37.1272, Reviews: A Sociolinguistic Study of an Ewe-based Youth Language of Aflao, Ghana: Cosmas Rai Amenorvi (2024)

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Subject: 37.1272, Reviews: A Sociolinguistic Study of an Ewe-based Youth Language of Aflao, Ghana: Cosmas Rai Amenorvi (2024)

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Date: 30-Mar-2026
From: Frances M Quinones [Francesmq2 at gmail.com]
Subject: Sociolinguistics: Cosmas Rai Amenorvi (2024)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/35-3172

Title: A Sociolinguistic Study of an Ewe-based Youth Language of
Aflao, Ghana
Series Title: LOT Dissertation Series
Publication Year: 2024

Publisher: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke
(LOT)
           http://www.lotpublications.nl/
Book URL: https://dx.medra.org/10.48273/LOT0680

Author(s): Cosmas Rai Amenorvi

Reviewer: Frances M Quinones

SUMMARY
The study conducted in this research is based on a youth language in
Aflao, Ghana. The researcher answers two vital questions in this
study: ‘What is involved in the creation of Adzagbe among the youth of
Alfao?’ and ‘Why do the youth of Aflao create Adzagbe? The researched
language, Adzagbe, is an Ewe-based youth language that was created as
a code or secret language amongst the youth of Aflao. This study
demonstrates what exactly goes into creating this youth language. This
research has effectively demonstrated how the youth manipulate their
base language and incorporate lexical items from French and English.
In turn, they have created a coded language to discreetly communicate
with others within their language community. The speakers have created
idiomatic expressions and implemented morphological, phonological, and
semantical manipulations deriving from the base Ewe language.
The researcher then focuses on answering the second question of the
study, the why. Why did this group of speakers feel the need to create
a secret language? One of the major reasons why the Adzagbe speakers
created their own code was to establish a separate identity from the
older, Ewe-speaking generation. The older generation disapproves of
how the Adzagbe speakers express their identity. Including male
dominance, sex, controversial items, and personalities. It also
includes music that expresses revolting against the authorities,
beauty, wealth, and flamboyant style of dress in order to seek
attention. The language is both male-centric and ageist, and its
original purpose of creation was to exclude the more traditional older
generation from comprehending it.
As stated in the research, Jonsson et al (2019) made several arguments
that the use of terms that included ‘youth’ would portray the idea
that these languages are made exclusive for the younger generation.
However, the author points out that the other authors who have
contributed to the topic of youth languages are rapidly changing;
speakers may grow older, but the language will continue to change and
expand, and will become an urban vernacular. Youth languages are
creating unintelligibility between them and their base language and
have become inextricable. Language changes tend to occur naturally,
while youth languages are changing intentionally. They manipulate
linguistic features to make it their own. This research also notes
(Hurst-Harosh, 2019) that youth languages should not be viewed
conversely to their base language, but rather as complementary, an
opportunity to supplement the base language in various elements.
Youth languages have the capability of enriching and developing their
base languages, and of influencing other languages. The researcher
shrewdly states that the slander against youth languages derives from
the way-of-life judgment that comes from the older generation. It is
stated that the older generation may not necessarily have an issue
with the development of the youth language itself, but may have with
how the younger generation lives and portrays their lives.
The researcher discusses the origins of youth languages and how their
functions differ from those of their base languages. The origin of any
youth language has connections to argots, slangs, and jargons. For
reference, argots are secret languages that are utilized by particular
groups, one example being criminals. In this case, the originators
would be a group of people who want to be able to communicate without
outsiders understanding them. Slang refers to a set of vocabulary and
phrases that are utilized by particular groups in order to create
insider jokes and to root their identities in something other than the
standard. Slang, as a linguistic feature, is one that evolves not only
with time, but with trends and social dynamics as well. This feature,
however, has more potential to be understood by outsiders than the
other two features. The researcher references Akanmu and Rasheed
(2015), who stated that the use of slang in any language is
essentially a colloquial deviation from the standard, to stand apart
linguistically from the base language. Similarly, jargons are words or
expressions that are used by a particular group to create an
unintelligible language for outsiders. These features are usually
rejected by mainstream communities, essentially making them more
appealing to groups seeking secrecy.
The researcher sought to answer two essential questions in this study:
first, ‘what is involved in the creation of Adzage among the youth of
Aflao?’ and second, ‘why do the youth of Aflao create Adzage?’
According to the author, no prior linguistic research on the youth
language of Aflao had been conducted. The development of this research
can contribute to the emergence and development of other youth
languages, and even Ewe itself.
The researcher used the FAIR Guiding (Data) Principles, which are a
set of principles that were designed by Wilkinson et al (2016).
One factor in the study that could affect the results is the social
standing of the people who were interviewed. While some may have been
criminals with an elementary school education, others were teachers,
lawyers, etc. Social standing can impact the knowledge, the usage, and
the interpretation of speech. Another challenge that was faced during
the interviews is that the speakers of Adzage have been labeled as
criminals by the Aflao community and others around them. Before the
research team arrived in Aflao, there had been a police raid in one of
the Adzage communities, which consequently meant that their guard was
up now. This incident caused the Adzage communities to be suspicious
of everyone, especially unknown strangers who come in and begin asking
questions. The Adzagbe speakers were afraid that these recordings
would be used as evidence against them; therefore, they did not allow
themselves to be recorded, but allowed the assistants to take notes.
In an attempt to prove that they weren’t being set up, the Adzage
speakers asked the researcher to smoke marijuana with them, to prove
that he was not the police or that he would not later betray them.
However, since the researcher refused, matters were made worse, and
now the suspicions of the Adzagbe speakers rose. Safety was another
challenge faced by the researcher and his assistants due to previous
encounters with the police.
In order to answer the first research question, the researcher began
by transcribing, interpreting, and translating the data that was
collected. He gave various examples of linguistic manipulations that
were present in the recordings, which included morphological,
phonological, and semantic processes. The speakers of Adzagbe rely on
manipulating speech from Ewe, but also include lexical items from
English and French. The researcher established that the Adzagbe
vocabulary consists of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and
idiomatic expressions from multiple languages. Linguistic
manipulations were also observed. The data collected showed evidence
of word-formation processes from morphological, phonological, and
semantic manipulations.
Morphological manipulations included affixation, prothesis,
suffixation, reduplication, coinages by sound symbolism, old words
with new meanings, and new word creations by fusion. Using affixation,
the speakers of Adzagbe take the prefix from one language and the
suffix from another to create altered lexical items, but this only
occurs with nouns. The speakers also incorporate prothesis by adding
the sound of è with the pronunciation of an unstressed schwa (ə) at
the start of a monosyllabic or disyllabic word that begins with a
consonant. The researcher states that the speakers employ prefixation
as a word-formation process, and it is done by adding the sound of the
unstressed schwa; however, prefixation and prothesis are not the same
type of manipulation. Prefixation adds a bound morpheme at the start
of a word, which creates a new word or a modified meaning to the root
word. Prothesis, on the other hand, adds a sound or a syllable at the
onset of the word, and does not change the core meaning of the word.
Their usage of suffixes is distinctly different from their base
language, Ewe.
Reduplication is another word-formation process that is utilized in
Adzagbe. In the base language Ewe, reduplication and triplication are
both used, but the speakers of Adzagbe only use this process on
already-manipulated foreign words.
Adzagbe speakers also use coinages to create their vocabulary. It is a
process that is mostly used in youth languages, and Adzagbe heavily
relies on it. An example that is provided is from Mugaddam (2009:91),
in which it is noted that coinages are one of the most difficult
processes to decode by outsiders, and secrecy is a major component of
youth languages.
The speakers also give new meanings to old words, which makes the
language even more unintelligible. Adzagbe speakers are also known for
using fusion in the word creation process. Since Adzagbe speakers
borrow words from other languages, which include French and English,
and by clipping, they fuse parts of pre-existing words from different
languages, and create a new word.
Second, the phonological manipulations observed were blending,
clipping, and metathesis of word syllables. Clipping is not a
word-formation process that naturally occurs in Ewe, but a process
that Adzagbe speakers adopted from English or French. Metathesis is
another manipulation used by the Adzagbe speakers. This is best known
as syllable swapping, where syllables get swapped within a word. This
manipulation is popular with the youth due to its competitive element.
It is a conscious process made by the Adzagbe speakers.
Third, the semantic manipulations that were observed answered the
second part of the first question: metaphors, metonymy, onomastic
synecdoche, euphemisms, pejoration, narrowing, and idiomatic
expressions. Metaphors are one of the main semantic processes that are
found in Adzagbe. The use of metaphors is meant to be used in playful
conversation. Metonymy is also used, and they employ it to create new
words. Onomastic synecdoche is also utilized, where a proper name is
minimized to create concepts. Adzagbe speakers use euphemisms to
soften a topic that can be considered heavy or harsh, like death.
In their use of pejoration, Adzagbe speakers degrade a word down to a
negative state. However, the pejoration that is discussed by the
researcher in this section seems to appear more as a morphological
manipulation of giving old words new meanings. Adzagbe speakers use
narrowing to make words more specific.
The second question ‘Why do the youth of Aflao create Adzagbe?’ The
speakers of Adzagbe want to stand out from their base language and
community, and one reason is to differentiate their identity from
outsiders and the older generation of Aflao, who view them negatively.
Another feature of their Ewe separation is loudness, interruptions,
overlaps, and exaggerated gestures. The gestures are complements to
their language. Adzagbe speakers tie their identity to language and
culture. The Adzagbe speakers give much attention to the way they
dress and groom themselves. The researcher made reference to
Sevishinsky’s claim (1994) that Rastafarianism, a movement that
originated in Jamaica and has become widespread around the world, has
been embraced by many of the youth in West Africa. However,
Sevinshisky (1994) also pointed out that Rasatfari serves as a potent
symbol and expression of defiance, independence, social pride, and
solidarity. White (2012, 2007) added that this movement, along with
the influence of Bob Marley, is responsible for the wearing of
dreadlocks, which is an additional piece to the societal separation of
the Adzagbe and the Ewe community.
The males dress like rappers from the United States of America, with
earrings, baggy pants, extravagant/flashy jewelry, etc. Female Adzagbe
speakers keep their hair shorter than the males; some have more
masculine energy than even that of their male counterparts; and don’t
wear earrings. An interesting difference between the males and females
is the usage of earrings. Generally, females are known to wear
earrings more than men, but Adzagbe males are the ones who wear them.
However, in the Ghahanian culture, it is not common for men to wear
earrings; it is considered to be deplorable. Women who do not wear
earrings in the Ghahanian culture are viewed/judged as uncultured;
therefore, it is borderline required for women to wear earrings.
Gender and age are also major reasons why Adzagbe speakers have
created their secret language. Adzagbe speakers are mainly males. The
Ewe community has nicknamed them ‘gbevuwo’ or ‘gbevuviwo‘ rogues, but
when the Ewe community says that term, they are referring to the male
Adzagbe speakers, not the females. This creates the general assumption
that those who speak Adzagbe must be male. A female Adzagbe speaker or
a ‘gbevu’ is called ‘nyↄnuvi gbegblē’, meaning ‘spoilt girl’, which is
a girl who goes against the norm.
The Ewe culture is male-centric, as is the Adzagbe culture. An
observation made by the researcher was that female Adzagbe speakers
were either girlfriends of the male speakers or they were tomboys,
with male mannerisms. Some of the interviewees from the older
generation were very young when Adzagbe was starting to form, and
noted that the language has become more coded and significantly more
unintelligible over time. At one time, they were able to comprehend
what was spoken by Adzagbe speakers, but over time, outside trends and
languages have made it unintelligible.
An interviewee also stated that Adzagbe is very much a male language,
and that any female who used it was clearly not properly raised or
trained by her parents. To the extent that these females are described
as lesbians, which in the Ewe culture is considered to be an
abomination. Male interviewees from the older generation stated that
they would never want their daughters to speak Adzagbe because they
would become ‘rogues’ with no character, meaning that they would be
disrespectful, thieves, and criminals. They would be females who would
ditch school, and their only future would be to become unmarried,
pregnant, and school dropouts. The interviewees admitted that what
they consider to be ‘rogue’ is not only about speaking Adzagbe itself,
but it is the lifestyle that they have tied into it, filled with
crime, drugs, and anti-society, and that is where their judgment stems
from. Continuing with the notion that Adzagbe females are looked down
on and rejected from society, some people stated that they are not the
women that you marry and create families with.
As one of the interviewees mentioned, there is a small portion of the
older generation that felt that not all Adzagbe speakers are ‘rogues’.
He used to speak Adzagbe when he was younger, and as he got older, he
began to grow out of it. Admittedly, societal pressure was partly the
reason that he stopped using Adzagbe. Because of the disdain that the
community had for the language and the ‘rogues’, he began to use it
less and less, which he also took as a sign of maturity on his part.
Another interviewee noted that while he felt like he would never allow
his daughter to speak Adzagbe, there is only one circumstance in which
he would allow it, and that is to understand what it is that they are
saying.
The older generation of Aflao women also has some strong feelings
towards the Adzagbe females. It is a life they don’t want to be part
of, and they believe the speakers came from broken homes. They believe
that females can very easily ruin their futures by playing into that
‘rogue’ lifestyle, one they can easily fall into. It is a path that is
nearly impossible to come back from. The female Adzagbe speakers
wanted to break out of being traditional, stereotypical, or perhaps
even conventional, but fell right back into a stereotyped lifestyle.
The Adzagbe lifestyle has gender roles, just as the Ghanaian community
does, and although the communities are practically opposite to each
other, in each a female has rules, roles, and routines, whereas their
male counterparts do not.
EVALUATION
Ultimately, throughout the study, the researcher gave many examples of
how and why the speakers created Adzagbe. The speakers of the language
had multiple reasons as to why they created it: to obscure criminal
activity, to create separation from the Ewe community, to forge their
identities, and potentially other, more personal reasons. Insight into
the evolution and survival of the language was provided in this study.
Hopefully, the research can continue to make contributions not only to
Adzagbe but also to youth languages as a whole. Languages are
developing every single day, and this research has the potential to
widen the study of base languages.
REFERENCES
Akanmu, D., & Rasheed, A. O. (2015). Language and culture among the
Yoruba: a study of argot, cant, jargons and slang as forerunners of
new idioms and idiomatic expressions in the 21st century.
International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, 13(3),
669-676.
Ameka, F. K. (2001b). Ideophones and the nature of the adjective word
class in Ewe. Typological studies in language, 44, 25-48.
Cheshire, J., Nortier, J. M., & Adger, D. (2015). Emerging
multiethnolects in Europe. Queen Mary’s Occasional Papers Advancing
Linguistics, 33.
De Saussure, F. (1959). Course in general linguistics, New York:
Philosophy Library.
Hepner, R. L. (1998). The house that Rasta built: Church-Building and
fundamentalism among New York Rastafarians. Gatherings in diaspora:
Religious communities and the new immigration, 197-234.
Hurst-Harosh, E. (2020). “They Even Speak Tsotsitaal with their
Teachers at School”: the Use (and Abuse) of African Urban Youth
Languages in Educational Contexts. Africa Education Review, 17(1),
35-50.
Jonsson, R., Arman, H., & Milani, T. M. (2019). Youth language,
259-272.
Kiessling, R., & Mous, M. (2004). Urban youth languages in Africa.
Anthropological Linguistics, 303-341
Muggadam, A. (2009). Aspects of youth language in Khartoum. In 6th
World Congress of African Linguistics, from (Vol. 16), 87-98.
Nussbaum, J. F., Pitts, M. J., Huber, F. N., Krieger, J. L. R., & Ohs,
J. E. (2005). Ageism and Ageist language across the life span:
Intimate relationships and Non-intimate interactions. Journal of
Social Issues, 61(2), 287-305
Pearson, G. (1980). Book Review: The Sociology of Youth Culture and
Youth Subcultures: Sex and Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll, Rastaman: The
Rastafarian Movement in England, Subculture: The Meaning of Style.
Sociology, 14(3), 469-471.
Savishinsky, N. J. (1994). Rastafari in the Promised Land: The Spread
of a Jamaican Socioreligious Movement Among the Youth of West Africa.
African Studies Review, 37, 19-50.
White, C. M. (2007). Living in Zion: Rastafarian Repatriates in Ghana,
West Africa. Journal of Black Studies, 37(5) 677-709.
White, C. M. (2012). Rastafarian repatriates and the negotiations of
place in Ghana. Ethnology: An international Journal of Cultural and
Social Anthropology, 49(4), 303-320.
Wilkinson, M. D., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, I. J., Appleton, G.,
Axton, M., Baak, A., & Mons, B. (2016). The FAIR Guiding Principles
for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific data, 3(1),
1-9.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
My name is Frances Michelle Quiñones, I live in Southeast Wisconsin,
and I have been a high-school Spanish teacher for 13 years. As a
linguist, however, my research interests in my PhD in Linguistics are
sociolinguistics and historical linguistics. I am currently working on
my second PhD in Biblical Linguistics. My dissertation study has taken
me down the path of being more involved with American Sign Language
and Puerto Rican Sign Language. Working with, studying, and
researching languages that are lesser-known or on the verge of
extinction are truly my passion.



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