The Temporal Systems of Dagaare and Dagbane: Re-Appraising the Philosophy of Linguistic Relativity

Abstract

This essay discusses aspects of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, a philosophy of linguistic relativity which claims that the structure of a person's language is a determining factor in the way in which he or she understands reality and behaves with respect to it. An examination of the tense systems of the Mabia languages of northern Ghana, including Dagaare and Dagbane, reveals that the verbal elements of these languages exhibit a metrical tense structure calibrated into discrete time intervals. It is then shown that this structure seems to be mirrored in the real world behaviour of the Mabia with respect to time. Punctuality in traditional Mabia society is conceptualized not in terms of time points but in terms of time intervals. However, it is shown that other behavioural patterns of the Mabia are not reflected in these verbal systems. (The Journal of Cultural Studies: 2001 3(1): 43-55)