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This study explored gender differences in the communication styles of Vice-Chancellors in their investiture speeches. Adopting the Deficit Theory model, we compared the speeches of Professor (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson (RAD), the current Vice-Chancellor (VC), and Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso (KOD), a former VC of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). The analysis reveals partial support for Lakoff’s (1975) gender-sensitive linguistic items. RAD’s exclusive use of rhetorical questions aligns with the linguistic item’s association with women’s language for persuasion. However, both Vice-Chancellors used adjectives and intensifiers, with RAD potentially employing them more frequently. Similarly, RAD used a higher number of adverbial clauses, particularly purpose clauses, suggesting a focus on relational aspects of communication. Interestingly, both VCs preferred postposed adverbial clauses, highlighting the need for caution in generalising the position of adverbial clauses as a gendered marker. Additionally, RAD’s language-mixing (English and Akan) emphasises the influence of factors beyond gender in communication. This study highlights the complexity of gendered language use, urging future research to consider broader speaker samples, specific language element functions, and social contexts in analysing gender differences in English syntax.

This study used Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) theory to analyze syntactic complexity in digital communication. Thirty Facebook posts made between August and December 2023 by John Dramani Mahama, a Ghanaian former president, were analyzed in this study. A textual analysis was conducted on the data. The findings affirmed that grammatical categories are functional. There was a deliberate linguistic strategy marked by a prevalence of declarative sentences and a notable dominance of complex structures in this genre of digital writing. The strategic use of non-finite clauses contributes to the complexity of the discourse. The genre of writing is also characterized by information ranking and integration. The linguistic choices align with the formal expectations of political and digital communication – precision, depth, and engagement. These observations challenge and enrich existing theories of political discourse and communication strategies in the digital era.

Gender-fair language challenges and dismantles prevailing societal gender preconceptions. Cosmetic advertisements have been criticized for unfair language choices that perpetuate gender stereotypes. This study is a morphosyntactic examination of gender-fair language in cosmetic advertisements. The social constructionist theory underpins the study. Thirty (30) product packages and labels for the Ghanaian market were used in this qualitative descriptive survey. Gendered terms were analyzed on the morphological level using Quirk et al.’s (1985) functional principle of word categorization. The data collected revealed that Gender-unfair language is prevalent in cosmetic advertisements. Product names, descriptions and claims often use gendered nouns, pronouns, adjectives, phrases of different types and imperative clauses. This reinforces the idea that certain beauty concerns and products are exclusively tailored to specific genders. Gender-unfair language in cosmetic advertisements results in a limited representation of beauty ideals and practices. The use of inclusive language and representations that challenge gender stereotypes and promote diversity was recommended for cosmetic advertisers. The paper provides insight into academic discourse and practical approaches in gender, communication and marketing studies.

This article investigates the discourse functions of antonymy in Amma Darko’s Faceless. It also explores the principles that govern the order of antonymous pairs in Faceless. The study is motivated by an observation, based on corpus data, that certain antonymous pairs co-occur in written data, and that they perform various discourse functions. There is also the argument that certain antonymous pairs tend to be used in a preferred sequence in the sentence. Data was collected from Amma Darko’s Faceless, a novel about the plight of street children in Ghana. The authors argue that in Faceless, antonymous pairs often co-occur within one word class and that these antonym pairs function differently to highlight some of the themes of the novel. The authors also argue that in the novel, antonym sequence is influenced by the following principles: idiomaticity and non-gender, chronology and positivity.

This study aimed at identifying any underlying conceptual metaphors of knowledge in the written expressions of students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), within the framework of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory proposed by George Lakoff & Mark Johnson. It sought to explore the types of metaphors and to discover if they are motivated by any of the Ghanaian cultures or the class levels of the students. One hundred and five students were purposively sampled from the Department of English to provide their descriptions of knowledge. The analysis revealed thirteen conceptual metaphors of knowledge out of which six were structural and eight were ontological. It also showed how the students’ conceptualisations of knowledge are entrenched in Ghanaian cultures. Lastly, it revealed that many of the students recognize knowledge’s ability to render economic success more than its ability to help in critical thinking. This paper concludes that studies into conceptual metaphors are helpful in revealing ideas that are deep-rooted in conceptualisations derived from experiences.