Professor Clement Kwamena Appah, the Principal of the Accra City Campus of the University of Ghana (UG) has called for a deliberate state investment in the development of terminologies for Ghanaian languages.
He said it was time for Ghana to strengthen its languages with new standardised vocabularies to enhance teaching and learning to empower the people to contribute to knowledge and actual development in all areas.
Prof. Appah was speaking at a workshop and public lecture organised by the Department of Ghanaian languages and Linguistics of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) ahead of International Mother Language Day on Saturday.
International Mother Language Day, first observed in 2000, is celebrated annually on February 21 to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and commemorate the struggle for multilingualism.
Held on the theme: “Terminology development in the Ghanaian language,” the workshop and lecture was attended by students for 21 colleges of education, graduate students from several universities, traditional leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers among other stakeholders.
Prof Appah noted that Ghana had adequate human, linguistic and institutional resources for the cause but was obstructed by inadequate funding.
He made a case for the introduction of a government-sponsored national terminology programme and a register to streamline the development of terminologies.
Through the programme, government would provide funding for research and other critical activities for the gathering, development, and dissemination of the terminologies, he proposed.
Prof. Appah made a direct call on the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Ghana National Research Fund, and GetFund to help fund their activities on creating terminologies.
While appealing to government, he entreated the Linguistic Association of Ghana to demonstrate their seriousness by forming a research team to start work.
Prof Appah, stressed that local terminologies would help to decolonise education in Ghana, demystifying all complex concepts taught in a foreign language and clearing all impediments.
“The people and teachers of the languages we teach who don’t speak English are not participating in knowledge creation and so if you don’t have the capacity to think, practice, read, and access knowledge in your own language, then you lack linguistic sovereignty,” he added.
The UG principal proposed a teacher education and assessment reform that would promptly adopt new creations.
Dr Vincent Erskine Aziaku, Head of Department of Ghanaian languages and Linguistics, explaining the purpose of the workshop, maintained that Ghana remained under colonisation as it continued to depend on a foreign language.
The problem, he noted, had been the lack of terminologies, intimating that “terminology development is the only way we can succeed in having our language.”
Dr Samuel Owoahene Acheampong, Faculty of Ghanaian Languages Education, University of Education, Winneba (UEW), underscored the need for standardisation to ensure coherence and consistency in the terminologies.
He appealed to government to put together a standardisation council to verify all terminologies to ensure authors were not producing contradictory contents.
Mr Scoon Boakye Appiah, Founder and CEO of AyaPrep, an education technology company, entreated stakeholders to leverage technology to promote the use of Ghanaian language in teaching and learning.