Browsing by Author "Obeng, Samuel Gyasi"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    African Linguistics Across The Disciplines: Selected Papers From The 48th Annual Conference On African Linguistics
    (2019-10-28) Lotven, Samson; Bongiovanni, Silvina; Weirich, Phillip; Botne, Robert; Obeng, Samuel Gyasi
    Since the hiring of its first Africanist linguist Carleton Hodge in 1964, Indiana University’s Department of Linguistics has had a strong and continuing presence in the study of African languages and linguistics through the work of its faculty and of its graduates on the faculties of many other universities. In 1972, the Indiana University Department of Linguistics hosted the third Annual Conference of African Linguistics. Proceedings of that conference were published by Indiana University Publications (African Series, vol. 7). In 1986, IU hosted the seventeenth Annual Conference of African Linguistics with Paul Newman and Robert Botne editing the proceedings in a volume entitled Current approaches to African linguistics, vol. 5. In 2016, Indiana University hosted the 48th Annual Conference on African Linguistics with the theme African linguistics across the disciplines. Proceedings of that meeting are published in this volume. The papers presented in this volume reflect the diversity of opportunities for language study in Africa. This collection of descriptive and theoretical work is the fruit of data gathering both in-country and abroad by researchers of languages spoken across the continent, from Sereer-Siin in the west to Somali in the northeast to Ikalanga in the south. The range of topics in this volume is also broad, representative of the varied field work in country and abroad that inspires research in African linguistics. This collection of papers spans the disciplines of phonology (both segmental and suprasegmental), morphology (both morphophonological and morphosyntactic), syntax, semantics, and language policy. The data and analyses presented in this volume offer a cross-disciplinary view of linguistic topics from the many under-resourced languages of Africa.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Discursive Strategies For Managing Bad News: Exemplification From Akan (Ghana)
    (2022-03-29) Obeng, Samuel Gyasi
    Bad news is a problem for both news bearers and news recipients, especially in situations where apprehensions run high given that it may run counter to people’s in situ social and psychological needs (Maynard 2003). The object of this paper was to examine the discursive strategies used by diseased individuals and their caregivers to deliver and manage their bad news. In pursing the above objective, transcripts of narratives collected from diseased individuals and their caregivers were subjected to empirical inspection with the view to determining the communicative strategies they employed to deal with their special situation. The study was done within the framework of language and liberty (Obeng 2018, 2020) and the results showed that disease and “powerful” actors intrude on diseased individuals and care-givers’ negative liberty (by encroaching on their fundamental freedoms) and positive liberty (by preventing them from participating in their family and communal lives). Common linguistic strategies used in talking about disease and in seeking and protecting participants liberty include: silence, hesitations, reduplication, adjectives of quality, adverbs and intensifiers, verbs denoting physical sensation, and factive formulae (for evidentiality and credence). Discourse-pragmatic strategies for delivering bad news and for seeking liberty include the speech acts of complaining, blaming and assuring. Other strategies include avoidance, inferencing and polyvocality. It is concluded that to protect diseased individuals’ liberty from and liberty to, there is the need to put in place rights that protect these freedoms and empower diseased individuals to participate in their family and communal lives. Also, society must understand the communicational mores surrounding bad news delivery and management and be “educated” about the intertwining nature of language and care-giving.