Acceptability of lexico-grammatical features of Ghanaian English

Abstract

This study examines the levels of acceptability of some lexical forms and grammatical features identified in the literature as Ghanaian English. It also discusses the recognised or acceptable indexical markers of the variety. The study explains the phenomenon of acceptability through Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model of Postcolonial Englishes. Employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, the researcher sampled 400 respondents for a survey and 20 participants for interviews. Respondents indicated their levels of acceptability on a scale of 1-5 where 1=Unacceptable, 2=Unacceptable sometimes, 3=Neutral, 4=Acceptable sometimes and 5=Acceptable. The study revealed that not all the lexical forms identified to be Ghanaian English received the same level of acceptability. The acceptability of lexical items was influenced by its wide and continuous use, the origin of the concept, an individual’s knowledge of Standard English and global recognition or acceptability. It was also found that the grammatical features which are acceptable to Ghanaians are the use of uncountable nouns and idiomatic expressions since these features recorded higher levels of acceptability. The acceptability of these features was attributed to reasons such as their conformity to Standard English rules of grammar, intelligibility and their wide usage. Some of the acceptable and unacceptable lexical and grammatical features were also recognised as being indexical to the variety. Based on Schneider’s model, the study showed that Ghanaians are endonormative in terms of lexical items and exonormative in terms of grammar. The study has implications for theory, codification and further research.