According to Ngula (2011), "The growth and spread of English across the world has given recognition to many new varieties of English outside its native environment" (p. 23). Also, Jenkins (2003) states that the new English varieties have evolved into varieties which serve a wide range of purposes, and at the same time, developed their own features and character. This results in what is described as Ghanaian English (GhaE). GhaE remains one of the remarkable varieties of English in the discussion of World Englishes.
Vocabulary
According to Mahama (2012), The contact between English and Ghanaian languages has given rise to Ghanaianism. It is a phenomenon that emerges mainly through coinages, affixation, and compounding. It refers to those vocabulary items peculiar to English and used by educated English-speaking Ghanaians. According to Ngula (2014), Kayaye girl means a young female girl, while the sentence I am not cutting you means I am not interrupting you. Moreover, some words in GhaE may be restricted to one meaning, so that the word depot means solely a police training school. Old words and expressions too, may acquire new meanings, as the expression I rubbed pomade means I apply cream on my body. Moreover, tautology and new meanings may be introduced as in:
Grammar
Mahama (2012) argues that GhaE is characterized by its own grammatical features, among which is the use of wrong possessive pronouns as in your own is different from my. Subject-verb agreement is violated while some prepositions are used as verbs, as in on the light ! and off the engine ! meaning turn on the light ! and stop the engine ! respectively. Stative verbs are used in the progressive tense, while the passive constructions are ill-formed as in I was having a friend and We were ask to come. In addition, there is the use of reduplication for emphasis as in She was ask to go fast fast.
Pronunciation
According to Ngula (2014), one of the relevant distinctive features of GhaE is spelling pronunciation. Many Ghanaians pronounce English words on the basis of their spelling, so that the bilabial stop /p/ in psychology, for example, may be articulated. Unlike RP speakers, Ghanaians have different realizations for some vowels as illustrated in the table below. Mintah (2014) explains that the velar nasal sound is not frequently realized in the spoken English of most Ghanaians. Also, the interdental fricatives, for example, in this and three become the alveolar stops /d/ and /t/ respectively.
Vocabulary
According to Mahama (2012), The contact between English and Ghanaian languages has given rise to Ghanaianism. It is a phenomenon that emerges mainly through coinages, affixation, and compounding. It refers to those vocabulary items peculiar to English and used by educated English-speaking Ghanaians. According to Ngula (2014), Kayaye girl means a young female girl, while the sentence I am not cutting you means I am not interrupting you. Moreover, some words in GhaE may be restricted to one meaning, so that the word depot means solely a police training school. Old words and expressions too, may acquire new meanings, as the expression I rubbed pomade means I apply cream on my body. Moreover, tautology and new meanings may be introduced as in:
- The book is red in color.
- You do not have to return back.
- We celebrated his funeral.
Grammar
Mahama (2012) argues that GhaE is characterized by its own grammatical features, among which is the use of wrong possessive pronouns as in your own is different from my. Subject-verb agreement is violated while some prepositions are used as verbs, as in on the light ! and off the engine ! meaning turn on the light ! and stop the engine ! respectively. Stative verbs are used in the progressive tense, while the passive constructions are ill-formed as in I was having a friend and We were ask to come. In addition, there is the use of reduplication for emphasis as in She was ask to go fast fast.
Pronunciation
According to Ngula (2014), one of the relevant distinctive features of GhaE is spelling pronunciation. Many Ghanaians pronounce English words on the basis of their spelling, so that the bilabial stop /p/ in psychology, for example, may be articulated. Unlike RP speakers, Ghanaians have different realizations for some vowels as illustrated in the table below. Mintah (2014) explains that the velar nasal sound is not frequently realized in the spoken English of most Ghanaians. Also, the interdental fricatives, for example, in this and three become the alveolar stops /d/ and /t/ respectively.
Some differences between GhaE Pronunciation, RP, and other West African English varieties.
In this video, it is remarkable that Ghanaians have a distinct English pronunciation in that, for instance, the ed of the past tense is not pronounced, while the interdental fricative and the vowel in the definite article the are realized as [da].
GhaE speakers are influenced by British English in that they try to imitate their speech. This results in a new variety peculiar to Ghana. For example, GhaE speech is non-rhotic, as is the case with British English (RP). However, there is a significant difference in vocabulary. Ghanaians have developed a new variety which is an English-based pidgin called Ghanaian Pidgin English (GhaPE).
GhaE speech is proved to be non-rhotic in this video. In addition, the lateral sound /l/ is not pronounced when it appears in word-final position (historical is pronounced as historica), and the voiced alveolar fricative /z/ is devoiced.