Language choice and institutional identity: a study of the mottos of Ghanaian educational institutions

Abstract

A growing body of research has sought to explore the language-identity interrelationship. The present study explored a key identity index – motto– of educational institutions in Ghana. Two hundred and forty-five mottos collected from multiple sources such as newspapers, billboards, and institutional souvenirs from institutions ranging from senior high schools to universities constituted the data for the study. It emerged from the analysis that Ghanaian educational institutions employed three distinct language types: global languages (Latin, French and Arabic), local languages (Akan, Ewe and Ga) and glocal language (English) in establishing their identities through their mottos. The global and local identities foreground the ‘foreignness’ and ‘localness’ of the institutions respectively, while the glocal identity projected the hybrid index of the institutions. The findings point to the theory of identity, linguistic landscape model in Ghana, and institutional multilingualism. It also has implications for further research into mottos.

Keywords:

• Akan
• Ewe
• glocal
• identity
• motto

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.