25.1116, The Last Stop in Sub-Saharan Africa

Thu Mar 6 14:41:05 UTC 2014

LINGUIST List: Vol-25-1116. Thu Mar 06 2014. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 25.1116, The Last Stop in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 09:40:09
From: LINGUIST List [linguist at linguistlist.org]
Subject: The Last Stop in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Region 3 | Sub-Saharan Africa | Fund Drive 2014

On the final leg of our journey through Sub-Saharan Africa, we travel to
Ghana, one of Africa’s most popular tourist destinations, renowned for its
beaches and its friendly people. After flying into the capital city of Accra,
we are tempted to sprawl out on the beach all day.

Of course, we are interested in greater adventures than avoiding sunburn, so
we head to the Makola Market for supplies. Amidst the cacophony, we find
almost every item under the sun and barter for some Kenkey, a Ghanaian dish
made from fermented corn meal.

Outside the market, we notice some performers playing strange, hourglass
drums, which reverberate with a timber almost like human speech. We watch with
fascination as the performers squeeze the base just right to mimic the local,
tone-based languages on these famous West African “talking drums.”

By the time we pull ourselves away, the brouhaha of Accra has made us long for
some peace and quiet, so we leave the bustling capital and head to the city of
Cape Coast. There we visit the Cape Coast Castle, another UNESCO World
Heritage site. Built for the trade of timber and gold, this fort later became
a last stop in the slave trade before crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and it is a
truly somber site indeed. We reflect momentarily on the hundreds of languages
spoken by the people who passed through here and the impact their voices had
on their destinations in the Americas.

>From this beautiful coastal city we head inland and make pitstop in a town you
almost can’t find on a map: Adamorobe. Here we notice something unique. Aside
from being surrounding by conversations in the Akan language, we observe
signed communication--between the deaf and hearing alike. Moreover, this
language differs from Ghanaian Sign Language, but is actually the last
remnants of the local Adamorobe Sign Language.

This village has a long history of deafness, resulting in its own sign
language shared among the deaf and hearing communities. The locals are eager
to tell us different versions of the origin stories for this high rate of
deafness: some recount that the town is presided over by a deaf god, who
punishes transgressors with deaf children; others describe a war long past, in
which Adamorobe men drank a special elixir that made them fierce in battle,
but that resulted in their deafness.

Whatever the origin of the deaf community in Adamorobe, the terminus is clear:
as medicine becomes more widely available and as recommendations against the
marriage of two deaf partners decrease the number of deaf offspring, Adamorobe
Sign Language is disappearing. Although we long to stay and learn more about
this fascinating village and their language, we have one last stop for the
day.

Far inland, surrounded by evergreen rainforests and hardwood trees, we enter
Kakum National Park, the site of Africa's only canopy walkway. As we walk the
path, the ground slopes and drops away beneath us, and soon we are suspended
100 feet above the ground with a rare, bird’s eye view of the rainforest.

We could spend all day admiring the colorful flora and fauna of the Kakum
canopy walkway, but it’s time to pack up for the next leg of our journey.
Although there is still so much more of Sub-Saharan Africa left to explore, we
are excited to see where our adventure takes us next!

In the mean time, don't forget to check out the featured linguists
(http://linguistlist.org/fund-drive/2014/featuredlinguist.php), pictures from
our region 3 trips (http://linguistlist.org/fund-drive/2014/region3.php), and
donate (https://linguistlist.org/donation/donate/donate1.cfm).

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