THE LANGUAGE OF THE OTHER: DECOLONIZING RHETORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF TRADITIONAL COURT PROTOCOLS AND THE PLACE OF THE WOMAN

Abstract

In times past, language and its usage captured, upraised, and lauded men while women were relegated to the background. In the traditional court, many protocols mainly put the woman in a position of the ‘hidden' and the 'muted’ index. Guided by the Muted Group Theory by the Ardeners and the Kramaraen theory, the paper addresses the language and symbolic protocols explored in the traditional court in Nae We, Gbese, Jamestown Court, in the Greater Accra Region. Through observation, interviews, and focus group discussions, the paper looks at women’s language use their possible inclusivity in the light of neo-colonialism and language freedoms that existed in the traditional court protocols and proceedings. The study reveals that language independence keeps the female 'muted' so far as conventional practices thrive from generation to generation. Subsequently, study concludes that, despite the inclusion and the sustainability of the use of the wisdom of the old woman as embedded in language, female inclusivity and active involvement are only heard in the use of language. The study recommends that, a place should be made for the woman to be seen as equally as she is heard.