Cover not available
Article published In:
Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 10:2 (2024) ► pp.166–189

Exploring incongruity and humour in Linguistic Landscapes in Ghana

ORCID logo | Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
| University of Cape Coast
| University of Health and Allied Sciences

In recent times, Linguistic Landscape (LL) research has been extended to cover several variables, domains, modes, and geo-political contexts. Arguably, humour remains understudied in LL research. This article, therefore, examines incongruities in LLs using a corpus of digital signs and incongruous inscriptions gathered across several mediums in urban Ghana. Drawing on the incongruity theory, we examined the levels of incongruities in the corpus. The study found that incongruities in public signs in urban Ghana manifest at the lexical, grammatical, semantic, and phonological levels. We conclude that the resolutions of these incongruities induce laughter and humour in the audience with the shared sociolinguistic knowledge, and humour intelligence. The findings have implications for the theory on humour and the research on LL.

Keywords: Ghana, Linguistic Landscape, incongruity, humour, laughter
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Concepts and theory
    • 2.1Sociolinguistic situation of Ghana
    • 2.2Multimodality and Linguistic Landscape
    • 2.3Theoretical lens
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Datasets and procedures
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Lexical/Orthographic level
    • 4.2Grammatical level
    • 4.3Semantic level of incongruity
    • 4.4Phonological level of incongruity
      • 4.4.1Phonetic approximations
      • 4.4.2Free variation
  • 5.Summary and conclusions
  • References
Published online: 22 September 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.22016.ako
References
Akimbekov, N. S., & Razzaque, M. S.
(2021) Laughter therapy: A humour-induced hormonal intervention to reduce stress and anxiety. Current Research in Physiology, 4 1, 135–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Akoto, O. Y.
(2018) Language choice and institutional identity: A study of the mottos of Ghanaian educational institutions. WORD, 64 (3), 177–190. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Akoto, O. Y. & Afful, J. B. A.
(2021) What languages are in names? Exploring the languages in church names in Ghana. Athens Journal of Philology, 8 (1), 37–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Al-Kharabsheh, A.
(2008) Unintentional humour in the translation of Jordanian shop signs. Journal of Intercultural Communication. 17 (6). 1–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anderson, J. A., Wiredu, J. F., Ansah, G. N., Frimpong-Kodie, G., Orfson-Offei, E., & Boamah-Boateng, D.
(2020) A linguistic landscape of the central business district of Accra. Legon Journal of the Humanities, 31 (1), 1–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ansah, J. O. A., Baidoo, Y. S., & Abrefa, K. B.
(2021) Do Akans eat almost everything? Clarifying the word sense multiplicity of the Akan verb “di”. Journal of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, 2 (2), 20–35.Google Scholar
Anyidoho, A. & Dakubu, M. E. K.
(2008) Ghana: Indigenous languages, English, and an emerging national identity. In A. Simpson (Ed.). Language and national identity in Africa. (pp.140–157). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Aslan, E.
(2022) Days of our ‘quarantined’ lives: multimodal humour in COVID-19 internet memes. Internet pragmatics, 5 (2), 227–256. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Batibo, H.
(2005) Language decline and death in Africa: Causes, consequences, and challenges. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ben-Rafael, E. et al.
(2006) Linguistic landscape as symbolic construction of the public space: The case of Israel.’ International Journal of Multilingualism, 3 (1), 7–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berger, A. A.
(1993) An anatomy of humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Buckingham, L.
(2015) Commercial signage and the linguistic landscape of Oman. World Englishes, 34(3), 411–435. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Buijzen, M. and Valkenburg, P.
(2004) Developing a typology of humor in audiovisual media. Media Psychology, 61, 147–167. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chase, B. P.
(2017) An acoustical analysis of the American English /l, r/ Contrast as produced by adult Japanese learners of English incorporating word position and task type. (Doctoral Dissertation). Brigham Young University.
Chen, Q. & Jiang, G.
(2018) Why are you amused? Unveiling multimodal humor from the prototype theoretical perspective. The European Journal of Humour Research, 6 (1), 62–84. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dressman, M.
(2019) Multimodality and language learning. In M. Dressman & R. William Sadler (Eds). The Handbook of informal language learning (pp. 39–55). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fasold, R.
(1984) The Sociolinguistics of society. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Forabosco, G.
(2008) Is the concept of incongruity still a useful construct for the advancement of humor research? Pragmatics, 45–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Francis, E. J., & Michaelis, L.
(2003) Mismatch: a crucible for linguistic theory. Mismatch: form-function incongruity and the architecture of grammar. In Francis, Elaine, and Laura A. Michaelis (Eds). Mismatch: form-function incongruity and the architecture of grammar (pp. 1–27). Stanford: CSLI publications.Google Scholar
Friedrich, M., & Friederici, A. D.
(2004) N400-like semantic incongruity effect in 19-month-olds: Processing known words in picture contexts. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 16 (8), 1465–1477. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garcia, O.
(2012) Ethnic identity and language policy. In B. Spolsky (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of language policy (pp. 79–99). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ghosh, D., Elena Musi, K. U. & Smaranda, M.
(2019) Interpreting verbal irony: Linguistic strategies and the connection to the type of semantic incongruity. Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics, 3 ( 9 ):76–87.Google Scholar
Gorter, D.
(2013) Linguistic landscapes in a multilingual world. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 331, 190–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hattori, K., & Iverson, P.
(2009) English/r/-/l/category assimilation by Japanese adults: Individual differences and the link to identification accuracy. The Journal of the Society of America, 125 (1), 469–479. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herrero Ruiz, J.
(2019) Metaphor and metonymy in jokes: Evidence from Cognitive Linguistics and frame-shifting theory. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada, 32 (2), 650–684. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Juffermans, K.
(2012) Multimodality and audiences: Local languaging in the Gambian linguistic landscape. Sociolinguistic Studies, 6(2), 259–284. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kulka, T.
(2007) The incongruity of incongruity theories of humor. Organon F, 14 (3), 320–333.Google Scholar
Kress, G.
(2010) Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kress, G. R., & Van Leeuwen, T.
(1996) Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Maina, M. D.
(2021) Context and accidental humour: The import of the sociolinguistic situation in linguistic errors on public signage in Kenya. Edition Consortium Journal of Literature and Linguistic Studies, 3 (1), 183–193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McGhee, P. E.
(1979) Humor: Its origin and development. San Francisco: Freeman.Google Scholar
Meyer, J. C.
(2000) Humor as a double-edged sword: Four functions of humor in communication. Communication Theory, 101, 310–331. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miller, N., Lowit, A., & O’Sullivan, H.
(2006) What makes acquired foreign accent syndrome foreign? Journal of Neurolinguistics, 19 (5), 385–409. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Muth, S. & Wolf, F.
(2010) ‘The linguistic landscapes of Chisinau: forms and functions of Urban Public Verbal Signs in a Post-Soviet Setting’, Linguistics and Language Teaching, 41, 1–21.Google Scholar
Nijholt, A.
(2015) Incongruity humor in language and beyond: from Bergson to digitally enhanced worlds. In M. Bait (Ed). Proceedings 14th International Symposium on Comunicación Social: retos y perspectivas (pp. 594–599). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.Google Scholar
Nikoi, N. K.
(2020) Hiplife music in Ghana: postcolonial performances of the good life. International Journal of Communication, 14 1, 1951–1969.Google Scholar
Ngula, R. S.
(2011) Ghanaian English: Spelling pronunciation in focus. Language in India, 11 (2), 22–36.Google Scholar
Opoku-Amankwa, K., & Brew-Hammond, A.
(2011) ‘Literacy is the ability to read and write English’: defining and developing literacy in basic schools in Ghana. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14 (1), 89–106. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paradis, C., & LaCharité, D.
(2008) Apparent phonetic approximation: English loanwords in Old Quebec French. Journal of Linguistics, 44 (1), 87–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A.
(2010) Language as a local practice. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Porzuczek, A.
(2015) Handling global and local English pronunciation errors. In E. Waniek-Klimczak, and P. Mirosław (Eds). Teaching and researching the pronunciation of English (pp. 169–187). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pütz, M., & Mundt, N.
(2018) Multilingualism, multimodality and methodology: Linguistic landscape research in the context of assemblages, ideologies and (in) visibility: An introduction. In M. Pütz & N. Mundt (Eds.). Expanding the Linguistic Landscape: Linguistic diversity, multimodality and the use of space as a semiotic resource (pp. 1–22). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W.
(2003) Discourses in place: Language in the material world. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sherrin, N.
(Ed.) (2008) Oxford dictionary of humorous quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shoba, J. A., Dako, K., & Orfson-Offei, E.
(2013) ‘Locally acquired foreign accent’ (LAFA) in contemporary Ghana. World Englishes, 32 (2), 230–242. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shohamy, E. & Gorter, D.
(2009) Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the scenery. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tafoya, E.
(2009) The legacy of the wisecrack: stand-up comedy as the great American literary form. Boca Raton, Florida: Brown Walker Press.Google Scholar
Tahir, S. & Bidin, S. J.
(2020) Research on linguistic landscape: Observing the minute in the bigger picture. Global Journal in Emerging Sciences, 2 (1), 20–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tuffour, A. D., & Asamoah-Poku, F.
(2020) Linguistic landscape in the face of Kumasi-Kajetia. Nairobi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 4 (1), 37–52.Google Scholar