A sociolinguistic analysis of verbal threat among the people of Apewosika

Abstract

Verbal threat is a speech act which forms an integral part of human behaviour. It is one of the face threatening acts that confront people in their day-to-day activities. It is a language phenomenon that can generate quarrel, fight and chaos among people. Despite the controversies which verbal threat causes people, it still remains one of the most language phenomenon or speech acts which have not been given much attention in our part of the world, Africa and Ghana to be specific. Pertaining to the use of language among individuals, the way people use language differ as a result of certain social factors which characterize the use of language in every society. This study finds out how sociolinguistic factors such as gender, age and occupational status have any influence on how an individual issues a verbal threat among the Fantes in Ghana using the people of Apewosika in the Cape Coast Metropolis as case study. The research employed a qualitative and a case study approach in collecting of data. In all, 30 participants comprising 12 male adults, 12 female adults, 3 male children and 3 female children were randomly selected using the purposive sampling technique of which their responses from the interview and the observation to the research topic problem were presented to content analysis. The result of the study reveals that among the three sociolinguistic factors which were analyzed, age has much influence on how an individual issues a threat than gender and occupational status and that with respect to gender and occupational status, it is the attitude of the offender in the community and the type of offence committed against the threatner that will show how an individual would be threatened