American Journal of Linguistics 2012, 1(2): 10-18 DOI: 10.5923/j.linguistics.20120102.01 Some Endangered Languages of Ghana Jonas N. Akpanglo-Nartey 1,* , Rebecca A. Akpanglo-Nartey 2 1 Office of the Vice-President (Academic), Regent University College of Science & Technology, Accra, Ghana 2 Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana Abstract The phenomenon of language endangerment and, ultimately, language loss is considered in regard to indigenous Ghanaian languages. It is established that two languages, namely, Ghanaian English (GhE) and Akan, especially the Twi dialect, and to a small degree, Ewe, are slowly killing off the smaller Ghanaian languages. For instance, in 1970 almost all Winneba natives spoke Efutu (Ewutu) as their first language. By 2010, 40 years later, only approximately 50% of children born to the Winneba natives speak Efutu as a first language. About 30% of these children speak no Efutu at all. Interestingly, medium-sized languages such as Ga, Dangme and Nzema are also slowly losing grounds to the three languages cited. Meanwhile there are some dozen Ghanaian languages that have less than 1000 estimated speakers each but which have held their own for a century. It is concluded that the closer a language community is to the major urban centers, the more likely it is to be endangered. It is further concluded that the language policy of the Ghana Government is contributing to the loss of Ghanaian languages. Keywords Endangered, Languages, Language Loss, Ghana, Ghanaian, Ga, Dangme, GaDangme 1. Introduction This paper takes a look at language loss in Ghana, noting the following: • What are the causes of language loss in Ghana? • Which languages are susceptible? • What is the extent of damage done? • What, if anything, can be done to curb this phenomenon? UNESCO’s (2003) Red Book of Endangered Languages, says that a language is endangered when its speakers cease to use it, cease to pass it on from one generation to another. By this definition, quite a number of languages of the world may be considered endangered. In fact, both official and unofficial linguistic data from around the world seem to indicate that in the past couple of centuries alone more than two thousand languages have been lost to mankind. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) claim that there are about 7,000 languages in the world today, but that there will probably be only 3,000 or so in 100 years time. They claim further that most languages are spoken by comparatively few speakers. Over half of the 7,000 languages are allegedly spoken by less than 10,000 speakers and more than a quarter of these languages by less than 1,000 speakers. These numbers are said to be too small to ensure the survival of these languages. The major languages that often threaten to swallow up the smaller ones are really very big. They include * Corresponding author: jonasnartey@yahoo.com (Jonas N. Akpanglo-Nartey) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/linguistics Copyright © 2012 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved the world’s top 10, namely, Standard Chinese, English, Spanish, Bengali, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, and German. Over 48% of the world’s population are said to be first language speakers of one of these languages. A number of Ghanaian linguists agree that at least a dozen of the languages lost to mankind in the past century have been indigenous Ghanaian languages. It is feared that in this (21 st ) century a few more indigenous Ghanaian languages will be lost. This situation is fanned by the fact that educational institutions and employers tend to reward speakers of the popular languages to the detriment of the smaller ones. Unfortunately, the issue of language endangerment (and ultimately language loss or death) is one that is not taken seriously in Ghana – not even by linguists. Research reveals that the phenomenon of language loss follows a fixed pattern. First there is language shift (either forced or voluntary), and then there is language loss. There are two suggested models. One model posits five phases which may be summarized as follows: 1. Relative Monolingualism in the indigenous language (L1). This is where all communities start, on account that no community can stay without a language. 2. Bilingualism with the indigenous language as the dominant one. 3. Bilingualism with the new/second (L2) language dominating. 4. Restricted use of indigenous language. 5. Monolingualism in the new language. The rate at which a language shifts and, ultimately, becomes endangered depends on the amount of pressure or