The ethnopragmatics of Akan advice
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.
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
- 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)
- 5.Analysis of Akora Hwεwodeεso’s advice
- 5.1Proverbs and metaphors in Akan advice
- 6.Conclusion
- Notes
-
References
References (37)
Adi, Kwabena
1973 Brako. Tema: Ghana Publishing Corporation.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Agyekum, Kofi
2018 Akan Body Parts Expressions: A Cognitive Semantics and Pragmatic Approach. Accra: Adwinsa Publications Ltd.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Agyekum, Kofi
2012 “
Akan Proverbs and Aphorisms about Marriage.”
Research Review NS
27 (2): 1–24.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Agyekum, Kofi
2010 “
The Sociolinguistics of Thanking in Akan.”
Nordic Journal of African Studies 19 (2): 77–97.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Agyekum, Kofi
2008 “
The Pragmatics of Akan Greetings.
Discourse Studies 10 (4): 489–512.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Agyekum, Kofi
2006a “
Akan Apology: A Repair Mechanism in Akan Social Interaction.”
South African Journal of Linguistics 26 (2): 53–68.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Agyekum, Kofi
2006b “
The Sociolinguistic of Akan Personal Names.”
Nordic Journal of African Studies 15 (2): 206–235.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Agyekum, Kofi
2006c “
Akan Traditional Arbitration: Its Structure and Language.”
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 27 (5): 359–74.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Agyekum, Kofi
2005 “
The Pragmatics of Requests in Akan Communication.”
Legon Journal of Humanities 161: 1–26.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Agyekum, Kofi
2004b “
Aspects of Persuasion in Akan Communication.”
International Journal of Language and Communication RASK 21: 63–96.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Agyekum, Kofi
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](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ameka, Felix
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 logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ameka, Felix, and Breedveld, Anneke
2004 “
Areal Cultural Scripts for Social Interaction in West African Communities?”
Intercultural Pragmatics 1–21: 167–187.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Christaller, Johannes G.
1933 Dictionary of the Asante and Fante Language Called Tshi (Twi). 2nd Edition. Basel: The Basel Evangelical Missionary Society.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Duranti, Allesandro
1997 Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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 logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goddard, Cliff
2004 “
The Ethnopragmatics and Semantics of ‘Active Metaphors.”
Journal of Pragmatics (Special issue on ‘Metaphor’, ed. by
Gerard Steen) 36 (7): 1211–1230.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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 logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mey, Jacob L.
2001 Pragmatics: An Introduction, 2nd Edition. Oxford. Blackwell.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Obeng, Gyasi Samuel
1999 “
Apologies in Akan Discourse.”
Journal of Pragmatics 311: 709–734.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Obeng, Gyasi Samuel
1987 Conversational Strategies: Towards a Phonological Description of Projection in Akyem. Unpublished Ph. D Thesis, York Univ. UK.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sharifian, Farzad
2015 “
Cultural Linguistics.” In
The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture, ed. by
Sharifian Farzad, 473–490. London: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wierzbicka, Anna
1991 Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: The Semantics of Human Interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yankah, Kwesi
1995 Speaking for the Chief: Okyeame and the Politics of Akan Royal Oratory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yankah, Kwesi
1991 “
Orality in Akan Society.”
Discourse and Society 2(1):47–64.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yankah, Kwesi
1989 “
Proverbs: The Aesthetics of Traditional Communication.”
Research in African Literature 20(3):325–346.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yule, George
2000 Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by 2 other publications
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](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
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](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 july 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.