Legon Journal of the Humanities, 25
(2014)
P a g e
| 54
Pastor
Sermon
Twi
Church
Secretary
Announcements
Twi
Pastor
Benediction
Twi
Table 6b
Language Choice at the Lighthouse Chapel, Larteh
Domain
Speaker
Addressee
Setting
Activity
Language
Christian
Religion
Assistant
Pastor
Worshippers
Lighthouse
Chapel
Preparatory
Prayer
English
Singing
Twi
Senior Pastor
Sermon
Twi
/English
Church
members
Bible Reading
Twi/
English
Church
members
Testimonies
Twi/
English
Senior Pastor
Announcements
Twi/
English
Worshippers
Sharing of grace
English
Summary and Conclusion
The paper set out to explore factors that dictate language choices made by
multilingual
speakers in Larteh, a multilingual community. The study was conducted
within the framework of Markedness Model (Myers-Scotton, 1993, 1998). Three domains
that were investigated are education, tradition, and Christian worship. The results of this
study are founded on data gathered from a linguistic survey, interviews, and participant
observation.
Research done on language choice in multilingual communities has established
that among many considerations that multilingual speakers make in selecting a language
for communication are
the domains of language use, topic/activity, and the language
background of speech participants (Kamwangamalu, 2000).
Within the framework of
markedness, the social and psychological associations that speakers attach to languages
inform choices that are made. A language choice may therefore be perceived as unmarked
or marked, depending on the extent to which it matches community expectations. In this
study, community expectations are aligned with the set functions of the three major
languages, typical of a triglossic community. In this paper, these expectations which are
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