Dangme traditional work songs

Authors

Keywords:

Dangme, literary devices, work, songs, traditional,

Abstract

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the literary devices in Dangme traditional work songs. The Dangme people are known for their traditional industries, agricultural and native economic activities. These activities create the occasion for some sort of songs to be used. Their traditional work songs are used in contexts in which wearisome labour is involved. The songs are considered ‘special purpose poetry’ because they have some direct connection with particular occasions and actions. This paper analyses these traditional work songs and brings to bear the literary devices deployed in them as they accompany specific work(s). Data for this paper was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The data analysis is descriptive with much emphasis on the literary devices in the songs. It has been revealed that literary devices such as repetition, idiophones, parallelism and the like provide aesthetic and beauteous values to the work songs. This aids to soothe the workers’ psychological and physical bodies in order to increase their efficiency and work output.

Author Biography

Jonathan Tanihu, University of Education, Winneba

Jonathan Tanihu is currently pursuing a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Ghanaian Languages (Dangme) with his research areas of Semantics and Oral literature at the University of Education, Winneba [Ghana]. His main areas of research interest are semantics, sociolinguistics and oral literature.

References

Abrams, M. A. (1988). A Glossory of Literery Terms. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Agyekum, K. (2013). Introduction to Literature 3rd Edition. Accra, Legon. Adwinsa Publication (Gh) Ltd.

Caesar, T. O. (2015). E PeeÉ” Mo Dangme No. Accra: Moonlight Press.

Caesar, R. O. (2012). 'Nagation in Dangme'. In Bruce Connell and Nicholas Rolle (ed.) Selected Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference on African Linguistics, 18-28. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

Finnegan, R. (2012). Oral Literature in Africa. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers CIC Ltd.

Fox, J. J. (2014). Explorations in Semantic Parallelism. Canbera, Australia: ANU Press.

Huber, H. (1993). The Krobo: Tradition, Social and Religious Life of a West African people. Fribourg, Switzerland: University Press.

Nketia, J. K. (1974). The music of Africa. WW Norton.

Okpewho, I. (1992), African Oral Litereture. Backgrounds, Character and Continuity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Saanchi, J. A. (2002). Linguistics parallelism and the Dagaaba dirge. New Directions in Ghanaian Linguistics. Pp. 409-423.

Sanortey, T. D. (2013). 'The Literary Devices in Kontobɔɔr Birifor Festival Songs'. Journal of African Cultures and Languages. (Vol.2).Winneba: ATGL

Downloads

Published

2018-12-08

Issue

Vol. 32 (2017): Remembering Phil Garland and exploring New Caledonia

Section

International and Comparative Studies

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Copyright of items in their Australian Folklore format, and any associated fees (e.g.CAL), remains the property of the Association. This includes making articles freely available on the journal's website. 
  2. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
  3. Authors are welcome to archive their pre-print and post-print pdf copies of their articles under the SHERPA RoMEO 'Green' copyright classification.
  4. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.