This is an interview with Ghanaian Selikem Gotah about the Ewe language. The interview took place over e-mail from November 9, 2021 to January 21, 2022. Then there was a follow up later starting from September 10, 2022 until November 16, 2022.
For convenience, I have divided up the interview into these sections:
1. Early Years
2. Standard Ewe
3. Ewe in Education
4. Dialects of Ewe
5. Ewe at the University
6. Attitudes towards Ewe
1. Early Years
Chris:
Where were you born?
Selikem:
I was born in Mafi Anfoe in the Volta region of Ghana.
Chris:
What languages are spoken there?
Selikem:
Ewe (specifically Tongugbe) is the main language spoken there. English is used as a medium of instruction in some classes and students are encouraged to speak it while in school.
Chris:
Where did you go to school?
Selikem:
I attended kindergarten in Mafi Klukpo which is about half a mile from Mafi Anfoe. I had the first three years of my primary education at Mafi Anfoe. I then enrolled in a boarding school in Battor, also in the Volta region, for the rest of my basic education -6 years. I proceeded to high school in Ho, the Volta regional capital. After that, I went to Accra, Ghana's capital city, for my undergraduate studies.
Chris:
What languages are spoken in those locations?
Selikem:
Ewe is the main language spoken in all the villages and towns in which I had my pre-tertiary education. The Tongugbe dialect of Ewe is spoken in Mafi Klukpo, Mafi Anfoe, and Battor. The Hogbe dialect is spoken in Ho. One is likely to hear some other languages spoken in Battor and Ho since they have workers and visitors from other regions of Ghana. Accra could be described as the most linguistically diverse city in Ghana, as many languages are spoken there. Akan and English are the most widely spoken languages in Accra.
Chris:
What dialects of Ewe do you speak? Which one do you speak best?
Selikem:
I speak the Tongugbe dialect and a mixture of the βedome dialects. I speak the Tongugbe dialect best.
Chris:
What is Tongugbe? Can the word be divided into morphemes (e.g., To-ngu-gbe)? What do the individual morphemes mean?
Selikem:
Yes, Tongugbe (Tɔŋugbe) can be divided into morphemes: Tɔ ‘river’ ŋu ‘side’ gbe ‘language’
Chris:
Where is Tongugbe spoken?
Selikem:
It is spoken mainly in parts of the southwestern area of the Volta region of Ghana.
Chris:
Do the Tongugbe speakers identify as Ewe speakers? Do they say: “I speak Ewe.” (Medona Eβegbe.)
Selikem:
Yes, they identify as Ewe speakers. They would say: I speak/know Ewe. “mese Eβegbe.” Or “mese Tongube.”
Chris:
What dialects of Ewe do your parents speak?
Selikem:
My parents speak the Tongugbe dialect and a mixture of the βedome dialects. However, we only speak the Tongugbe dialect to each other.
Chris:
Was Twi or any other Akan dialect spoken in Mafi Anfoe?
Selikem:
No Akan dialect was spoken in Mafi Anfoe.
Chris:
What is the difference between Twi and Akan?
Selikem:
Twi is a label for some varieties of Akan. There is Asante Twi and Akwapem Twi.
Chris:
Was Twi or any other Akan dialect spoken in Battor?
Selikem:
Some people probably spoke a dialect of Akan in Battor but not on a wide scale.
Chris:
Was Twi or any other Akan dialect spoken in Ho?
Selikem:
The situation in Ho was similar to the situation in Battor.
Chris:
Did you pick up any Twi before moving to Accra?
Selikem:
I spent my high school breaks in Nkwanta (now in the Oti region) in the northern part of the Volta region. A variety of Akan was spoken alongside Ewe and some Ghana-Togo Mountain languages in Nkwanta. So, I picked up some Akan from there before moving to Accra.
Chris:
So is it safe to say that before Senior Secondary School, you did not know any Twi or other dialect of Akan? Not even greetings?
Selikem:
Yes, I did not know any dialect of Akan, not even greetings.
Chris:
Did you pick up Twi in Legon?
Selikem:
I could barely speak Akan when I entered the University of Ghana, Legon. I became somewhat committed to learning Akan when I believed that the price of a shirt I had bought from the central business district of Accra was gouged because I spoke English while haggling with the seller over the price.
Chris:
On a scale of 1-10 (10 native speaker level), what would you say your level of Twi is?
Selikem:
7
2. Standard Ewe
Chris:
What is standard Ewe?
Selikem:
I would define standard Ewe as the variety of Ewe generally used in written texts- textbooks, poems, novels, history books, the Bible, hymn books, personal letters, etc.
Chris:
How was standard Ewe created? Is it based on particular dialects?
Selikem:
From my readings, I learned that standard Ewe was created by North German Missionaries. It is based on a hybrid of Ewe dialects spoken at areas where the missionaries settled. It has a lot of content from the Anlo dialect.
Chris:
Do you know Standard Ewe? How well do you know it (on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest)?
Selikem:
Yes, I know standard Ewe. On a scale of 1-10, I would give my knowledge of standard Ewe a 9. By knowledge here, I am referring to reading and writing. I don't speak it.
Chris:
Do all Ewe speakers in Ghana know Standard Ewe?
Selikem:
I think a great many Ewe speakers in Ghana understand standard Ewe. However, not many of them can read or write it.
Chris:
Where did you learn Standard Ewe?
Selikem:
I learned standard Ewe in primary (elementary), junior secondary/high (middle), and senior secondary/high (high) schools. In fact, standard Ewe was one of my favorite subjects at these levels. Also, the Ewe linguistics classes I took at the University of Ghana were based on standard Ewe.
Chris:
Are there native speakers of Standard Ewe?
Selikem:
I don't know anyone who is a native speaker of Standard Ewe. I would be surprised if there is any such person. I do know that, in Ghana, there is a colloquial variety of standard Ewe people use in formal contexts like church services, newscasting, among others, especially in situations involving speakers of different dialects of Ewe.
Chris:
What is the difference between written standard Ewe and colloquial standard Ewe? Can you give an example?
Selikem:
I would define colloquial standard Ewe as Ewe spoken to mimic the written standard Ewe, with subtle features of the spoken dialects. For example, my dad served as a pastor in areas other than Tongu, where a variety or varieties of βedomegbe is/are spoken. Any time he preached the sermon, he would try to use words and expressions (like nu siawo ‘these things’) that are characteristic of written standard Ewe. In fact, he once said at home that he preaches using standard Ewe.
Chris:
How do you refer to Standard Ewe in Ewe?
Selikem:
I don't know if there is a common term for it in Ewe, but I have heard people call it "βegbe akukua" meaning 'the authentic Ewe' or similar terms describing it as the "authentic" variety of Ewe.
Chris:
Do you ever have the opportunity to use Standard Ewe now?
Selikem:
Yes, I do use it at church and in an Ewe reading group. Let me add that data for some of the papers I wrote for my classes, including aspects of my MA thesis, were from standard Ewe. Today, I no longer write papers based on data from standard Ewe. I do, however, make reference to standard Ewe in my research when the need arises.
Chris:
If there are no native speakers of standard Ewe, does it make sense to study it linguistically? That is, does it make sense to write a linguistics paper about standard Ewe?
Selikem:
I think it depends on the goals of the paper and the kind and depth of empirical facts required.
Chris:
Are you able give acceptability judgments in Standard Ewe? That is, if I gave you a sentence in Standard Ewe that you had never heard before, would you be able to judge it for acceptability (e.g., *, ??, ?)?
Selikem:
My grammaticality judgments will be based on my knowledge of Standard Ewe from instruction in school and from the Ewe texts I have read. However, I think that I would be connecting deeply with my intuitions as a native speaker of Tongugbe in giving judgments.
3. Ewe in Education
Chris:
In the educational system of Ghana, are local languages used in instruction? Could you describe the system?
Selikem:
Local languages are to be used as mediums of instruction in the first three years of primary (elementary) education. However, to my knowledge, not all schools follow this practice.
According to the literature on language in education in Ghana, there are nine government-sponsored indigenous languages. These languages are to be used as mediums of instruction in the first three years of primary education and to be taught as subjects from the fourth year. While many public schools adhere to this policy, many private schools do not follow it entirely.
I had the first three years of my primary education at Mafi Anfoe E.P (Evangelical Presbyterian) Primary school, where my mother taught me in class 1 (1st grade). Ewe (Tongugbe dialect) was the main language of instruction. During Mathematics and English language lessons, English, with some Ewe, was used. When I moved to a private (boarding) school in Battor, English was 'the' language. It was the medium of instruction at all levels. The only exception was when we had Ewe and French lessons. We were encouraged to always speak English (and French). In fact, we were penalized if we spoke any indigenous language. The school had students with varying L1 backgrounds so English was the lingua franca.
Chris:
What kinds of penalties were there for speaking indigenous languages? Was this only in junior secondary school?
Selikem:
Sometimes we would write several lines of "I will not speak vernacular again". Vernacular here refers to indigenous languages. And sometimes we were made to sweep, pick trash from the compound, clear weeds from the compound, among other punishments. This practice was in my primary and junior secondary schools.
Chris:
Were the penalties ever violent?
Selikem:
They weren’t.
Chris:
What would you have to do to incur a penalty? Did you get punished if you spoke Ewe on the playground?
Selikem:
The situation I am describing was in the private school I attended. I do not remember what the norm was at Mafi Anfoe E.P. primary. However, I recall that we spoke a lot of Ewe during the three years I spent there. In the private school, there were designated senior students who made lists of 'vernacular' (Ewe and other indigenous languages) speakers. They would add your name to the list if they heard you speaking 'vernacular' anywhere in the school. In fact, a student could report another student to a teacher or a senior student for speaking 'vernacular'.
I think the idea of stifling the use of indigenous languages in schools was to help students improve their English proficiency.
Chris:
You said Ewe was one of your favorite topics at school. What materials did your teachers use to teach Standard Ewe? That is, how did they know what to teach? Are there grammars, dictionaries and pedagogical materials that they can use?
Selikem:
The Ghana Education Service had a syllabus/outline for each subject that was taught in kindergartens, primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary schools. Textbooks were written based on these syllabi. For Ewe lessons, our teachers used textbooks which, I guess, were prescribed by the Ghana Education Service. These included books published by the Bureau of Ghana Languages. In senior secondary school, we used a textbook written by one of our Ewe teachers. I still use that textbook when I need some pieces of information from it.
Chris:
Let's say two teachers of Standard Ewe had a disagreement about what is in Standard Ewe. For example, they disagreed about some particular construction, and whether you could use that construction as part of Standard Ewe. How would they resolve that disagreement?
Selikem:
In order to resolve disagreements, they are likely to refer to a textbook, a novel, a dictionary, or a grammar book, especially those published by the Bureau of Ghana Languages.
Chris:
So they would not resolve the disagreement based on native speaker intuitions?
Selikem:
No, they are not native speakers of standard Ewe. They got the knowledge from the books.
They might say something like “this is how we say it in X-gbe, but not in Standard Ewe”.
When I ask my mum to confirm whether an expression is good or bad in Tongugbe, she would sometimes say the expression is good in Tongugbe but not in Standard Ewe.
4. Dialects of Ewe
Chris:
What are the dialects of Ewe spoken in Ghana? Just sketch the broad outlines for me.
Selikem:
According to the literature on dialects of Ewe, the Ghanaian dialects comprise the Southern, Central, and Northern varieties. The southern varieties include Anlo, Tongu, etc. The central include Ho, Kpedze, etc., and the northern, Peki, Kpando, etc.
Chris:
Are these dialects mutually intelligible with one another?
Selikem:
They are mutually intelligible with one another to varying degrees. I know that there are speakers of other dialects who find it difficult to understand me when I speak Tongu. In fact, some of my friends, especially Anlo speakers, tell me they don't understand much of what I say in Tongu.
Chris:
If you hear a Ghanaian speaking Ewe, are you able to identify which part of the country they are from?
Selikem:
I can make predictions, but they may not be accurate all the time. I have asked people “Are you from Peki or Tsito area?” when I hear them speak Ewe for some minutes.
Chris:
Are there any Ewe dialects that are so widely spoken in Ghana that they might be considered regional lingua francas?
Selikem:
The central and northern dialects/subdialects are very similar such that it is easy for the untrained ear to lump them together as one dialect. It is not surprising then that these varieties are generally referred to as βedomegbe. Given these, a mixture of the central and northern dialects could arguably pass for a regional lingua franca, but not everyone can speak it. Personally, I try to speak the central-northern mixture in cross-dialectal contexts because of my exposure to it.
Chris:
Is there an Ewe lingua franca encompassing the whole of the Volta region in Ghana? Would you call Anlogbe a lingua franca for the whole Volta region? Would Hogbe be a lingua franca for the whole Volta region?
Selikem:
There isn’t an Ewe lingua franca of that nature. I wouldn’t call Anlogbe a lingua franca for the whole Volta region neither would Hogbe be a lingua franca for the region.
Chris:
What happens when a speaker of Anlogbe and Hogbe come in contact with one another and speak Ewe? Which dialect do they use in that case?
Selikem:
If the interlocutors are bidialectal, they might use a common dialect. If they are not, they would speak their respective dialects. What I witnessed in an online voice chatroom is that people generally spoke their own dialects. The Tongugbe speakers I knew in the chatroom, however, tried to speak a mixture of the central-northern dialects with some Tongugbe features emerging sometimes.
Chris:
And what would happen if a speaker of Anlogbe came in contact with a Tongugbe speaker? What would happen then?
Selikem:
Again, if they are bidialectal, they might use a common dialect. My sister, who speaks Tongugbe and the βedome mixture, speaks βedome with my wife, who is an Anlogbe and βedomegbe speaker. If the interlocutors are not bidialectal, they would speak their respective dialects.
Chris:
In the interview above, you mentioned “colloquial standard Ewe”? Is this regional lingua franca the same as “colloquial standard Ewe”?
Selikem:
No, it is not.
Chris:
What does the average Ghanaian Ewe from the Volta region know about dialects of Ewe in Togo?
Selikem:
When many of them hear a variety of Ewe that is different from the Ghanaian varieties they already know exist, they are likely to call it Togolese Ewe. I think the average Ghanaian Ewe from the Volta region knows very little about the dialects of Ewe in Togo.
Chris:
When you were growing up, were there Togolese living in the various towns where you lived?
Selikem:
Yes, there were Togolese in some of the towns in which I lived. For example, my French teachers at Battor were Togolese. I believe there were other Togolese living in Battor at that time. There certainly were Togolese in Ho and Nkwanta. There were Togolese at Botoku as well. I taught briefly at Botoku during one of my long vacations. I had a Togolese student who lived in the village with his family.
Chris:
Has the average Ghanaian in the Volta Region heard about Gengbe or Mina? This is the lingua franca of Togo. It is closely related to Ewe.
Selikem:
They most probably hear it spoken in person and/or in audios/videos on the internet, in which case they might call it Togolese Ewe. However, I doubt if they know that the name Gengbe or Mina refers to the Gbe language spoken in Togo. Many Ewe speakers know Gengbe to be Ga since Ewes refer to Accra as Gen, and Ga is mainly spoken in Accra. I remember looking for Gengbe speakers in a Facebook Ewe group four years ago. Two people contacted me. They told me they knew Gengbe. It turned out that they meant Ga and not the Gbe language.
Chris:
When you hear Gengbe/Mina being spoken, can you understand it? What percentage can you understand?
Selikem:
To an extent. A little over 60 percent
Chris:
When you were going to school in Ghana (any level), had you ever heard of dialects like Kpelegbe spoken in the Kpele region of Togo (north of Kpalime)?
Selikem:
I wasn’t conscious of dialectal variations in Ewe. Any variety of Ewe that didn’t sound like Anlo, βedomegbe (cluster), or Tongugbe but sounded like what my elementary school French teachers spoke was Togolese Ewe. Perhaps I had heard Kpelegbe somewhere but a lumper as I was, I labeled it Togolese Ewe.
5. Ewe at the University
Chris:
When did you attend Legon (that is, in which years)?
Selikem:
I attended Legon from August 2009 to May 2012 and from September 2013 to June 2014. I spent the 2012/2013 academic year studying Russian in Moscow.
Chris:
When you went to Legon, what was your major?
Selikem:
During my first two years, I studied Russian, Linguistics, and Information Studies. I dropped Information Studies and graduated as a Russian and Linguistics major.
Chris:
Did you study Ewe at Legon?
Selikem:
Yes, we studied Ewe linguistics at Legon.
Chris:
What courses on Ewe linguistics did you take there? Who were the instructors?
Selikem:
Phonetics and Phonology of a Ghanaian Language (Ewe) Dr. Paul Agbedor
Morphology and Syntax of a Ghanaian Language (Ewe) Dr. Paul Agbedor
Syntax of a Ghanaian Language (Ewe) Prof. Evershed Amuzu
Semantics of a Ghanaian Language (Ewe) Dr. Alexander Dzameshie
Chris:
What dialect did you study in these courses?
Selikem:
As far as I can remember, we studied standard Ewe. We did not study any of the spoken varieties.
Chris:
Were any examples of Ewe dialects ever discussed in these courses on Ewe linguistics?
Selikem:
I don’t think so. At least, Tongugbe never came up in all the classes I took and attended.
Chris:
When you were at the University of Legon, did you have a textbook for Standard Ewe? I know at one time Alan Duthie taught there. Did he teach you? Did you use his text book?
Selikem:
Prof. Duthie didn't teach me. We used his textbook in some of our classes at some point. We also read sections of Prof. Essegbey's dissertation and some notes and papers.
Chris:
Were you ever encouraged to study your own dialect of Ewe, Tongugbe, while you were at Legon?
Selikem:
No, as far as I can remember, I was never encouraged to study my own dialect of Ewe while at Legon. Perhaps, some students were encouraged to study a dialect of Ewe.
Chris:
Would you ever speak Ewe to your professors at Legon?
Selikem:
When I was in Legon, I didn’t speak Ewe to my professors. I didn’t know the dialect of Ewe some of them spoke until later. Even now, it would be difficult for me to speak Ewe to them. It would take a firm resolve to initiate a conversation with my professors at Legon in Ewe.
Chris:
Why is that?
Selikem:
Since the language of instruction at Legon is English, it would be out place to speak Ewe to my professors. I grew up in knowing (from the convention in the elementary school I attended in Battor) that the only language to be spoken in a school context is English (or sometimes French). I would speak Pidgin English or Ewe to friends but not to my teachers or professors. However, I would speak Ewe to a professor when he or she initiates a conversation in Ewe.
6. Attitudes towards Ewe
Chris:
What kinds of attitudes do non-Ewes have toward the Ewe language in Ghana?
Selikem:
Some non-Ewes say the Ewe language is difficult to learn.
Chris:
When you lived in Ghana, were you ever embarrassed to speak Ewe in front of other people? For example, if two Ewe speaking people found themselves in the market in Accra, would they be embarrassed to speak Ewe?
Selikem:
I was never embarrassed to speak Ewe in front of other people. I have heard people complain that some Ewe speakers do not like to speak Ewe to each other in the presence of other people. In fact, I asked people about this, and they told me some people look around or maybe 'read the room' before they speak Ewe.
Chris:
Is it the same for Akan? That is, is there a difference between Ewe and Akan in this regard?
Selikem:
It is not the same for Akan. In fact, a great many people speak Akan to you without a backward glance, expecting that, since you are Ghanaian, you should understand it. I have heard complaints about cases like this from non-Akan speakers and people with varying degrees of Akan proficiency.
Chris:
I once heard from a linguistics student at Legon, a native Akan speaker, that his parents would never let him marry an Ewe woman. Have you ever heard of such attitudes before?
Selikem:
Yes, I have heard of these a number of times; some Ewe parents not allowing their children to marry Akans and some Akan parents not allowing their children to marry Ewes.
Chris:
What is the most widely spoken language in all of Ghana? Is there a lingua franca for Ghana as a whole?
Selikem:
English is the most widely spoken language in Ghana and the lingua franca for Ghana. Moreover, the apparent spread of Akan places it almost at par with English in being widely spoken in Ghana and a lingua franca.
Chris:
What percentage of the Ghanaian population speaks some dialect of Akan (Twi, Fante, Akuapem), as a first language? What percentage of the Ghanaian population speaks some dialect of Akan as a first or second language? What percentage of the Ghanaian population can get by in a simple conversation in Akan? Same questions for Ewe.
Selikem:
I don't know the specific statistics, but census data over the years show that the Akan ethnolinguistic group is the largest in Ghana. This suggests that Akan, with its dialects, has many first language speakers, maybe a little over 45 percent of Ghana's population. In fact, there are several non-Akans who acquired a dialect of Akan alongside other languages as their first language. Take for instance a person born to an Ewe mother and a Ga father in parts of Accra, where Akan is widely spoken. This person is likely to speak Akan alongside Ewe, Ga, and maybe English as first languages.
There are several speakers of Akan as a first or second language, especially in the urban areas. My guess is that speakers of Akan in general constitute a little over 60 percent of Ghana's population. Scholars identify Akan as the most widely-spoken indigenous Ghanaian language.
Turning to Ewe, it is said to be second to Akan in terms of the number of speakers. Its first language speakers should be about 13.5 percent of Ghana's population. When we include second language speakers and people who can get by in a simple conversation, the percentage of Ewe speakers should be about 14.5 percent.
These figures are my guesses. If there are no existing recent studies on these, I think work on these details is warranted.
Chris:
What are the attitudes Ewe speakers have toward Akan? Maybe different groups have different attitudes.
Selikem:
Ewe speakers’ attitudes toward Akan vary. There are Ewe speakers who would speak Akan to other Ewe speakers and Akan speakers as well. There also are Ewe speakers who resist speaking Akan. Some Ewe speakers get irritated when they are addressed in Akan, especially when the Akan speaker assumes that being Ghanaian means knowing Akan.
Chris:
I have heard people say the word Ayigbeni in Ghana (not in Togo)? What does it mean? What is its origin?
Selikem:
Generally, Ewes are referred to as Ayigbefour (Ayigbe people) by other people, especially Akan speakers. Also, Ewes speaking Akan or Ga and maybe some other Ghanaian language could refer to another Ewe as Ayigbeni. The “ni” morpheme, from Akan, means “person” in contexts denoting ethnic/national affiliation. So, “Ghanani” is a Ghanaian and “Americani” is an American. The meaning and origin of “Ayigbe” is based on legends involving a Ga (an ethnic group in Ghana and Togo) chief, Ayi, who lived in Togo. Ayi who, according to one of the legends, refused “gbe” (in Ewe) to hand over a stool (throne) to a delegation from a Ga community in Ghana, asking them to go back and tell the authorities that Ayi gbe “Ayi refused”. The delegation brought the message to the Ga community in Ghana and somehow, Ewe people came to be known as Ayigbe people. Ewe people too have names for people of other ethnic groups.
Chris:
Is the term Ayigbeni derogatory?
Selikem:
Some people find it derogatory.
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