Folklore speaker visits Penn

The Department of Folklore and Folklife traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to find its first speaker for a series of talks this fall. Visiting faculty member Kwesi Yankah, the linguistics department chairperson at the University of Ghana, examined the intricacies of communication within the royal courts of certain African tribes in a Monday speech entitled "Listening so the Chief May Hear: The Politics of Language in Power Space." Yankah studied at Indiana University, where he earned his master's degree in linguistics, as well as an award for the best doctoral dissertation. After publishing countless journal articles and books -- one of which won the 1991 Ghana Book Development Award -- he recently won an award for his journalism. In the Bennett Hall seminar, Yankah focused on the politics of communication between the chief and his audience in the royal courts of the Asante region in Ghana. The talk was based on research Yankah conducted while spending eight months in the area in 1988. Yankah explained the function of the okyeame, an important court official whose job is to relay all words from the chief to his subjects. "In several parts of Ghana, and indeed in Africa in general, direct communication between the chief and his audience in formal encounters is forbidden," he said. Although all okyeame must swear an oath never to alter the chief's words, such action is actually one of the official's major jobs, Yankah said. In all formal court engagements, the chief speaks in a low voice only detectable by his okyeame, Yankah explained. The okyeame then relays the message to the people, but not before embellishing it with proverbial phrases or more poetic discourse, because, according to Yankah, "the chief must not be seen to be rhetorically incompetent." If the okyeame's alteration produces positive effects, Yankah explained, the chief receives full credit for his elegant speech. However, if the changes to the chief's words do not satisfy the people, the okyeame takes the blame. His other responsibilities, Yankah added, include tasting the chief's food to ensure it is poison-free and receiving punishment if his chief violates certain laws. The verbal customs of the court work both ways, so that no subject may speak directly to the chief, but rather must address the okyeame in all matters. Through this system, many different titles for the okyeame developed, including "Owner of the Chief's Mouth," and "The One Who Listens so the Chief May Hear." The okyeame develop with the chief what Yankah referred to as, "an emotional, physical and rhetorical correlation" that illustrates his importance in the court. "I found his talk riveting," said Folklore graduate student Jonathan Lohman. "Dr. Yankah eloquently demonstrated how the various stylistic methods used in speech? often transcends the message's literal content."