Punophemisms: Language Use in Ghanaian Hiplife Songs

Anita Avevor(1*), Innocentia Polley(2),

(1) Dambai College of Education
(2) Dambai College of Education
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


This paper is based on how the youth, especially the Ghanaian hiplife musicians manipulate language through the usage of pun to convey messages to their listeners without necessarily sounding vulgar. It focused on the communication of such words which are considered inappropriate and yet must be spoken of, and how young musicians of Ghana try to use these words in songs so they are not seen as sounding profane or disrespectful. In order to find out how this phenomenon takes place, a number of such linguistic items which give their songs an air of style were analysed in some selected Ghanaian songs. The researchers studied the usage of pun by Ghanaian songsters as a mean of euphemising their speech. Related literature on the phenomenon was reviewed and the topic examined through the lenses of Relevance Theory. The data for this research was drawn from songs of young Ghanaian songsters and the research design was a case study. The research employs the descriptive qualitative approach in the analysis of data. The study was basically into the description of data in some selected Ghanaian songs, and the primary data was the internet where selected songs were downloaded for transcription. In this research, there emerged the term punophemisms to explain and define how pun can be used as euphemism.


Keywords


punophemisms; pragmatic analysis; relevance; cognition

Full Text:

PDF

References


Allan, K. & Burridge, K. (1991). Euphemism and Dysphemism: Language Used as Shield and Weapon. New York: Oxford University Press.

Burridge, K. (2012). Euphemism and Language Change: The Sixth and Seventh Ages. Lexis (7) (66-92) ‘Euphemism as a Word-Formation Process’ https//DOI: 10.4000/lexis.355

Ballard, (1991). Elements for a didactic of the transaction. (State Doctoral Theses) Institute of the Anglophone World. University of Paris, Paris.

Bergson, H. (1914). Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of Comic. London: Macmillan

Clark, B. (1991). Relevance Theory and the Semantics of Non-declaratives. (PhD thesis) University of London.

Cook, G. (2000). Language Plays, Language Learning. New York. Oxford University Press.

Cross, I. (2006). Music and Social being. Musicology Australia, 28, 114-126. https://www.academia.edu.music

Creswell, J. W. (2011). Research Design: Qualitative, and Mixed-Method Approaches. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Delabastita, D. (1994). Focus on the Pun: Wordplay as a Special Problem in Translation Studies. John Benjamin Publishing Company.

Dooley, R. A. (2008). Relevance Theory and Discourse Analysis: Complementary Approaches for Translator Training.

Giorgadze, M. (2014). Linguistic Features of Pun, Its Typology and Classification. European Scientific Journal. Vol. 2. 185-7881. https//www.semantischolar.org.

Gibbs, R. W. (2002). A New Look at Literal Meaning in Understanding What is said and Implicated. Journal of Pragmatics. Vol: 34, 4 457-486 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(01)00046-7

Gibson, C. & Sagarin B. J (2023). Pun-intentionally Sadistic: Is Punning a Manifestation of Everyday Sadism? Personality and Individual Differences. Vol. 203.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j-paid.2022.111997

Hughes, G. (2006). An encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Slurs in the English-Speaking World. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe.

Kao, T. J. Levy, R. & Goodman, N.D. (2016). A Computational Model of Linguistic Humour in Puns. Cognitive Science. 40 (5). Retrieved from Wiley periodicals Inc. doi:10.1111/cogs.12269

Lems, K. (2013). ‘Laughing all the Way: Teaching English Using Puns’. Faculty Publications. https//digitalcommons.nl.edu/faculty_publications/86

Leaver, B. L. Erhman, M. & Shekhtman, B. (2005). Achieving Success in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge University Press.

Liszka, J. J. (1990). ‘Euphemism as Transvaluation’. Language and Style. Vol. 23: 409-424. https//123docz.net.document.4

Long, M. H. (1997). Construct Validity in SLA Research: A Response to Firth and Wagner. The Modern Language Journal, 81:3. 318-323. https://www.semanticscholar.org

Patton, M. Q. (2021). Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods: Integrating Theory and Practice. Sage Publications.

Shao Q., Wang, Z. & Hao, Z (2012). Contrastive studies of pun in figures of speech. Atlantis Press. Paris, France. https//www.atlantis-press.com

Schmidt, J. Z. (2021). Euphemism. Online Handbook of Pragmatics. Ed by Jan-Ola Ostman & Jef Verscueren. https://benjamins.com/onlone/hop.

Schogler, B. (1998). Music as a tool in Communications Research. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy. Vol: 7:49 40-49. https://www.academia.edu.music

Simmons, H. (2009). Case Study Research in Practice. Sage Publications.

Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. (1986). Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Oxford: Blackwell.

Sperber, D. and Wilson, D. (2002). Pragmatics, Modularity and Mindreading’. Mind and Language 17, 3-23 https//doi.org/10.1111/1468-0017.00186

Taguchi, N. (2006). An Application of Relevance Theory to the Analysis of L2 Interpretation Processes: The Comprehension of Indirect Replies. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. 40:2 151-176. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1212/iral.2002.006

Terry, T. (2020). Euphemistic Dysphemisms and Dysphemistic Euphemisms as means to Convey Irony and Banter. Language and Literature. Vol. 29. No. 1. 57-75 DIO: 10.1177/09639470209/0624

Wahyuni, K. T. (2014). Lexical Ambiguity Represented through Pun and Wordplay in the Script of Romeo and Juliet Adapted by David Hundsness. A Published Thesis: Yogyakarta State University.

Wilson, D. & Sperber, D. (2004). Relevance Theory. In Horn, L. R. & Ward, G. (eds) 2004. The Handbook of Pragmatics Oxford: Blackwell, 607-632.

Zheng, W. & Wang, X. (2022). Contextual Support for Less Salient Homophones and Pun Humour Appreciation: Evidence from Eye Movements in Reading Chinese Homophone Puns. Psychol. Sec. Language Sciences. Vol. 15 htttps://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.875479




DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/joll.v23i2.6235

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Journal of Language and Literature (JOLL) is published by  Prodi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

JOLL is indexed in:

       


This journal is is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License 

View My Stats