Mohammed Yakub
Biographic Data
| ID | 3531905 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mohammed Yakub |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mohammed |
| FAMILY NAME | Yakub |
| SIGNATURE | YAKUB M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Education, Winneba |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4016-3253 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Beyond Entertainment, What Advice and Sociocultural Values do Nzema Riddles Convey?
Across languages and cultures, the indigenous cultural knowledge and advisory messages entrenched in proverbs, for instance, have been extensively explored. However, the important role riddles play in imparting cultural values and behavioural principles in children and adults, especially among the Nzema, is seemingly neglected. Particularly, the absence of an investigation of Nzema riddles results in the lack of understanding of an important aspe…
Derogatory Akan names as pragmatic tools for social evaluation
This study explores the use of derogatory Akan names (DANs) as pragmatic tools for social evaluation among Akan speakers in Ghana. Drawing on a tripartite model of African name meaning, the study explores how DANs are used to express criticism, mockery, and moral evaluation in everyday interaction. Data were collected through observations of naturally occurring interactions in selected communities in Kumasi, using a descriptive qualitative approa…
Twisting Traditional Proverbs to Suit a Pandemic Situation
Based on the theoretical assumptions of ethno-pragmatics, this study examined some “twisted” proverbial expressions used to offer advice to members of the Nzema society to adhere to the COVID-19 preventive measures. Drawing on primary data recorded during discourse situations among people in a number of Nzema communities, the study aimed to explore and highlight the specific advisory functions of the COVID-19 postproverbials. The findings reveale…
Refuse Dump, Hurry Up
African personal names have communicative contents that reflect the experiences and expectations of the name-giver as well as the bearer. Death-prevention names, for instance, provide some assurance and security that are vital for a child's survival, given the implicit assumption that certain spiritual forces are at work. The bestowal of despicable and 'ugly' names on children whose preceding siblings died shortly after birth is also a common pra…
The Structure and Communicative Import of Selected Proverbs in Nzema Language and Culture
Adopting an Ethno-pragmatics framework, the current study aims to describe the sentential structures and communicative imports of selected proverbs in Nzema, a Kwa language of Ghana, West Africa. Using data obtained from primary and secondary sources, this study identifies the structural properties of the proverbs by further highlighting structures which contribute to the pragmatic interpretations of these proverbs. The findings revealed that str…
Nzema Idiomatic Expressions as Indirection Strategy
The paper explores Nzema idiomatic expressions used as indirection strategy. Figurative devices such as proverbs and euphemisms have received quite an appreciable amount of study in connection with verbal indirection in Nzema. Little or no attention however has been given to idioms, particularly as indirection devices in the language. This paper therefore focuses on idioms which incorporate body parts such as head/brain, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth,…
“You can only see their teeth”
Semantics and Metaphorical Extensions of "PԐ" (To cut) in Nzema Communication
Verbs of separation and material disintegration are a category of verbs commonly referred to as ‘CUT and BREAK’ (C&B) verbs (Guerssel et al., 1985). This class of verbs has sparked a lot of arguments and discussions in the literature (cf. Guerssel et al., 1985; Levin, 1993; Essegbey, 2007; Lüpke, 2007; Majid et al., 2007; 2008; Hsiao, 2015; Agyepong, 2017). In Nzema, pɛ ‘to cut’ is the prototypical CUT- verb which describes actions that result in…
Metaphorical euphemisms in death-discourse among the Nzema
This article seeks to deepen our understanding of the cognitive processes in death euphemisms in Nzema, a Kwa language of Ghana. The article highlights the metaphorical “mappings” across conceptual domains, where the concept of death (target domain) is well understood in terms of more physical events such as journey, departure, return, invitation, continuous sleep, lose a fight, etc. (source domain). It is demonstrated that the Nzema conceptualis…
The semantic extensions of tu ‘to uproot’/‘to pull out’ in Nzema discourse
Nzema refers to both the language and the people who speak it. The language is spoken predominantly among the people who occupy the South-west part of the Western Region of Ghana as well as some parts of Côte d’Ivoire (Annan, 1980, 1994). Nzema forms part of the Niger-Congo Kwa language family. Many studies across languages have had their focus on the basic and extended usages of ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ (ingestion) verbs. Among such studies are Prins (…
Refuse Dump, Hurry Up
African personal names have communicative contents that reflect the experiences and expectations of the name-giver as well as the bearer. Death-prevention names, for instance, provide some assurance and security that are vital for a child's survival, given the implicit assumption that certain spiritual forces are at work. The bestowal of despicable and 'ugly' names on children whose preceding siblings died shortly after birth is also a common pra…
The semantic extensions of tu ‘to uproot’/‘to pull out’ in Nzema discourse
Nzema refers to both the language and the people who speak it. The language is spoken predominantly among the people who occupy the South-west part of the Western Region of Ghana as well as some parts of Côte d’Ivoire (Annan, 1980, 1994). Nzema forms part of the Niger-Congo Kwa language family. Many studies across languages have had their focus on the basic and extended usages of ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ (ingestion) verbs. Among such studies are Prins (…
Metaphorical euphemisms in death-discourse among the Nzema
This article seeks to deepen our understanding of the cognitive processes in death euphemisms in Nzema, a Kwa language of Ghana. The article highlights the metaphorical “mappings” across conceptual domains, where the concept of death (target domain) is well understood in terms of more physical events such as journey, departure, return, invitation, continuous sleep, lose a fight, etc. (source domain). It is demonstrated that the Nzema conceptualis…
The Structure and Communicative Import of Selected Proverbs in Nzema Language and Culture
Adopting an Ethno-pragmatics framework, the current study aims to describe the sentential structures and communicative imports of selected proverbs in Nzema, a Kwa language of Ghana, West Africa. Using data obtained from primary and secondary sources, this study identifies the structural properties of the proverbs by further highlighting structures which contribute to the pragmatic interpretations of these proverbs. The findings revealed that str…
Nzema Idiomatic Expressions as Indirection Strategy
The paper explores Nzema idiomatic expressions used as indirection strategy. Figurative devices such as proverbs and euphemisms have received quite an appreciable amount of study in connection with verbal indirection in Nzema. Little or no attention however has been given to idioms, particularly as indirection devices in the language. This paper therefore focuses on idioms which incorporate body parts such as head/brain, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth,…
“You can only see their teeth”
Semantics and Metaphorical Extensions of "PԐ" (To cut) in Nzema Communication
Verbs of separation and material disintegration are a category of verbs commonly referred to as ‘CUT and BREAK’ (C&B) verbs (Guerssel et al., 1985). This class of verbs has sparked a lot of arguments and discussions in the literature (cf. Guerssel et al., 1985; Levin, 1993; Essegbey, 2007; Lüpke, 2007; Majid et al., 2007; 2008; Hsiao, 2015; Agyepong, 2017). In Nzema, pɛ ‘to cut’ is the prototypical CUT- verb which describes actions that result in…
Refuse Dump, Hurry Up
African personal names have communicative contents that reflect the experiences and expectations of the name-giver as well as the bearer. Death-prevention names, for instance, provide some assurance and security that are vital for a child's survival, given the implicit assumption that certain spiritual forces are at work. The bestowal of despicable and 'ugly' names on children whose preceding siblings died shortly after birth is also a common pra…
Twisting Traditional Proverbs to Suit a Pandemic Situation
Based on the theoretical assumptions of ethno-pragmatics, this study examined some “twisted” proverbial expressions used to offer advice to members of the Nzema society to adhere to the COVID-19 preventive measures. Drawing on primary data recorded during discourse situations among people in a number of Nzema communities, the study aimed to explore and highlight the specific advisory functions of the COVID-19 postproverbials. The findings reveale…
Beyond Entertainment, What Advice and Sociocultural Values do Nzema Riddles Convey?
Across languages and cultures, the indigenous cultural knowledge and advisory messages entrenched in proverbs, for instance, have been extensively explored. However, the important role riddles play in imparting cultural values and behavioural principles in children and adults, especially among the Nzema, is seemingly neglected. Particularly, the absence of an investigation of Nzema riddles results in the lack of understanding of an important aspe…
Derogatory Akan names as pragmatic tools for social evaluation
This study explores the use of derogatory Akan names (DANs) as pragmatic tools for social evaluation among Akan speakers in Ghana. Drawing on a tripartite model of African name meaning, the study explores how DANs are used to express criticism, mockery, and moral evaluation in everyday interaction. Data were collected through observations of naturally occurring interactions in selected communities in Kumasi, using a descriptive qualitative approa…
Linguistics (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (6 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism (5 works) · Art (4 works) · Indigenous (3 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (3 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (3 works)