Contrastive focus in Ghanaian English discourse

Abstract

Research on Englishes outside the Inner Circle points to the fact that it is not always that speakers select prominence to communicate their intended meaning. This study examined the selection of prominence in marking contrastive focus in Ghanaian English and how this might affect information packaging. Data obtained from 200 university students representing the major languages of Ghana were analyzed both auditorily and acoustically. Results suggest that similar to other Outer Circle varieties of English, Ghanaians do not always assign prominence to the ‘target’ word and this also affects how they mark contrastive focus.