Language Shift: A Case Study Among the Natives Speakers Of ‘‘Kaachi’’ Language In Tokuroano of Oti Region.
This research paper investigated the causes of language shift from the ‘ Kete-krachi-kaachi’ language which is one of the Guan languages to Akuapem, all of the Kwa languages in Ghana. The study adopted a case study design and made some suggestions for the maintenance of Kaachi language in a community called Tokuroano located in the Kete- Krachi East District of the Oti Region of Ghana. It must be noted that, the people in question are krachi’s and the language they speak is called “KAACHI”. The strategies used by the researcher were questionnaires, interview and observation. The paper discussed the domains of language use, the frameworks of the Gaelic Arvanitika model and the marked bilingualism model under the causality-based perspective and process based perspective to analyze the causes and processes involved in the language shift situation.
KEYWORDS: Language shift, language maintenance, Tokuroano, Native Speakers, Krachi-Kaachi, Akuapem
