The Ethnographic Model and the Linguistic Integration of Migrants in Accra.

Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu, University of Ghana

  Accra, the capital of Ghana, is currently undergoing a period of spectacular expansion, mainly due to in-migration.  Linguistic communication within it can be modeled synchronically as a system of three progressively more inclusive spheres: the indigenous Ga-speaking community; the community that includes migrants from the near hinterland of the city, within which communication is in the first language of one of the parties, usually Ga or Akan; and the wider community within which communication normally requires a lingua franca, the first language of neither party.  This model is of course a very general abstraction, and it may be questioned, whether it can usefully be applied to the dynamic situation as it is currently developing.

  The synchronic situation is relatable to a diachronically based model derived from the ethnography of speaking.  Linguistic integration is surely influenced by the ethnographic style in which individuals and groups are accustomed to deal with each other.  The Ga, the indigenous inhabitants of Accra, have an elaborate custom in which a visitor and host exchange greetings and "news", using formal spokesmen.  Its purpose is to establish relations between the visitor as representative of an external group and the host as representative of the group already in possession.   This ethnographic practice is shared with the Akan, who dominate the hinterland of Accra and indeed southern Ghana.  The various peoples of northern Ghana, on the other hand, greet in a different manner and specifically do not go through the ritual complex known in the south as "giving the news" with accompanying prayers.  This difference coincides with a major difference in the way in which migrants are integrated: Akan and Ga speakers share the second sphere of communication, while northerners definitely belong to the outer, most inclusive sphere.  One consequence is that migrants from the north speak on average far more languages than southerners.  The most significant addition to the linguistic repertoire is Hausa, which for many migrants from northern Ghana (but not in northern Ghana itself) is a supra-ethnic lingua franca.

  The explosive physical growth of Accra might seem to undermine the "expanding spheres" model of multilingual communication.  However, it is still true that there is a distinction between multilingual communication that involves only the mother tongue of one of the parties, and multilingual communication that does not.

  The vast increase in population might be thought to render the guest - host model of linguistic integration obsolete, as city life becomes more impersonal and hectic.  Here too, change is more apparent than real.  Much of the expanded city consists of swallowed villages, which continue their old customs in more crowded conditions.  Another factor is the continuing intensive communication between the city and the rural southern hinterland.  Public expressions of opinion in the media also indicate that people continue to model their perceptions of outsiders in this way.