Speaking the Unspeakable: Discursive Strategies to Express Language Attitudes in Legon (Ghana) Graffiti

Abstract

In Ghana, as in most multilingual sub-Sahara African countries, language preferences and ethnic identity often pull in the same direction. Through the graffiti on Legon walls and doors, students show their like or dislike for certain ethnic groups (especially the Ewe and the Akan-Asante) and their languages. The discursive strategies used to express language attitudes in the graffiti include intertextuality (imitation and influence) and draw on linguistic and pragmatic resources. Regarding intertextuality, graffiti authors borrow from previous texts or from public knowledge in creating their texts. Pragmatic strategies included name calling, insults, and in-group slang. The linguistic resources used were inclusive and exclusive pro-nouns, verbs denoting strong emotional valence, repetition of specific syntactic frames, and adjectives of quality with the semantic subcategorization feature of [+derogatory]. Two main graphological features-exclamation marks and upper case letters-were also used as agreement or disagreement signals. The article concludes with implications for language attitude theorizing.