Legon Journal of the Humanities, 25
(2014)
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employ when they need to choose between various languages. It is reported, for instance,
that in Kenya, there are more than forty languages which are spoken besides English and
Kiswahili, the official languages and the main lingua francas (Kamwangamalu, 2000).
An urban dweller therefore needs to master the use of more than one language in order to
communicate effectively in the various speech domains (Kamwangamalu, 2000). It is,
however, noted that community multilingualism does
not always imply individual
multilingualism, but in the case of Larteh, available data indicate that monolinguals are
almost non-existent (Table 2). In Table 1, languages that are reported as being used in the
community are recorded. A sample size of 418 inhabitants which represented about 5%
of the total population of 8, 310 (Ghana Population and Housing Census, 2000) was used.
Larteh Community Linguistic Repertoire
LANGUAGES
CLAIM
USE
Leteh
322
269
Twi (Akuapem)
362
354
English
227
102
Ga
81
8
Dangme
29
3
Hausa
11
3
Ewe
19
1
French
10
7
Bono
1
1
Dagaare
2
2
Frafra
1
1
Kyerepong
6
4
Wala
1
1
Krakye
1
1
Gonja
1
1
Gwa/ Anum
1
1
Nzema
1
1
Yoruba
1
1
Wassa
1
1
Sehwi
1
1
Data in Table 1 distinguish between people who claim knowledge of Leteh from those
who actually use the language in their day-to-day activities. According to the data, there
are about 20 languages spoken in Larteh. Of this number, three languages are dominant:
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