A study of personal names among the Bikpakpaam (the Konkomba) of Ghana: The linguistics, typology and paradigm shifts

Publication date: March 2018 Source:Language Sciences, Volume 66 Author(s): Abraham Kwesi Bisilki This paper is a contribution to the intellectual discourse on prototypical as well as emerging paradigms in African anthroponomy. It cross-sectionally examines traditional personal names among the Bikpakpaam (the Konkomba), a Gur ethnolinguistic group in northern Ghana. Situated within the general theoretical notion(s) of language-culture interface, the study adopts a mixed-method approach (using both qualitative and quantitative analyses) in describing Likpakpaln traditional personal names. Drawing on a stratified sample size of 600 personal names, the scope of this paper subsumes the typology, the changing patterns, the linguistic structure, and the communicative usage of personal names in the Bikpakpaam linguistic context. Typologically, the paper argues that indigenous Likpakpaln personal names can be categorised into six classes, of which insinuating/proverbial names constitute the preponderant category. Further to this, it is observed that there is particularly a contemporary shift towards what I call bearer-oriented insinuating/proverbial personal names. This shift in personal name preference hinges on a relatively novel cultural philosophical conviction of the Bikpakpaam that names have the power of de/constructing the personality and the trajectory of life of the individual. Also, importantly, the paper reveals that structurally, Likpakpaln personal names are predomin...
Source: Language Sciences - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research