Abstract
This article investigates the use of the relative clause as a modifier in two major Ghanaian newspapers – Daily Graphic and Daily Guide. Specifically, it examines how the three main relative clauses; namely, defining, non-defining and sentential have been used in the selected newspapers. Analyzing data drawn from both newspapers from 1st June – 30th November, 2011, we discovered that both newspapers contained violations of the syntactic and semantic rules with regard to the use of relative clauses. These violations, we argue, could create potential sources of confusion for the reader in the interpretation of the sentences. The paper describes the nature of the violations and recommends that editors pay greater attention to this aspect of written communication. Furthermore, language courses in schools and institutes of journalism as well as universities in Ghana should pay substantial attention to the teaching of relative clauses as modifiers. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p2943
Highlights
IntroductionNewspapers (as public communication channels) constitute a pivotal conduit of education for the citizenry of any country
Newspapers constitute a pivotal conduit of education for the citizenry of any country
The difficulties appear to relate to (a) deciding if the relative clause is essential or nonessential, and applying the appropriate punctuation; and (b) positioning the relative clause in relation to the sentence element that it modifies. This paper investigates this specific sub-group of modifiers, focusing on the three main types of relative clauses; namely, the defining, the non-defining and the sentential relative clause
Summary
Newspapers (as public communication channels) constitute a pivotal conduit of education for the citizenry of any country They disseminate information and represent a critical part of the development dialogue and governance. Along with this comes, on one side, the responsibility of newspapers to ensure that the language used in this dialogue is standard and unambiguous; and on the other side, the expectation from intended readers that the quality of language use would be high in terms of grammaticality and felicity norms. Wiredu (2012), for instance, comprehensively examines the types and contexts of use of relative clauses in Ghanaian newspaper editorials His analysis dwells mainly on function and distribution and not on correctness or otherwise of usage. The specific research questions are: (a) How are the three main types of relative clauses – defining, non-defining and sentential as modifiers used in Ghanaian newspapers?; and (b) What specific errors characterize the usage?
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