Abstract:
The choice of a language for communication in a multilingual community has to be examined in the light of sociolinguistic factors. The study is centred on the real factors that influence language use in a multilingual environment bearing in mind the background of the participants involved in the communication and the linguistic competences of the speakers?
The research is based on the ideas from theoreticians like Labov (variationnism), Hymes (Communicative competence) and Weinreich (Language Contact). A sample of ten churches was selected in the Tema Metropolis and the combination of observation, interviews and questionnaire was used to gather data. This work establishes the fact that the choice one makes of a language for preaching in churches located in a multilingual environment, like the Tema Metropolis, is not only influenced by the linguistic or communicative competence of the speaker but also by the geographical origin and educational background of the participants involved, and the ability of the recipients of the message to understand the particular language being used for the Christian discourse.
