 0.0 1.1 1.2 French 0.9 0.5 0.7 2.9 0.0 1.0 2.1 0.7 0.4 1.9 Dangme only 21.8 0.4 1.2 36.7 6.52 19.1 29.8 38.5 22.7 34.9 28.5 Average Number of Languages per Speaker:

2.71 2.19 3.33 2.94 2.63 2.40 2.75 2.37 2.57 TABLE 4

NUMBERS OF SPEAKERS PEE LANGUAGE: THE COAST

East West M M

Dangme 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Ga 56.0 47.7 60.7 40.1 Ewe 58.7 45.5 40.5 23.0 Akan: Akwapim 5.8 8.8 7.1 7.8 Fante 1.7 2.2 3.2 7.2 Other 11.6 13.8 11.1 11.1 English 37.6 14.4 33.3 7.8 Hausa 2.2 1.1 0.6 1.9 Nzema 0.8 0.5 0.0 0.0 Dagbani 0.4 1.1 0.0 0.0 Yoruba 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.6 French 2.6 0.0 3.2 0.0 Dangme only 18.8 28.8 26.1 46.0 Average Number of Languages per Speaker: 2.77 2.35 2.60 2.00

are of 10 % or more, except for wcmen in the Togo. Adas, of whcm approximately 2% more spoke The woman who reported Fulani as her English, and Inland men of whom only about ethnic language also claimed to speak it. 5% more spoke English. Knowledge of /ten One person in Ada Foah claimed to have seems to increase from east to west along learned Ahanta in Takoradi. In 3ig Ada a the coast, although never rivalling Ga, and man employed as a driver in Harbour there is evidence that, as for Ga, this claimed to know a little Chinese and Japanese, trend continues beyond the Ada District. which he spoke with visitors there. Fante seems to be distinctly less widely There are further differences of linguistic known than other dialects of Akan. patterning between the sexes. In every Hausa is a minor language, particularly on division, including both subdivisions of the the coast. Yoruba, Dagbani and French are coast, women have a lower ratio of languages definitely rare, but are claimed by at least to speakers, and a much higher proportion of one speaker in each. It is noteworthy that monoglots. Even in the Adas, where women the majority of French speakers are at the are more polyglot and include fewer monoglots eastern end of the coast, the part nearest than men elsewhere the difference between men aid women is just as great. Ga, Ewe and Dangme, although only Ewe has a boundary in English are all consistently spoken by a caimon with the Ada dialect. higher proportion of men than of women, Out beyond these languages we meet Hausa except that Inland approximately the same and then Nzema, Dagbani, Ycruba, French. proportions (2$ more women) speak Ga. Akan Often hardly anyone in a locality is aware on the other hand seems for seme reason to of their presence. In sore localities they be more popular among women than men. It is are rarely if ever heard. Yoruba and Hausa spoken almost everywhere^ a very small but were reported to be sometimes heard from consistently higher percentape of woman, and passing salesmen. On the dim horizon is in the Adas by a considerably higher Fulani, of which there are speakers resident percentage. in the district, but which very few thought From east to west along the coast the to mention, and only one respondent proportion of women speakers for every spoke.3 A small number of respondents in language except Akan drops considerably - a the Adas were aware of Kbtokoli, "Kroo" and trend that continues to the west until one Dagaare in their neighbourhoods, and several approaches another administrative centre, recognized "Dahcmeyan Ewe" to be present as Prampram. For men, knowledge of English and a distinct language, that, .two or three also Ewe decreases, although not quite so drasti- spoke. cally as among women, but knowledge of Ga increases. In the Adas more men than women 3. THE POSITION OF ENGLISH know every language except Akan. inland, English is the only non-Ghanaian language however, where polyglottism is generally that is claimed as spoken by more than a lowest, except with respect to Akan, and quarter of the sample: 28:5$. However, both monoglottism highest, the sexes are about proportion of speakers and status as L2 equal for every language except English. relative to other languages are much higher among men than women. It is claimed to be 2.3 Tl£ LINGUISTIC BMJWed spoken by 39$ of the men, and ranks third The linguistic environment of the Ada after Ga and Ewe, with 14$ more speakers District can be visualized in terns of a than Aten, but among the women it is spoken series of receding concentric circles. In by only 16$ and ranks fourth, well below the the middle circle, at the centre of the three Ghanaian languages. It may or may not collective linguistic consciousness would be significant that while about half the be Dangne, the first and best language of women (52.2$) who claimed to speak English the vast majority, and their lamiage of claimed to speak it well, with the rest ethnic and geographical identity, especially claiming to speak it only a little, almost in the form of its Ada dialect. At aoonsi- two-thirds (63.7$) of the men claimed to derable distance out from this centre are speak it well. Just what this claim really found Ewe and Ga. Their relative positions means in terms of performance ability for and their closeness to the centre vary either group is impossible to say. At any considerably between different parts of the rate, not only do significantly more men district. Akan is beyond these, but like than woman claim to speak English, but they Dangne, Ewe and Ga is one of the lamuaaes claim to speak it better. towards which shifting occasionally takes As expected, the vast majority of respon- place in individuals who regard themselves dents reported having learned English at as Adas. English is not one of these and school. Only about 5$ of each sex reported therefore is to be considered as farther having learned it at hems $ individuals) or still frcm the centre even though sometimes elsewhere. more people claim to speak it. Ewe Ga and It was suspected that the pattern of Aten all share geographical boundaries with multilingual ism obtaining among those who had learned English might conceivably differ between the English speakers and the frcm the pattern in the sartple at large. general sanple is bigger for wcmen, The nuitier of English-Ga, English-Ewe and although not so drastic. It sens then English-Aten pairs were therefore counted, that among English speakers in this sanple and also the number of speakers who spoke there is a very much higher rate of poly- only Dangne and English. The nurber of glottism than in the sanple at large, that English vand Dangne) speakers who speak Ga, this has to do with a more widespread Ewe or AJan was then compared with the knowledge of Akan and Ga among English mrster of speakers of these languages in the speakers and occurs in spite of a reduced sarple at large. Hie figures are displayed incidence of knowledge of Ewe, and that on Table 5. the trends that obtain among English

TABLE 5

ENGLISH AND OTHER LANGUAGES

% English speakers who speak: Ga Akan Ewe Dangme only M 72.1 31.7 40.7 7.6 F 86.4 52.2 29.7 2.7

% of sample at large: M 55.9 25.0 44.7 22.7* F 49.1 29.0 35.5 3*.9*

* Figures for monoglot speakers of Dangme.

The differences between the English speakers as a group are present in a more speakers and the general sample are drama- extreme form among wcmen than among men. tic. The proportion of English speakers who The reasons for this situation cannot be speak Ga is far higher than in the sample at fully explained at present. Obviously it is large, and so is the proportion of Akan not the English language itself that leads speakers, especially among women. The to1 more widespread knowledge of Ga and Akan proportion who speak no additional language and less widespread knowledge of Ewe, but is also much smaller. something about the circimstances in which Even more dramatic is the reversal of the English is learned, which alters the multi- patterns for men and women. Among the linguistic gestalt in the population that it relatively small proportion of wcmen who affects. Since 95% of English speakers claimed to know English, that is, knowledge reported having learned it at school, one of Ga and Akan were extremely high, much supposes that the school environment must higher than among men, and hardly any did have something to do with it. It is a not know at least one of Ga, A|