Legon Journal of the Humanities, 25

1
This research was funded by the American Council for Learned Societies (ACLS), under the
African Humanities Programme (AHP). 
2
In this paper, Leteh is the spelling adopted for the language of the people of Larteh. Elsewhere 
in the literature, the language is also known as Larteh or Lɛtɛ.
Ansah, A. M./ Legon Journal of the Humanities 25 (2014) 37-57 

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Legon Journal of the Humanities, 25 
(2014)
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Bodomo et al 2009 among others). Brokensha (1966) and Johnson (1973, 1975) constitute 
significant research on language use in Larteh. Whereas Brokensha (1966), an 
ethnographic study, briefly discussed the subject of language use in Larteh in his 
introductory chapter, those by Johnson are thorough studies of the subject matter. In his 
introductory chapter, Brokensha presented an overview of the linguistic situation of 
Larteh, and also the functional distribution of the three major languages: Leteh, Twi, and 
English. Leteh was described as a domestic language, which was learnt by children as 
their first language. English was learnt at school and school lessons were taught in Twi. 
To some extent, Twi was considered to be a prestigious language, and associated with 
education and Christianity. In church, English was used out of necessity, especially when 
there were non-Africans in the congregation. Brokensha further commented that the 
language used in church was Twi even when the congregation was made up of only Leteh 
speakers. In this regard, he cited the example of the Pentecostal Church at Larteh where 
all the worshipers were Leteh speakers and yet, Twi was used. Besides the use of English 
in school, it was spoken by educated adults in conversation. School children who wished 
to practise their oral skills or impress non-literates also used English outside the classroom 
setting. The present study will verify if the functional distribution of the three languages 
as described by Brokensha still persists in Larteh. 
Johnson (1973) was an in-depth study of the patterns of language use in Larteh, 
as an example of a bilingual community. The work described all aspects of language use 
in the Larteh community, and his findings corroborated those by Brokensha (1966). 
Johnson further stressed the domestic function of Leteh by commenting that although 
school children spoke Twi and English for practice at home, it was often considered rude 
and disloyal, especially when spoken in the presence of adults. The author commented 
that the home was essentially a monolingual environment at Larteh. With regard to 
language choice at church, the author further noted that Twi was the language of the Bible, 
hymnals, and prayer books. English was used only when visitors were present, as was the 
case when the author and his wife visited the Larteh Presbyterian Church as part of his 
field trip.
With regard to education, the Basel Missionaries supported the use of Twi, and 
made it the foundation of their educational system. Twi was the medium of instruction, 
and Larteh children only learnt it at school. Some attempts were therefore made by the 
Gold Coast educational authorities to post teachers who could speak Leteh or Kyerepong 
(Guan language) to Larteh to teach the lower primary classes. In school, the use of Leteh 
was permitted, but not encouraged. Codeswitching between Leteh-Twi was also not 
encouraged as it was believed to have the potential of impeding the learning progress of 
school children.
During traditional ceremonies, Leteh was the primary choice. However, in some 
instances of libation pouring, orations, and speeches, some Twi phrases were heard. In