Language choice in communication in a multilingual setting: A case study of a cross section of first year students of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Abstract

A group of people living and working together in close proximity enforced by an institution like the university communicate with one another both formally and informally. Language is the means of communicating information and it is also the channel of establishing and maintaining relationship with other people. Language is also a medium of meaningful interaction among individuals in a social context (Gregory, 1978). The University of Cape Coast community is multilingual. The population is made up of students and workers drawn from the heterogeneous ethnic regions of Ghana. The linguistic situation is such that many different languages co-exist and individuals speak more than one language. The current study revealed that due to the multilingual nature of the University of Cape Coast various language choices are made in communication. The choice of language also involved a switch from one language to another or the mixing of languages