Cover not available
Article published In:
Pragmatics
Vol. 29:3 (2019) ► pp.309–331

The ethnopragmatics of Akan advice

ORCID logo | University of Ghana, Legon
This paper discusses Akan Advice under ethnopragmatics. It adopts persuasion, speech acts of directives and expressives, and Akan proverbs to discuss advice with the insight from Akan culture. The adviser expresses some feelings and emotions and directs the advisee to act and behave towards the benefits of the individual, the group or society. The paper taps data from participant observations and audio taped recordings at arbitrations, marriage and naming ceremonies. There is another data from Adi’s (1973) Akan literature book, Brako that covers pieces of advice on travelling, settlement and occupation. The Akan texts are translated into English and analysed. The analysis covers semantics, pragmatics, stylistic devices, and proverbs.
Keywords: Akan, advice, ethnopragmatics, cultural scripts, directives, expressives, persuasion, proverbs
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Linguistic routines
    • 1.1The Akan language and people
    • 1.2Methodology
  • 2.Ethnopragmatics
    • 2.1Advice in Akan ethnopragmatics
    • 2.2Expressives and directives in advice
      • 2.2.1Expressive in advice
      • 2.2.2Directives in advice
    • 2.3Persuasive language in advice
    • 2.4The Akan concept and definition of advice
  • 3.Ethnosemantics of afotuo, ‘Advice’ in Akan
    • 3.1Akan proverbs and maxims on advice
  • 4.Ethnographic contexts for advice in Akan
    • 4.1Advice at a naming ceremony
      • Analysis
    • 4.2Advice at a marriage ceremony
    • 4.3Advice on reconciliation after settlement of disputes
    • 4.4Advice for a youth who is travelling (from Brako by Kwabena Adi)
      • Background
  • 5.Analysis of Akora Hwεwodeεso’s advice
    • 5.1Proverbs and metaphors in Akan advice
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 25 June 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.17002.agy
References (37)
References
Adi, Kwabena. 1973. Brako. Tema: Ghana Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Agyekum, Kofi. 2018. Akan Body Parts Expressions: A Cognitive Semantics and Pragmatic Approach. Accra: Adwinsa Publications Ltd.Google Scholar
. 2012. “Akan Proverbs and Aphorisms about Marriage.” Research Review NS 27 (2): 1–24.Google Scholar
. 2010. “The Sociolinguistics of Thanking in Akan.” Nordic Journal of African Studies 19 (2): 77–97.Google Scholar
. 2008. “The Pragmatics of Akan Greetings. Discourse Studies 10 (4): 489–512. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006a. “Akan Apology: A Repair Mechanism in Akan Social Interaction.” South African Journal of Linguistics 26 (2): 53–68.Google Scholar
. 2006b. “The Sociolinguistic of Akan Personal Names.” Nordic Journal of African Studies 15 (2): 206–235.Google Scholar
. 2006c. “Akan Traditional Arbitration: Its Structure and Language.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 27 (5): 359–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. “The Pragmatics of Requests in Akan Communication.” Legon Journal of Humanities 161: 1–26.Google Scholar
. 2004a. “The Sociocultural Concept of Face in Akan Communication.” Journal of Pragmatics and Cognition 12 (1): 71–92. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2004b. “Aspects of Persuasion in Akan Communication.” International Journal of Language and Communication RASK 21: 63–96.Google Scholar
. 2002. “The Interpretive Marker Sε in Akan.” In New Directions in Ghanaian Linguistics, ed. by Felix K. Ameka, and Emmanuel K. Osam, 127–145. Accra: Black Mask Publishers.Google Scholar
Ameka, Felix. 2009. “Access Rituals in West African Communities: An Ethnopragmatic Perspective.” In Ritual Communication, ed. by Gunther Senft and Ellen B. Basso, 127–152. New York: Berg.Google Scholar
. 2006. “When I Die, Don’t Cry’: The Ethnopragmatics of “Gratitude” in West African Languages. In Ethnopragmatics: Understanding Discourse in Cultural Context, ed. by Cliff Goddard, 231–266. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ameka, Felix, and Breedveld, Anneke. 2004. “Areal Cultural Scripts for Social Interaction in West African Communities?” Intercultural Pragmatics 1–21: 167–187.Google Scholar
Christaller, Johannes G. 1933. Dictionary of the Asante and Fante Language Called Tshi (Twi). 2nd Edition. Basel: The Basel Evangelical Missionary Society.Google Scholar
Duranti, Allesandro. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goddard, Cliff. 2006. “Ethnopragmatics: A New Paradigm.” In Ethnopragmatics: Understanding Discourse in Cultural Context, ed. by Cliff, Goddard, 1–30. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2004. “The Ethnopragmatics and Semantics of ‘Active Metaphors.” Journal of Pragmatics (Special issue on ‘Metaphor’, ed. by Gerard Steen) 36 (7): 1211–1230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goddard, Cliff, and Wierzbicka, Anna. 2004. “Cultural Scripts: What are They and What are They Good for?” Intercultural Pragmatics 1–21: 153–166.Google Scholar
Goddard, Cliff, and Ye, Zhengdao. 2015. “Ethnopragmatics.” In The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture, ed. by Sharifian, Farzad, 66–83. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jefferson, Gail, and Lee, John R. E. 1981. “The Rejection of Advice. Managing the Problematic Convergence of a Troubles-Telling and a Service Encounter.” Journal of Pragmatics 51: 399–422. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Larina, T. (2009). The Categories of Politeness and the Style of Communication. A Comparison of the English and Russian Lingua-Cultural Traditions [In Russian] Moscow: Slavic Language and Culture Publishers. (Moskva: Jazyki Slavjanskix Kultur).Google Scholar
Mey, Jacob L. 2001. Pragmatics: An Introduction, 2nd Edition. Oxford. Blackwell.Google Scholar
Obeng, Gyasi Samuel. 1999. “Apologies in Akan Discourse.” Journal of Pragmatics 311: 709–734. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1987. Conversational Strategies: Towards a Phonological Description of Projection in Akyem. Unpublished Ph. D Thesis, York Univ. UK.Google Scholar
Searle, John R. 2009. “Searle’s Felicity Conditions on Speech Acts.” In Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics, 2nd Edition, ed. by Jacob L. Mey, 1004–1009. Amsterdam: Elsevier Ltd.Google Scholar
Sharifian, Farzad. 2017. Cultural Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2015. “Cultural Linguistics.” In The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture, ed. by Sharifian Farzad, 473–490. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tsurikova, Lyubov, and Evanson, Virginia. 1995. “Advice: A Pragmatic Approach to Teaching Functions in English.” Revista de Lenguas Ara Fines Específicos. 21: 14–22.Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, Anna. 2015. “Language and Cultural Scripts.” In The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture, ed. by Sharifian Farzad, 339–356. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
. 2012. “Advice in English and Russian: A Contrastive and Cross-Cultural Perspective.” In Advice in Discourse, ed. by Limberg Holger and Miriam A. Locher, 309–332. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1991. Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: The Semantics of Human Interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yankah, Kwesi. 1995. Speaking for the Chief: Okyeame and the Politics of Akan Royal Oratory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
. 1991. “Orality in Akan Society.” Discourse and Society 2(1):47–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1989. “Proverbs: The Aesthetics of Traditional Communication.” Research in African Literature 20(3):325–346.Google Scholar
Yule, George. 2000. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Aboh, Romanus, Angela Ajimase & Idom T. Inyabri
2024. They Do Not Eat a Wife’s Beauty: The Ethnopragmatics of Bette Proverbial Personal Names. Languages 9:9 ► pp. 302 ff. DOI logo
Arhine, Adwoa, Benjamin Amakye-Boateng, Kofi Agyekum & Joshua A. Amuah
2024. Domestic Animal Metaphor in Akan. Ghana Studies 26:1 ► pp. 145 ff. DOI logo
Agyekum, Kofi
2021. Proverbs in Akan highlife lyrics: A case study of Alex Konadu's lyrics. Journal of Pragmatics 174 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Agyekum, Kofi
2024. The ethnopragmatics of Akan leave-takings and farewells. Language and Dialogue 14:3 ► pp. 403 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.