FROM BULA MATARI TO BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA: AN ETHNOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF EUPHEMISMS IN A. B. CRENTSIL’S MOSES

Abstract

The present paper is an ethnolinguistic analysis of the euphemisms employed in the lyrics of A. B. Crentsil’s highife music titled Moses. Studies on avoidance strategies in Akan songs have not been given much attention. Meanwhile, it is a fact that listeners are exposed to sexual messages in Akan songs and regardless of the extent of civilization and education that individuals have been exposed to, issues about sexuality and sexual taboos still have strong cultural inclinations. After transcribing the song Moses from an audiotape and translating it into English, the artiste was interviewed. The lyrics of the song are categorized and coded. Constructs of ethnography of communication and conceptual metaphor and metonymy theories are employed to analyze data retrieved. It was discovered that in an attempt to avoid breaking sex related taboos, show communicative competence and linguistic politeness, A. B. Crentsil euphemizes unmentionables in Akan and uses strategies like insinuatory and appellative naming, borrowing and circumlocution as avoidance strategies. Embedded in the said strategies are elements like metaphors, metonyms, and allusion. We affirm that the language of a given people and their culture go hand in hand in communicative events. Among the Akan, sex and its related activities continue to be conceptualized as sacred therefore, various strategies must be employed to communicate them.