The beauty of insult among the Ewe people
Main Article Content
Abstract
Among the Ewes, insult is a mark of linguistic competence and culture consciousness. People receive praise for knowing how to insult. There are context-appropriate insults and there are context inappropriate insults. The consideration of a particular utterance as an insult is dependent on the communicative situation. The medium through which insult as a verbal art is performed is varied and diverse among the Ewes and every native speaker is groomed right from childhood to appropriately engage in the performance of insult. This study conducts an aesthetic analysis of insults among the Ewes. The study draws data from four native speakers each from the Anlo, Tongu and Ʋedome dialect groups of Ewe. Data was collected through interviews, observations and native speaker intuitions. The study establishes that insult is not only a verbal art but also a verbal game that is played by the speakers, and that how well one can play this game marks the linguistic competence and cultural literacy of the speaker. The study also finds that literary devices such as simile, metaphor, exaggeration, synecdoche among others are employed in insult performances. Verbal and nonverbal acts including varied kinesics, silence, songs are media for the performance of insult amongst the Ewe people.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This open-access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-NC-SA) license.
You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
How to Cite
References
Arif, A. (2001). A descriptive image of personality. Delhi: Pugnit Veema.
Caliver, C. (2004). Racism and Identity. London: Pelikan.
Charles, B. (1991). Ethics and communication. USA. Pruebastorytel.
Forson, A, I. Fordjour, A, E., Tettey, A. L., & Oteng-Preko, E. (2017). Stylistic analysis of Akan insults: source, style and typology. International Journal of Management and Scientific Research, 1(4), 148-161.
Sika, L. (2014). African culture and values. Ho: Mawu Press.
Geraldo, P. K. and Azasoo, K. (2005). Mastering literary criticism. Accra: Yamens.
Guveslt. R. (1984). Verbal outbursts and control. http//verbal-outburst-and-control-/html.
Haynes, B. (1974). Why Your Words Matter? https://leadtoimpact.com/the-power-of-your-words/
Howard, R. (2010). The art of creative insulting. https://leadtoimpact.com/the-power-of-your-words
Hughes, M. (2010). Best of sporting insults: A collection of killer lines from our Aussie sports, Ligare Pty Ltd.
Irvine, W. B. (2018). A Slap in the Face: Why Insults Hurt – And Why They Shouldn't. Pruebastorytel.https://www.storytel.com/mx/es/books/581138-A-Slap-in-the-Face-Why-Insults-Hurt-And-Why-They-Shouldn-t.
Martin, T. (2004). Negative words. NJ: Nitmuscards.
Roosefield, S. N. (2004). Insults and Anger: The 14 principles. Postcard 3(12), 12-18.