Convergence and Divergence Strategies in Greetings and Leave Taking: A View from the Dagbaŋ Kingdom in Ghana

Abstract

This paper, which centres on events at the court of the Yaa Naa in Yendi, Ghana, focuses on speech events where greetings are used. Greetings are ritually used to solidarise with peers, or show deference to higher ups on the social ladder, in a cultural milieu. The greetings and exchanges at times of meeting and leave-taking utilise asymmetric salutations to show respect to, and index the status of interactants, while symmetric ones aim at showing solidarity between interactants. The choice of code depends on the occasion, participants, and the nature of the subject under of the discourse. Participant observation was used to gather the data, which was matched against library material for analyses. These brought to the fore that, greetings are ritualised verbal sessions where people react with each other, and also show deference to higher ups on the social ladder. The established protocols are observed during these interactions.