Address forms among university students in Ghana: a case of gendered identities?

Abstract

In the last two decades, scholars in discourse studies and sociolinguistics have shown considerable interest in how identity is encoded in discourses across various facets of life such as academia, home, politics and workplace. By adopting an ethnographic-style approach, this study shows how students in a Ghanaian university construct their gendered identities through a key verbal behaviour, address form. A three-pronged framework comprising social constructionism, communities of practice and post-structuralism underpins the present study. Two key findings emerge from the analysis of data. First, three major categories of address forms, namely personal names, descriptive phrases and titles constitute the key lexicon of address terms used by Ghanaian students in their interactions. Second, students constantly use these three modes of address to express, negotiate or resist their gendered identities. These findings have implications for research on identity, language and gender as well as intercultural communication.

Keywords:

• address forms
• ethnography
• gendered identity
• university students