Ghanaian English and code‐switching in Catholic churches

Abstract

This sociolinguistic study looks at language use at Catholic Masses and in informal social interactions by worshippers in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. The focus is on English employed monolingually as well as alternated or mixed with local languages. Data for the study were collected through the participant observation method. Findings revealed that, although it is mainly a second language in Ghana, English dominates Catholic Masses in urban centers like Accra, and is used extensively and in different combinations with indigenous languages. Even though all the major indigenous languages spoken in Accra, including Twi, Ga, and Ewe, were found to be in use especially in the middle and lower-class churches, English seems to dominate Catholic Masses including such parts as the introduction, homilies, prayers of the faithful, and announcements. In the multilingual urban environment of Accra and the socioreligious context of Catholic services, different types of linguistic hybridity seem to compete with monolingual English as both priests and worshippers make use of their linguistic resources according to the communicative demands of the occasion.

The function of Student Pidgin in Ghana

“…e.g. Trudgill, 1974) that people may seek to advance their socio-economic position by speaking the standard variety rather than nonstandard varieties, and this is especially pertinent in societies like Ghana where English is an official language used in formal contexts of life, including government, business, the judiciary and education (Albakry & Ofori, 2011).…”

“…The following quotations represent the students' comments regarding their use of Student Pidgin to converse with uneducated people or ‘illiterates’ who do not speak Standard English. Today in Ghana, only about 31.8% of the population can lay claim to English proficiency, and it is still very much a privilege of the educated elite (Albakry & Ofori, 2011). SL: I speak Student Pidgin because some people in our areas are not good in English but they do their best in pidgin.…”

Language choice in multilingual socio‐religious settings in southwest Cameroon

“…Studies on language and religion that adopt a sociolinguistic approach include Das Gupta (), Bitjaa‐Kody (), Omoniyi (), and Albakry and Ofori (). A structural‐functional approach is used in Kouega ().…”

“…Albakry and Ofori () described language use at Catholic Masses and in informal social interactions by worshippers in Accra, the capital of Ghana, using Myers‐Scotton's (; ) theory of matrix language frame. For a period of four months, they visited ten churches in Accra and audio‐recorded their services.…”

Language Use and Discoursal Strategies in Peer Religious Mentoring

“…Studies in religious contexts have used qualitative and quantitative apparatus such as interviews, questionnaire, participant observation, archival research; psychological experiment as well as fine-grained analysis of video (cf. Paveda and Polomares-Valera, 2005;Rosowsky 2006;Moore, 2008;Schmidt, 2011;Albakry and Ofori, 2011). In Singapore, studies have focused on religious education, the languages used to communicate with spirits, and how the language of the sacred texts influenced the way language is used in particular regions (cf.…”