Oral Literature in Ghana

Kofi Ron Lange SVD

Forms of Oral Literature

Oral literature is a term that is used to describe materials
that are not written down in books. In Ghana we have
lots of things in many of our languages that are not
written down in books. Some things have been recently
written down, like proverbs. But there are many other
forms of literature that are purely oral: family and tribal
histories, genealogies, folk tales, riddles, songs, praise
poems, praise names/appellations, tongue twisters,
funeral dirges, victory songs and dilemma tales, sayings,
prayers, invocations, and libations. Oral literature is in a
sense contradictory: composed of oral meaning what is
spoken and literature meaning what is written. The
term, however, is universally accepted and used to
categorize a vast amount of discourse in African and
other countries that is not written but it definitely
includes the history, prose, poetry, music and wisdom of
its peoples. If we wish to be more precise perhaps the
term verbal or oral art could be used.
Performance
The actual performance of the form makes an important
contribution to the impact of the particular form that is
being exhibited. The enactment of a poem in an Akan
dirge form, for example, involves the emotional situation
of a funeral, the beauty of the singers voice, her sobs,
facial expressions, vocal expressiveness, movements,
dramatic use of pause and rhythm, the interplay of
passion, dignity, humor and receptivity to the reactions
of the audienceall of which indicate the sincerity of
her griefin addition to the musical setting of the poem.
All of these devices are an integral and flexible, part of
the full realization of the Akan dirge as a work of art. If
done well, people will respond by clapping, talking
about the performance, and putting money on the
forehead or in the dress of the woman performing.
Dilemma Tales
Here is an example of a dilemma tale: A hunter had two
wives whom he loved equally. One day he was going to
the farm with his two wives to dig up some cassava and
yams to have food for the family to eat. When the
hunter and his two wives were on their way to the farm
they met a big cobra, lying in the middle of the path.
The hunter quickly went aside and cut off a branch from
a tree in order to kill the cobra. But when he raised the
stick in the air to hit the cobra the cobra spoke and said:
Mr. Hunter, dont do that! The Hunter was very
surprised because he had never seen a cobra that spoke.
He shouted at the cobra: You fool, I will kill you right
now! Then the cobra said: If you kill me, your senior
wife will die and if you leave me go, your junior wife
will die. So, what should the hunter do? This is a
dilemma, that is, a situation in which it seems like if you

do one thing it will have bad results and if you do the

other thing it will also have bad results. What should the
Hunter do? After some discussion with the cobra the
hunter told the snake that it was difficult for him to know
what to do, so he should allow him to go and consult his
old mother. The snake said: No! You cant deceive me
like that! I know that if you go, you wont return.
Then the hunter said: I will leave my two wives here
with you and so I must return. The snake said: OK,
but dont keep long. So, the hunter went and hid
behind a big tree and waited quietly. Meanwhile, the
snake was lying in the hot sun feeling very hot and
sweating very much and he also became very thirsty.
So, the snake left the two women to go to the river to get
some water to drink. When the hunter saw the snake
going to the river he quickly came and took his two
wives away. The hunter didnt kill the snake and he
didnt allow it to go. The snake went away on his own
because he was thirsty.
Here is another dilemma tale: Three young men went on
a journey and they had with them three wonderful
things; a magic carpet, a medicine that could bring
people back to life, and a mirror which you can see
things back at your home when you look into it. After
they had traveled for some weeks they looked into the
magic mirror and saw that their mother had died at
home. One said: Lets get on the magic carpet and go
home quickly. They got on the magic carpet and got
home immediately. One of them put the medicine under
their mothers nose and she came back to life. Which of
them did the most wonderful thing? The answer is: The
elders are still trying to answer this.
Praise Names
There are praise names/appellations that we use,
sometimes for God and sometimes for our chiefs or
ancestors.
Zallakuduraa Naa Most High and Merciful
Chief,
Natitamlana Almighty God,
Faako Naa Merciful Chief/Savior,
Totorobonsu Nyame God who showers rain
on us,
Tweduampon Nyame The God we can lean on
and not fall.
Tribal Histories
There are also tribal histories. The Dagomba recite their
histories to the rhythm of drumming. On certain
occasions especially the Damba they chant the
glorious history of Dagbon to the rhythmic beating of the
Lunsi drums. In addition to such formal histories there

Oral Literature in Ghana

are also folktales, stories, proverbs and many other

forms of oral literature.
Spoken and written word
There is a big difference between what is spoken (oral
literature) and what is written. What is spoken is always
very personal because it is someone speaking something
to someone, usually a group of people. It is not like a
book; a book does not speak to you. It doesnt stand up
and move its hands or do anything. It is just lying there,
but the spoken word is very personal. You see the person
speaking and you know him. He is standing in front of
you.
Now we want to look at some of the characteristics of
oral literature. I dont know all the languages in Ghana,
so I am going to give some examples from one of the
languages called Twi because I have worked for about
16 years among the Twi speaking people.
Characteristics of Oral Literature
Some of these characteristics will also apply to your own
languages. The first thing about oral literature in Twi is
that it is a performance; a person or persons do it.
Performers use their mouths, hands, gestures, etc. The
audience responds by clapping, shouting, singing, adding
comments, etc. Performers may give the first part of a
sentence and the audience completes the second part, or
they may ask a question and the audience answers it, or
they may sing a song and the audience join in or sings a
response to what has been sung. These characteristics
can be observed when folk tales are told at night.
Funeral dirg/songs are another art form or type of oral
literature. They are usually sung by the women. There
are many things involved in this form. First of all, a
funeral is a highly emotional situation. If somebody
close to me dies I will feel it. If my mother or my
brother or my sister dies, I will feel it very much and I
will be expected to cry, weep and wail. The drummers
will also be there beating their drums according to the
beats and rhythms appropriate for funerals. Usually one
of the women in the group will take the lead in the
funeral dirge. The other women will be walking around
with her and they will be waving their cloths at her, or
they will be holding their hands up, or they will be
weeping together and singing with her. So, the whole
thing is a beautiful performance. If it is done well, the
people may put money on the womans forehead or they
may say, Well done! These are some of the
characteristics that go into a funeral dirge/song.
Stylistic aspects
There are a number of stylistic aspects within the
language. The most common one is repetition. Others
include contrasting metaphors, lexical encoding of affect
and affect-connoting acts, contrasting images, and
reduplication.
Repetition

Kofi Ron Lange

1. of single sounds in close succession or at distant

points:
(w) Nsnkyernne wura, wo na woate
wo nsa w sare so ama ho ay kwae
(h) ahum ne aham ne ahahanhunu
(hear the h sound repeated)
(s) sare so serbo a yresew no
so dade akodi animsm

2. of same syllable in different words:

(dan) wo na yredan wo s tkrma
redan abogye
(tutu) Ttutugyagu, wo na woatutu
bre se

3. of words and groups of words:

(ehini/apon) ny nsafe na ehini
ho apon,
nsnkyernne na erhini apon no

4. of identical beginnings in one or more word places:

Odupn kse a woama nhama ahu
soro.
Odupn a woregu akorokera
Ymfa nkrante nnw kwan mma Yesu.
Ymfa katapira ntutu nakwan so
(note same beginnings)

5. of a word in the end position in the initial or

included position of a succeeding linear unit:
Yesu na way kwae mu bmmfo;
bmmfo a woak ahay akokum
kakae.
Contrasting metaphors
Another aspect of style in Ghanaian oral literature is that
of contrasting images or metaphors. Okatakyie, wo
na woworow wo kawa fa wo mmati so! O
Powerful One, you remove your ring over your shoulder!
It says the Powerful One has removed the ring from his
finger, not the ordinary way, but over his shoulder. So it
is a contrasting image because ordinarily your remove
your ring from your finger, but the Powerful One has
removed his ring over his shoulder, which means he can
work wonders. Here is another example: nwonwafo,
wo na wode kntn asaw nsu asi
kwankyn ama akwantemfo anom no
nnansa. Wonder Worker, you put water in a basket
by the roadside for travelers to drink for three days. If
you put water in a basket, it will immediately run out,
but the Wonder Worker can put water in a basket and it
will stay there for three days. These contrasting images
will catch the interest and imagination of the people
because they talk of something out of the ordinary,
something unexpected and unusual.
Lexical encoding of affect and affect-connoting acts
Wo ho y hu! You are fearfully wonderful!
Ma wo ho repopo makes you tremble!

Oral Literature in Ghana

Resi abfo di wanim dancing with joy before

you!
Reduplication
Another aspect of style is that of reduplication, that is,
the doubling of the same form of verbs or adjectives:
Kyre vs. akyerkyerkwan One whoshows-the way
Tia vs. atiatia step on repeatedly
Tuku, Tukukuku soft, soft, very
soft.
F vs. Fff or ffffff
very beautiful.
Sounds and Musical Resources
Other forms draw fully on musical resources and make
use of singing by soloist, or by a chorus or in some cases
by instruments. In folk tales in many Ghanaian
languages there are refrains or choruses that are sung at
intervals during the telling of the folk tale.
The skilled oral performer employs vivid ideophones
(expression of an idea by means of a sound, often
reduplicated, that creates an image of an action, object,
etc.) or dramatized dialogue, or manipulation of the
audiences sense of humor, or susceptibility to be
amazed, or shocked, or moved, or enthralled at
appropriate moments.
Every language has its own kind of sounds and their own
specific ways of using these sounds. You will become
aware of this when you listen carefully to people who
know their language well and to those who use some of
these stylistic forms in their proverbs, songs, folktales,
prayers, libations, etc.
Delivery
The way the oral art is presented or delivered is also
extremely important. In giving praise names or
appellations before a Dagomba or an Ashanti chief (b
mmerane, or momma), a dignified bearing and
emphasis on continuity of delivery that is high pitched,
fast, very staccato like and accurate is what gives the
performance aesthetic beauty. Drums often accompany
the performance. In the olden days if the delivery was
inaccurate the performer faced the possibility of the
death penalty! The Dagomba drummers give the
histories of chiefs and their accomplishments, victories,
etc. They too must do this very accurately or suffer lose
of face. This means the drummer needs have a good
memory.

Kofi Ron Lange

Audience Participation
Members of the audience need not confine their
participation to silent listening or a mere acceptance of
the chief performers invitation to participate. They may
also in some circumstances break into the performance
with additions, queries, or even criticisms. While telling
a folk tale someone in the audience may shout out: You
are deceiving us! The storyteller will playfully shout
back: If I am deceiving you, go to bed! At the end of a
story a person from the audience may say: Oh, you
have told us lies. That is not the way the story goes.
And then he or she will tell another story. Or the
performer may ask: Meboa sn? (How am I lying?)
Or say: Sisisi me (Deceive me!) And the response
is: Misisi wo! Kda (Im deceiving you! Go to
bed!) At end of a story the audience may clap or one
person may say: Lets congratulate him/her, and then
the whole audience will say: Hmmm.
In telling folk tales, the storyteller often stops his/her
story and he or someone from the audience will start a
song, a chorus, and the whole audience will join in
singing it. Then the storyteller will continue with the
story. So, the audience is involved in the performance.
This keeps them awake and interested.
While someone is giving a speech or settling a case,
he/she may give the first part of a proverb and the other
person or the audience will complete it. For example:
Aboa a onni dua (The animal without a tail) is
said by the speaker and the audience completes it by
saying: Onyame na pra ne ho (it is God who
chases the flies away for it). Once again, the audience is
involved in this way. Or, Bila, bila
(Gradually, gradually) is said and the audience
completes the proverb by saying n-da nam
wbigu (the elephant was created).
The Spirit of the Word hovers over Africa
It is Gods word; the breath of the Spirit, that is at the
heart of African Oral Literature. It is Gods wisdom, the
foundation stone, where deep culture rises to the surface.
Here among the themes of oral literature we find the
grist for inculturation or contextualization. Here under
guidance of the Spirit we can continue with the ancestors
to build the Kingdom.