Ghanaian English

Ghanaian schoolchildren at an English primary school.

Ghanaian English is a variety of English spoken in Ghana. English is the official language of Ghana, and is used as a lingua franca throughout the state.[1] English is the most used of the 11 official languages spoken in Ghana.[1]

Demographics

Of the more than 28 million people in Ghana, more than half of the population uses English, and most use English exclusively.[1] Most primary and secondary school classes are taught in English only.

Phonology

Due to Ghana's colonial history, Ghanaian English most closely resembles British English, although it is wildly varied and deviates from the standard in many ways based on location and context.

In contrast to the twelve monophthongal vowels of Received Pronunciation, Ghanaian English has only seven, an attribute shared with other forms of African English.[2] Ghanaian English exhibits several mergers including the fleece-kit, goose foot, and thought-cloth mergers.[2]

In Ghanaian English, the voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant [ɕ] is the usual realization of the phoneme /ʃ/ (as in "ship" and "chicago"), the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate [tɕ] is the usual realization of /tʃ/ (as in "cheese" and ""watching") and the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate [dʑ] is the usual realization of /dʒ/ (as in "general" and "magic").[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 http://www.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/2010phc/Census2010_Summary_report_of_final_results.pdf
  2. 1 2 A handbook of varieties of English : a multimedia reference tool. Schneider, Edgar W. (Edgar Werner), 1954-, Kortmann, Bernd, 1960-. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 2004. ISBN 3110175320. OCLC 56880203.
  3. ↑ Huber (2004:859)

  • Huber, Magnus (2004), "Ghanaian English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive, A handbook of varieties of English, 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 842–865, ISBN 3-11-017532-0


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