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Home , Aprapransa, Corn construction, Corn School, Fufu, Ghanaian English, Ghanaian name

‘Observers are worried’

A DICTIONARY OF

[DRAFT CIRCULATED FOR COMMENT]

Roger Blench Mallam Dendo 8, Guest Road Cambridge CB1 2AL Voice/ Fax. 0044-(0)1223-560687 Mobile worldwide (00-44)-(0)7967-696804 E-mail [email protected] http://www.rogerblench.info/RBOP.htm

Wa, Thursday, 12 January 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface ...... i Introduction ...... 2 Sources...... 2 Spelling ...... 2 Ghanaian /Ghanaian/ West African English...... 2 West Coast Pidgin (WCP)...... 2 Student slang...... 2 Missionary English ...... 3 Borrowings from indigenous Ghanaian ...... 3 Scientific , and trade names ...... 3 Regional variation ...... 3 Parts of Speech...... 4 Abbreviations...... 4 References...... 5

Preface

This dictionary of Ghanaian English was stimulated by preparing a dictionary of and finding many similarities between the two. Although Ghanaian English is quite well-studied in some other respects, only one compilation of Ghanaian English exists, by Fr. John Kirby. Valuable though it is, many words that it contains are not specifically Ghanaian, but are standard , forms which may seem unusual to North Americans, but which are not characteristic of . It therefore seems useful to prepare something more scholarly with more attention to the sources of typical words and refer to outside comparisons, where these exist. moves and new expressions have surfaced since the publication of Kirby, which it seems worthwhile capturing. In its present form, this dictionary is very much a first attempt, intended for circulation to interested parties, not for publication. Needless to say, the author would be grateful for all additions and corrections.

Roger Blench Wa Thursday, 12 January 2006

i Introduction

These notes are intended to raise some issues on sources, interpretation and the definition of Ghanaian English.

Sources1

One of the most difficult issues in lexicography is documenting usages in a semi-written language. If dictionaries of indigenous African languages are prepared they usually depend entirely on oral sources and thus no specific justification is given for entries. However, Ghanaian English is sometimes written, especially in newspapers and magazines, and thus has some sort of orthographic tradition. Nonetheless, many of the most picturesque expressions are strictly oral and must still be captured in the present document. Although previous studies in this direction have tended to cite novels or literary works these are sometimes unrepresentative of the spoken language. I have therefore used newspaper, notices and overheard speech as sources. Example sentences not specifically sourced should be treated as based on the author’s or his correspondents’ experiences.

Spelling

Ghanaian writing of English has some widespread misspellings such as ‘portable’ for ‘potable’ and ‘groupper’ for ‘grouper’. If these seem to have gain wide currency they are included.

Ghanaian /Ghanaian/ West African English

One of the more surprising things about Ghanaian English is the extent to which it has a common lexicon and grammar with other West African Englishes, notably Nigerian. I have less information about Cameroun, and Gambia and would welcome further insights. However, the puzzle is the history of some of these forms. Do they go back to the early days of colonial presence on the coast or are they more recent products of the massive migration of Ghanaians to during the oil-boom era of the 1970s and 1980s? Probably both, but only a detailed scanning of earlier sources will provide answers.

West Coast Pidgin (WCP)

I use this slightly ungainly term to cover the generic items that have come into Ghanaian English from the Pidgin spoken along the West Coast of from Gambia to Cameroun. Ghana has never had a recognised Pidgin in the same way as Nigeria and Cameroun, but nonetheless, the ‘broken English’ of the markets shares many common features, although it is less developed and more prone to relexification from SGE. Typical terms that come from WCP are ‘pikin’ (=small child), ‘fit’ (=be able) and others.

Tropical English

There are numerous terms which may be termed ‘Tropical English’; unknown to most speakers of SE, they are nonetheless not specific to Nigeria, but are nonetheless widely used across the Anglophone tropics. This is very common in pan-tropical plants, for example ‘oil-palm’ or ‘-mound’. I have marked these in the text as TE.

Student slang

University students are a rich source of rather ephemeral expressions everywhere and Ghana is no exception. Such expressions are intended to lay down sociolinguistic markers as to the status of the speaker. As a

1 Thanks to Mary-Esther Kropp-Dakubu and Gordana

consequence, these idioms are not widely known outside the University environment and often disappear quickly. The same is true of schoolchildren.

Missionary English

I have marked some entries ME, ‘Missionary English’. Missionaries seem to have been responsible for some particular usages that were propagated via church materials. These include pejorative terms for traditional religion such as ‘idol’, ‘fetish’ and ‘juju’, but also a series of terms for animals, assimilating indigenous West African animals to those found in and . These include ‘fox’ for genet (or jackal?) and ‘rabbit’ for giant rat. [Many of the early missionaries were of Sierra Leonean rather than European origin; possibly some of these are due to their interpretations of English words.] Missionary English terms are sometimes characteristic of , sometimes part of the worldwide vocabulary of missionaries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and turn up in the South Seas as much as in Africa.

Borrowings from indigenous Ghanaian languages

As elsewhere, the richest contributions to local English are borrowings from indigenous languages. Ghana has some fifty indigenous languages, most with only a small number of speakers. However, the major languages have millions of speakers and cultural borrowings, especially in the area of food and clothing are extensive. There are also interesting calques, whereby the structure of an expression in an indigenous language is translated word-for-word into English. The major languages are;

Twi Ewe Ga Hausa Hausa is not technically an indigenous language, since it is spoken as a trade language in northern towns. Dagbane

Titles

Ghana has a rich heritage of traditional and many of the more common ones are regularly used in newspapers, for example, Asantehene. I have not listed all of these since they are more resemble proper names.

Scientific names, and trade names

In the early colonial era, when many new species were coming to scientific attention and the uses of those known botanically were also being explored, many West African vernacular names were developed, notably for timbers and for economic grasses. These were used in colonial literature but with a few exceptions never really entered West African speech and are rarely heard today. For example, the African olive, Canarium schweinfurthii, is called the ‘bush-candle’ in older literature. Charming and evocative as this is, I have never heard it in current speech and perhaps it was only ever used by forestry officers in the colonial era. I have entered such forms sparingly, pending further evidence of their context of use. Nonetheless, there are a great many names for the timbers of Ghanaian trees that are used, although in the specialised context of the timber trade. Some of these are Ghanaian, used in the West African region and some have become international trade names. I have adopted the entries from Burkill (1985 ff.).

Regional variation

3

Parts of Speech

The following table shows the abbreviations used in Column 2 of the dictionary. Some of these assignations should be regarded as highly provisional.

Abbreviation Full form Explanation a. Adjective Describes a noun a.p. Adjectival Describes a noun phrase adv. Adverb Qualifies a verb adv.p. Adverbial phrase Qualifies a verb cond. Conditional Expresses the relation between two events conj. Conjunction A word used to join two or more nouns, verbs or clauses dem. Demonstrative Words used to point out something. 'this', 'that' etc. excl. Exclamation Greetings or expressions that do not form part of an ordinary sentence excl.p. Exclamatory Fixed phrases that form sentences indicating a single idea phrase int. Interrogative Question words n. Noun Refers to things, objects etc. n.p. Noun phrase Phrase where a head-noun is joined to other words to form an expression num. Numeral Number part. Particle Short words added to complete the sentence p.n. Proper Name A name of a person or object; always capitalised p.u.t. Pre-utterance tag A tag or exclamation used prior to an utterance to indicate the underlying sense of the utterance prep. Preposition A word positioning nouns or verbs in time or space pron. Pronoun A word that stands for a noun sal. Salutation A word or phrase that stands alone as a greeting or introduces a dialogue s.t. Sentence tag A word or clause standing at the end of a sentence, that intensifies the meaning in some way but is unnecessary to the syntax. v. Verb Expresses action v.a. Verbal auxiliary An inflected verb that co-occurs with an uninflected main verb v.c. Verbal Additional word or words found in phrasal verbs [???] complement v.i. Intransitive Verb A verb with no object v.n. Verbal Noun A noun formed directly from a verb to express a state of being [only one type; what of agentives?] v.p. Verb phrase A phrase where a head-noun is joined to other words to form an expression [head-noun or verb?] v.t. Transitive verb A verb with an object

Abbreviations

AE African English Ar. arch. archaic BE British English CE Colonial English der. derogatory dial. dialect e.g. for example euph. euphemism

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F. French fem. feminine hum. humorous id. ideophone ins. insulting joc. jocular lit. literally masc. masculine n. noun NE Nigerian English NGE Northern Ghanaian English neg. negative over. overused pl. plural prov. proverb refl. reflexive s. singular sc. sl. schoolboy slang SE SGE Southern Ghanaian English st. sl. student slang t. transitive TE Tropical English v. verb w. with WAE West African English Y. Yoruba

References

Bamgbose, Ayo et al. (ed) New Englishes: a West African perspective. Africa World Press Burkill, H.M. 1985. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, A-D, Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens. Burkill, H.M. 1994. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Families E-I, Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens. Burkill, H.M. 1995. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Families J-L, Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens. Burkill, H.M. 1997. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Families M-R, Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens. Burkill, H.M. 2000. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Families S-Z, Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens. Kirby, J.P. 1998. A North American’s guide to Ghanaian English. Takoradi: TICCS. Kropp Dakubu, M.E. ed. English in Ghana. : Ghana English Studies Association. Sey, K.A. 1973. Ghanaian English. Ikeja: Macmillan Education Spencer, John (ed.) 1971. The in West Africa. London: Longman.

5 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology A.

A-1 n.p. monosodium glutamate cf. white Maggi A.D. one one adv.p. by foot, walking Aba! excl. expression of surprise, ? Hausa haba (q.v.) disbelief, annoyance abinchi n. food, money

6 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology someone's visit America film n.p. film produced in USA, usu. action-drama America man n.p. person from the USA America tin n.p. one US gallon, USAID relief also oloka oil container

ampe girls' game with jumping and

B. bad death n.p. certain kinds of anti-social deaths have no funeral balance n. change from an amount paid balance v.t. to give change, to complete a sum of money n. fashionable hair- banku n. fermented maize cooked in

10 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology C. caffre n. boiled maize

11 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology Cho-boi! excl. Ga war chant, football chant,

chop box n. student's chest for personal

counters n. bottle caps, used by children learning to count country n. country-man, tribesman court court a. always taking each other to court cover cloth n. sheet, one sheet per bed on bottom, own cloth for cover sheet; plain piece of cloth worn toga style or wrapped around the body or knotted at the neck cowboy n. boys who take care of the cows, don't go to school cow head soup n. soup served as snack in pito bars cow meat n. beef crispy a. crispy curve v. turn cf. bend, branch, pass curve curve a. winding usu. ~road custard apple n. artichoke-shaped fruit, Annona AE senegalensis customs n. funeral ~, rites cut v. (wood, cement blocks, , lotto, a relationship, a path) chop the tree; cast cement blocks; eat fufu; stake lotto; break a relationship; hack a path cut cut a. having frayed ends, many small cuts or cracks cutlass n. long slashing knife, machete or machet

13 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology D daa adv. a long time, forever

14 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology doko doko n. sweet, sweets, drinks like

15 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology E. earth n. earth deity, associated with the earth shrine earth priest n.p. custodian of earth shrine earth shrine n.p. place of contact with local earth deity ease (oneself) v. to urinate, to go to the toilet BE obsolete, also NE eat v. only staples are counted as food egushi n. seeds of Cucumeropsis edulis neri , also agusi elders n. senior advisors, authorities in family and village emo tuo n. glutinous rice in form of balls (lit. rice guns ) usu. with groundnut soup

F. face the wall n.p. popular name for konkonte, lapewa, cassava T.Z. Fada p.n. Father, an RC missionary or any Westerner fair a. light coloured complexion family n. contraceptives planning Fante dokono n. maize dough in the Fante style

17 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology

G. gabli n. maize and bean boiled cake

H.

Haba! excl. Expression of surprise or < Hausa and heard amazement mainly in the North. NE. N.B. Habahaba! was a common expression of joking amazement in the US in the 1940s. Related? Hacks n. mentholated cough drop or (see old-man ) candy had v. got, achieved, attained hair n. feathers half piece n.p. woman's cloth 6 yds of traditional cotton print hand n. SE hand, also arm, wing of bird 19 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology hankete n. handkerchief harmattan n. dry dust-laden desert wind, WAE November-March Hausa onion n.p. garlic have it excl.p. take it! head-load n. basket or basin-load carried on the head head-pad n. quoin, circular cloth or fibre NE pad, to protect the head when carrying a basin or similar head-pan n. pans used for carrying cement and other building materials on the head head-tie n. headscarf head-tax n. colonial taxation of individual CE family heads hear v. to understand, speak hear v.t. to sense hell of a.p. lot of, much, plenty < Hell of a lot of. . . hello-hello n.p. good-time friends, short-lived obsolete friends friendships help n. small donation, dash herbalist n. traditional doctor who treats NE patients, in principle with plant remedies, but also other types of socially approved magical remedies here to stay adv.p. said of a child after the name- giving ceremony highlife p.n. Ghanaian music with calypso/Soca beat Hmmm! excl. N. = sign of disapproval, S. = sign of worries ho! excl. expression of contempt home second a.p. second hand items imported hand from Europe home use a. reconditioned, ersatz, imitation spare parts, etc. hook v.t. cut grass, weeds etc. with a cutlass hoot v. to embarrass or chase away with loud shouting horrible film n.p. horror film hot a. busy hot a. serious hot n. spirits cf. akpateshie, VC- 10, patash house n. family, family origins, genealogy, building house name n. name referring to an ancestor come back. house of chiefs n. regional assembly of chiefs house people n.p. extended family members How! excl. strong disagreement How be? excl.p. greetings, How are you?

20 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology how possible! excl.p. impossible, incredible hu hu hu . . . id. sound of shouting, hooting

I.

I-am-aware n.p. low-slung trousers worn by st. sl. women I see! excl.p. I don't really believe you! ibi so ibi so! excl.p. It is like that. That is the way it is! ice block n. ice cubes, ice water sold in plastic bags iced n. cooled water leftover from making kenkey if conj. when if cond. whenever in his bottle a.p. drunk the man was in his bottle in time adv. quickly Independent n. churches with charismatic Churches leaders and healers film n.p. Indian films: popular because romance w/o. sex Indian hemp n. marijuana, hashish ingredients n. all items that go into making soup or sauce ino be so? int.p. Isn't it like that? inside prep. there, under the surface, deep down interesting excl. mild surprise and slight disagreement iron sheets n. roofing sheets of galvanized steel or aluminium is that how you excl.p. reproof for being cheap, a sign are! of bad character it got v.a. it became broke/used up/lost it

21 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology J.

Jato sal. nickname for any light-skinned

K.

KVIP n.p. public ventilated pit latrine kaba n. cover, woman's blouse, Ghanaian cotton print kaba and slit n. former style of women’s dress kabako! excl. We have a big problem! kai! excl. showing surprise and annoyed disagreement kakolo and n. mashed fried plantain and beans beans kakra n. a little bit

L. lace n. cloth in the style broderie Anglaise, with many gaps. Imported from Austria and prestigous because expensive lampo n. head tax, income tax

landowner n. earth shrine custodian, indigenes of a place langalanga a. lanky, lean and tall langalanga n. steel bands for binding boxes used to attach roof to walls lapewa n. cassava flour porridge

25 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology M. maame sal. mother, for mature woman

N. name n. nickname for someone having the same name Nananom p.n. ? traditional association napkin n. baby's nappy Nasala p.n. European, non-Black

27 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology European or Japanese. night-school n. classes in villages after work in the fields in literacy or other topics, usually sponsored by churches or NGOs nika nika n. mechanical grain grinding machine nkyenkyema n. rickety old car, ‘old banger’

O. obibini n. African, coloured black or with

P. paa adv. proper, really, very well, very

31 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology Q.

Queen Mother p.n. female senior elder in matrilineal royal family Queen's n.p. Standard English reference is to English Queen Victoria query v. to subject a junior to BE questioning quite a. very It is quite far i.e. it NE is very far. Also negative: It is not quite far quite adv. well I quite remember when they came here

R. rain n. lightning Rambo p.n. physically strong man cf. macho man. < film character played by Sylvester Stallone ramp v. to pound or compress gravel for flooring rastah n. hairstyle for women: fine braids, not dreadlocks rate n. cost of admission to movie, concert, play etc. rather adv. are more likely to.. they rather handle < ‘would rather’ the new notes with care Rawlings park p.n. car park of several blocks in central Accra reach v.i. be sufficient, not enough e.g. the money will not cf. not catch money reach reach v. arrive at e.g. place, conclusion, etc. red a. red and related colours ‘white’ people are often said to be red red-eyes a.p. sign of danger, hot, envious, SGE greedy red-eyes n. serious, no nonsense, angry, hotly on something red fish n. snapper red-red n. stew containing palm-oil and plantain, both reddish in colour reduce v. to ask that the price be lowered remains v. to be left e.g. only . . . are/is left. remember v. reminds me of cf. Twi remove v.i. to come out the thing will not remove reply v. to respond to, send or give a 32 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology reply to resemble v. to look alike retaliate v. to pay back, return e.g. even a favour; jokingly used by elites retire v. to no longer use, to remove

S. sabe v. to understand borrowed from West Coast Pidgin, ultimately < Portuguese saber sabesabe a. know it all, pretentious, too knowledgeable sack v.t. chase away; also divorce sack n. unit of money, 200 cedis sacred grove n. heavily forested site of earth shrine, cemetery etc. sakora a. bald head, tires etc.

36 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology film storey building n.p. building with more than one NE floor or story stranger n. guest(s), visitor(s) many African languages equate these concepts structure n. figure (usually of a woman) suffer v. to have difficulties while striving to get ahead sugar-mammy n. female version of sugar daddy suman n. talisman, juju, magical

T.

T.Z. n. porridge of millet, sorghum or from Hausa maize tuwon zafi taboo v. to prohibit take v.t. to eat take and v.a. typical serial verb construction take care v. to be careful take it v.p. to understand something as, to be take seed v.p. to become pregnant Take time! excl.p. to take your time, be careful, take it easy, cool off take time v. take a long time, delay s.t., to cool off talia n. pasta, spaghetti, noodles < Italian tagliatelle, via Hausa tapper n. palm wine tapper tea n. tea, coffee or other hot drink tea bread n. non-sweetened bread tell lies v.p. to lie, distort the truth despite its prevalence, considered very offensive 37 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology tey excl. on and on, straight on cf. Twi, Ga that's all! excl. it is finished, over the p.a. my, his, her their a. possessive pronoun showing habitual action thief v. rob or steal from no distinction thiefman n. thief thirty-first p.n. main market in central Accra, December Makola this our a. humble, self-deprecating description this time adv.p. nowadays, these days three days n.p. It's been a long time since we've seen each other. tie the rain v.p. to have magical power over local rains tie v. to bind up by magic, to prevent from acting tiger n. leopard ME tii n. drinking chocolate, any hot drink tinapa n. tinned meats (corned beef, ?

38 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology formal gatherings trafficator n. indicator light on car archaic BE travel v. to go on a journey trot v. to jog trotro n. outmoded word for threepence lit. three, three trotro n. passenger lorry

U.

Uganda boys p.n. gang of ruffians and station boys in Tamale uncle n. mother's brother, title for friend of one's parents under a. to be under conception, pregnant unless conj. the only choice left is . . . might as well . . . Unless God! excl.p. if not for God, over to God, in the hands of God up to a. up to the amount specified or the money is not up agreed upon to the money isn’t enough up and down n. top and trousers of same material use to v.a. precedes verb to indicate he use to go to cf. do habitual action Accra

V.

VC-10 n. alcohol fermented from sugar cf. akpateshie, cane or palm wine patash vex v.i. to be disturbed, annoyed vex v.t. to disturb, to annoy vulcanise v.t. to repair a puncture go and vulcanise NE. archaic in SE the tyre but not in West Africa vulcaniser n. one who repairs tyres NE. archaic SE

39 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology W. wace n. beans, cowpeas

40 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology (winning, winners) winter n. rainy season witchcraft n. refers to the witch herself or her practice wofa n. mother's brother, provider,

X.

Xmas box n. box for donations in offices and shops at Christmas Xmas hut n. Christmas play/party hut built cf. Twi brounya by children apataa

Y. yaka yaka cassava bread

41 Ghanaian English Dictionary Roger Blench Circulation Draft Ghanaian PoS Explanation Example Etymology yoo excl. okay, I have heard you, well then you see! excl. So there! Didn't I tell you so! you will see! excl. serious threat, something bad will happen to you! your mother! excl. grave insult with sexual obscene connotations

Z. zana mat n.p. mat woven of tall grass used for fencing zed n. letter Z , also for Zenabu, a woman's name zimtiim n. Guinness

DCE District Chief Executive

G.N.T.C. (TM) (acron.) Ghana National Trading Corporation G.P.R.T.U. (acron.) Ghana Private Road Transport Union G.W.S.C. (acron.) Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation J.J. (initials of Rawlings) (for: Junior Jesus ) Jerry John Rawlings' nickname J.S.S. (acron.) junior secondary school N.A.S.P.A. (acron.) National Service Personnel Association N.D.C. (acron.) N.D.C. has won the election. National Democratic Convention Neoplan (TM) He took a N. instead of S.T.C. a government bus company, manufactured in Gh. O.S.A. (acron.) government-run local bus line P. & T. (acron.) He rang from the P. & T. post office, telegram office, telephone booth P.-One (abbrev.) Primary School-Class One S.C.O.A. (TM) (acron.) Multi Stores, French West African Trading Co. S.S. (acron.) senior secondary school S.S.N.I.T. (acron.) Social Security T.U.C. (acron.) Trade Union Congress (Workers' Union) U.A.C. (TM) (acron.) United Africa Company (Unilever) U.T.C. (TM) (acron.) United Trading Company V.R.A. (TM) (acron.) Volta Region Authority (electricity corporation)

42