Re-thinking everyday metaphors through Indigenous Ghanaian languages

Shifting the center to the margins

Authors

  • Ari Sherris Texas A&M University-Kingsville Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.42392

Keywords:

Indigenous metaphor, conceptual metaphor, language materiality, Ghanaian Indigenous metaphors, Asante-Twi, Gonja, Likpakpaln, Mfantse, Nzema, and Safaliba

Abstract

The purpose of this Special Issue is to expand our understanding of conceptual metaphors in six of Ghana’s Indigenous languages: Asante-Twi, Gonja, Likpakpaln, Mfantse, Nzema, and Safaliba. The authors bring new knowledge to the international community from these understudied languages, which may become inaccessible in the not too distant future, particularly those from oral sources, given Ghana’s political embrace of neoliberal global flows of people, goods, and information which expands the reaches of language shift. Nevertheless, the specific metaphor data from the languages in this Special Issue represent the first preliminary examples of documentation and hence are of foundational significance, as the data generate new understandings. 

Author Biography

  • Ari Sherris, Texas A&M University-Kingsville

    Ari Sherris is Associate Professor of Bilingual Education at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, United States. During the 2015–16 academic year, he was a J. William Fulbright Scholar at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. During June 2019, Ari was a distinguished guest researcher at the University of South Africa. He holds a PhD in Second Language Development, an MA in Applied Linguistics, and a BA in the Humanities. Ari’s research and language revitalization interests include Mikasuki, Salish Ql’ispe (a.k.a. Salish-Pend d’Oreille, Montana Salish, and Flathead Salish) and Safaliba. His ethnographic work documents situated practice in grassroots policy initiatives and school-based activism among the Safaliba in rural Ghana. His language documentation includes conceptual metaphors and formulaic language in Salish Ql’ispe and Safaliba. He also explores applications of task-based language teaching in the pedagogy of revitalization. His practitioner papers analyze integrated content and language instruction, academic English instruction for graduate students, and asset-based coaching for and by language teachers (e.g., peer coaching, critical friending in educational contexts). He is the author of articles and chapters that focus on Indigenous communities strengthening the vitality of their languages and cultures. He is co-editor with the late Elisabeth Piirainen (2015) of Language Endangerment: Disappearing metaphors and shifting conceptualizations.

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Published

2021-09-10

How to Cite

Sherris, A. (2021). Re-thinking everyday metaphors through Indigenous Ghanaian languages: Shifting the center to the margins. Sociolinguistic Studies, 15(1), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.42392