The Ewe in West Africa: One cultural people in two different countries (Togo/Ghana) 1884-1960

Abstract

The Ewe in West africa are a people who live actually across three countries. But before the colonization they were living in their own territory without any artificial borders. During the precolonial period, the Ewe have been in contact with different Europeans countries and through theses contacts and relations, some foreign european words introduced the local language and point out a new style in the linguistic called pidjin language, a mix of European language with African ones. The aim of this paper is to study the evolution of the Ewe language but also the dynamism that appearedin the social life of the Ewe people with the introtuction of foreign language like English. To achieve this goal, this research will be based on a specific sociolinguistic literature related to the question but also other historical researches and analyzes. The results of this paper were presented in four stages. The first part will focus on the point of view of scholars about the question, the second aspect will talk about the relation between the African language and the European language before the colonialization. The third aspect of the results will be based on the opposition of the European language and the Ewe language. The last aspect of this paper will present the new challenge of the Ewe and their language during the colonial period