Personal names in Kusaal: A sociolinguistic analysis

Abstract

This paper investigates personal names among the Kusaas of Ghana with focus on the sociolinguistics and semantics of these names. The study reveals significant socio-cultural as well as religious beliefs and practices of the Kusaas exhibited through their naming patterns. It argues that personal names in Kusaal have semantic content and constitute a set of ‘linguistics forms’ that are meaningful rather than being assumed or classified as ‘mere forms’ (Kripke, 1980). This is demonstrated using a typology of personal names in Kusaal: day-names, family names, nicknames, shrine names etc. It is also claimed that Kusaal names have direct linkage to both sociocultural functions and meanings. Personal names among the Kusaas reveal the cultural beliefs of the people as well as the event surrounding the birth of the name-bearer not excluding the expected impact of the name on the bearer. The study looks at Kusaal names within the frameworks of sociolinguistics, onomastics and linguistic anthropology (Bonvillain, 2000, Aikhenvald, 2015; Duranti, 1997; Foley and William, 1997; Bright, 2003). One major significance of the paper is that it is the first sociolinguistic study of personal names in Kusaal, a relatively less-researched, Mabia (Gur) language (Bodomo, 2017). The study will be carried out using data gathered on field trip to Kusaal speaking communities in the Upper East Region of Ghana.