Evaluation of grammatical properties of proverbial personal names in Dagbani

Abstract

The study examined grammatical properties of proverbial personal names in Dagbani. The study utilized a qualitative research design, which is descriptive in nature. The target population for this research was participants from Dagbani speaking communities in Northern region. Specifically, Sagnarigu community, a suburb of Tamale was selected as the accessible community to carry out the study. The sample population was made up of six (6) teachers from Bagabaga Annex primary school consisting three (3) males and three (3) females. Another four (4) participants two (2) each from the Bimbilla and Wulensi and then six (6) from Sanarigu community who were parents of pupils with personal names in Dagbani identified from the school’s register were also consulted. Documentation and interviews were used as data collection instruments. Proverbial personal names were analysed in relation to sentence structure and function. The names were analysed into simple and compound sentences which function as interrogatives, imperatives and declaratives or statements. The study shows that the constituents of some Dagbani proverbial personal names are made up of different grammatical categories, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.