Cover not available
Part of
The Evolution of Englishes: The Dynamic Model and beyond
Edited by Sarah Buschfeld, Thomas Hoffmann, Magnus Huber and Alexander Kautzsch
[Varieties of English Around the World G49] 2014
► pp. 86–106

Stylistic and sociolinguistic variation in Schneider’s Nativization Phase

T-affrication and relativization in Ghanaian English

Taking educated Ghanaian English (GhE) as an example, this article considers the place of stylistic and sociolinguistic variation in Schneider’s (2003, 2007) Dynamic Model of the evolution of New Englishes. The study examines variation in one phonological and one morphosyntactic variable, investigating t-affrication with regard to variation across the two genders and two speech styles in spoken GhE, and analysing relativizer choice in written texts of differing formality. The results demonstrate that GhE shows robust and consistent stylistic and gender-related variation, although it has only reached Phase 3 of Schneider’s Dynamic Model. This is noteworthy on a theoretical level since the emergence of local sociolinguistic norms would not have been expected until Phase 5.
Keywords: Ghanaian English, Nativization, relativizer choice, stylistic and sociolinguistic variation, t-affrication
Published online: 12 September 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g49.06hub
References (46)
Adjaye, S.A. 2005. Ghanaian English Pronunciation. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Anon. 1972. Educational reforms in Ghana. The Legon Observer, 1972-11-03: 527–528.Google Scholar
Baah-Bentum, K. 2013. Crucifying the Queen’s language. Daily Graphic, 2013-02-26: 10.Google Scholar
Bauer, L. & Warren, P. 2004. New Zealand English: Phonology. In E.W. Schneider et al. (eds), 580–602.Google Scholar
Beal, J. 2004. English dialects in the North of England: Phonology. In E.W. Schneider et al. (eds), 113–133.Google Scholar
Blench, R. 2006. A dictionary of Ghanaian English. Ms. [URL] (09 November 2013).
Brato, T. Fc. A pilot study of acoustic features of word-final affricated /t/ and /ts/ in educated Ghanaian English. In Language Variation and Change in Postcolonial Contexts, R. Calabrese, J.K. Chambers & G. Leitner (eds). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.
Brato, T. & Huber, M. 2008. The emergence of social varieties in Ghanaian English.Paper delivered at Accents 2008 Conference , Łódź, Poland, 12–14 December 2008.Google Scholar
Census Office. 1964. 1960 Population Census of Ghana. Vol. 3: Demographic Characteristics of Local Authorities, Regions and Total Country. Accra: Census Office.Google Scholar
Dako, K. 2001. Ghanaianisms: Towards a semantic and a formal classification. English World-Wide 22(1): 23–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2003. Ghanaianisms. A Glossary. Accra: Ghana Universities Press.Google Scholar
Deterding, D. 2006. The North Wind versus a Wolf: Short texts for the description and measurement of English pronunciation. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36(2): 187–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dolphyne, F.A. 1988. The Akan (Twi-Fante) Language. Its Sound Systems and Tonal Structure. Accra: Ghana Universities Press.Google Scholar
Duthie, A.S. 1996. Introducing Ewe Linguistic Patterns: A Textbook of Phonology, Grammar, and Semantics. Accra: Ghana Universities Press.Google Scholar
Failer, K. 2010. An Analysis of Selected Linguistic Variables in Spoken Ghanaian English. Diploma thesis, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen.Google Scholar
Ghana Census Office. 1975. 1970 Population Census of Ghana. Vol. 3: Demographic Characteristics of Local Authorities, Regions and Total Country. Accra: Central Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
Ghana Statistical Service. 2013. 2010 Population & Housing Census. Demographic, Social, Economic & Housing Characteristics. Accra: Ghana Statistical Service. [URL] (23 November 2013).Google Scholar
Government of the Gold Coast. 1950. The Gold Coast Census of Population 1948. Report and Tables. London: The Crown Agentsfor the Colonies.Google Scholar
Hickey, R. 2004. Irish English: Phonology. In E.W. Schneider et al. (eds), 68–97.Google Scholar
Horvath, B.M. 1985. Variation in Australian English: The Sociolects of Sidney. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
. 2004. Australian English: Phonology. In E.W. Schneider et al. (eds), 625–644.Google Scholar
Huber, M. 1999. Atlantic English Creoles and the Lower Guinea Coast: A case against Afrogenesis. In Spreading the Word. The Issue of Diffusion among the Atlantic Creoles, M. Huber & M. Parkvall (eds), 81–110. London: University of Westminster Press.Google Scholar
. 2004. Ghanaian English: Phonology. In E.W. Schneider et al. (eds), 842–865.Google Scholar
. 2012a. Ghanaian English. In The Mouton World Atlas of Variation in English: Grammar, B. Kortmann & K. Lunkenheimer (eds), 382–393. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
. 2012b. Syntactic and variational complexity in British and Ghanaian English. Relative clause formation in the written parts of the International Corpus of English. In Linguistic Complexity: Second Language Acquisition, Indigenization, Contact, B. Kortmann & B. Szmrecsanyi (eds), 218–242. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
International Corpus of English. [URL] (23 November 2013)
Kemp, D. 1898. Nine Years at the Gold Coast. London: MacMillan and Co.Limited.Google Scholar
Kirby, Fr. J.P. 1998. A North American’s Guide to Ghanaian English. Tamale: Tamale Institute of Cross-Cultural Studies.Google Scholar
Kropp Dakubu, M.E. 2002. Ga Phonology. Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.Google Scholar
Lewis, M.P., Simons, G.F. & Fennig, C.D. (eds). 2013. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 17 edn. Dallas TX: SIL International. Online version: [URL] (23 November 2013).Google Scholar
Loakes, D. & McDougall, K. 2007. Frication of Australian English /p t k/: Group tendencies and individual differences. Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences ,1445–1448. [URL] (23 November 2013).
Nimako, A. 2004. Mind your Language. Educated Ghanaian English. Accra: Ronna Publishers.Google Scholar
Odamtten, H. & Laryea, E.B. 2009. Steps to Effective Spoken English (SESEN). Accra: Asempa Publishers.Google Scholar
Preacher, K.J. 2001. Calculation for the chi-square test: An interactive calculation tool for chi-square tests of goodness of fit and independence [Computer software]. [URL] (23 November 2013).
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman: Harlow.Google Scholar
Schneider, E.W. 2003. The dynamics of New Englishes: From identity construction to dialect birth. Language 79(2): 233–281. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2007. Postcolonial English: Varieties around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schneider, E.W., Burridge, K., Kortmann, B., Mesthrie, R. & Upton, C. (eds). 2004. A Handbook of Varieties of English. Vol. 1: Phonology. A Multimedia Reference Tool. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sey, K.A. 1973. Ghanaian English. An Exploratory Survey. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Strevens, P. 1953–1954. Spoken English in the Gold Coast. English Language Teaching 8(1): 81–89.Google Scholar
. 1965. Pronunciations of English in West Africa. In Papers in Language and Language Teaching, P. Strevens (ed.), 110–122. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tollfree, L. 1999. South East London English: Discrete versus continuous modelling of consonantal reduction. In Urban Voices: Accent Studies in the British Isles, P. Foulkes & 
G.J. Docherty (eds), 163–184. London: Arnold.Google Scholar
. 2001. Variation and change in Australian consonants: Reduction of /t/. In English in Australia [Varieties of English Around the World G26], D. Blair & P. Collins (eds), 45–67. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. 1977. Country Demographic Profiles: Ghana. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Wells, J.C. 1982. Accents of English. Vol. 1: An Introduction. Vol. 2: The British Isles. Vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (11)

Cited by 11 other publications

Sharma, Devyani
2024. Testing sociolinguistic theory and methods in world Englishes. World Englishes DOI logo
Vergaro, Carla
2023. Linguistic and pragmatic ways of committing oneself. Pragmatics & Cognition 30:1 ► pp. 120 ff. DOI logo
Stell, Gerald
2022. Contact and Innovation in New Englishes: Ethnic Neutrality in Namibianfaceandgoat. Journal of English Linguistics 50:2 ► pp. 169 ff. DOI logo
Hundt, Marianne
2021. On models and modelling. World Englishes 40:3 ► pp. 298 ff. DOI logo
Suárez‐Gómez, Cristina, Lucía Loureiro‐Porto & Robert Fuchs
2020. World Englishes and grammatical variation. World Englishes 39:3 ► pp. 370 ff. DOI logo
Brato, Thorsten
2019. Lexical expansion in Ghanaian English from a diachronic perspective. In Corpus Linguistics and African Englishes [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 88], ► pp. 259 ff. DOI logo
Brato, Thorsten
2019. The historical corpus of English in Ghana (HiCE Ghana). In Corpus Linguistics and African Englishes [Studies in Corpus Linguistics, 88], ► pp. 119 ff. DOI logo
Brato, Thorsten
2020. Noun phrase complexity in Ghanaian English. World Englishes 39:3 ► pp. 377 ff. DOI logo
BUSCHFELD, SARAH & ALEXANDER KAUTZSCH
2017. Towards an integrated approach to postcolonial and non‐postcolonial Englishes. World Englishes 36:1 ► pp. 104 ff. DOI logo
HANSEN, BEKE
2017. The ICE metadata and the study of Hong Kong English. World Englishes 36:3 ► pp. 471 ff. DOI logo
Meierkord, Christiane
2016. A social history of English(es) in Uganda. In Ugandan English [Varieties of English Around the World, G59], ► pp. 51 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 january 2025. 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.