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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 10:2 (2024) ► pp.166–189

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Exploring incongruity and humour in Linguistic Landscapes in Ghana

ORCiD logo with link | Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
 | University of Cape Coast
 | University of Health and Allied Sciences
Published online: 22 September 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.22016.ako
Abstract
In recent times, Linguistic Landscape (LL) research has been extended to cover several variables, domains, modes, and geo-political contexts. Arguably, humour remains understudied in LL research. This article, therefore, examines incongruities in LLs using a corpus of digital signs and incongruous inscriptions gathered across several mediums in urban Ghana. Drawing on the incongruity theory, we examined the levels of incongruities in the corpus. The study found that incongruities in public signs in urban Ghana manifest at the lexical, grammatical, semantic, and phonological levels. We conclude that the resolutions of these incongruities induce laughter and humour in the audience with the shared sociolinguistic knowledge, and humour intelligence. The findings have implications for the theory on humour and the research on LL.
Mmuabɔ
Nansa yi, nhwehwɛmu a ɛfa sɛdeɛ yɛde kasa bɔ amanneɛ wɔ mmɔnten so, ‘Linguistic Landscape’ (LL), ho no mu atrɛ akɔ mmeammea, adesua nkorabata, nhwehwɛmu akwan ahodoɔ ne amanyɔsɛm mu. Ɛrekame ayɛ sɛ mpasere dwumadie wɔ kasa a yɛde bɔ amanneɛ wɔ mmɔnten so ho nhwehwɛmu deɛ ɛbi nhyɛ da nni hɔ saa. Yei nti, nhwehwɛmu yi regyina amanebɔ agyinahyɛdeɛ ahodoɔ a yɛhunu no wɔ Ghana nkuro akɛseɛ mu a yɛboaboa ano agu abɛɛfo afidie so so de LL nhwehwɛmu akwan ayɛ ɛmu mpɛnsɛmpɛnsɛmu ahunu sintɔ bi a ɛwowɔ ho. Yɛgyinaa tiɔre a yɛfrɛ no Incongruity Theory so na ɛhwɛɛ sintɔ ahodoɔ a ɛwɔ amanebɔ agyinahyɛdeɛ a yɛaboa ano yi ho. Nhwehwɛmu yi ada no adi sɛ yɛhunu sintɔ a ɛwowɔ frankaa a wɔde bɔ amaneɛ a ɛsisi Ghana mmɔnten so no bi wɔ nsɛmfua, ɔkasa nhyehyɛeɛ, ɔkasa mu nteaseɛ (semantiks) ne ɔkasa mu nnyegyeeɛ (fɔnɔlɔgyi) mu. Yɛgyina yei so si no pi sɛ saa sintɔ yi tumi de sereɛ hyɛ atiefoɔ a wɔwɔ amanebɔ no ho nimdeɛ no mu. Nsɛm a nhwehwɛmu yi de reto dwa no bɛnya nsunsuansoɔ papa bi wɔ mpasere ne LL nhwehwɛmu ahodoɔ so.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Concepts and theory
    • 2.1Sociolinguistic situation of Ghana
    • 2.2Multimodality and Linguistic Landscape
    • 2.3Theoretical lens
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Datasets and procedures
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Lexical/Orthographic level
    • 4.2Grammatical level
    • 4.3Semantic level of incongruity
    • 4.4Phonological level of incongruity
      • 4.4.1Phonetic approximations
      • 4.4.2Free variation
  • 5.Summary and conclusions
  • References
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