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“No matter how long a piece of wood remains in a river, it does not turn into a crocodile:”
Language and Culture Maintenance among Akan-Ghanaian Immigrants Living in the United States

Samuel Obeng, Director for Undergraduate Studies in Linguistics, Indiana University

This paper examines language and culture maintenance among Akan (Ghanaian) immigrants living in New Jersey (USA). The study is done within the framework of social identity (Le Page, 1968; Fishman, 1972; Hertz, 1994). The paper argues that although some of the Akan-Ghanaians are ‘institutionally’ naturalized as USA citizens, they still identify themselves as Akan and view the Akan language as an important identity symbol. Thus, their decision to maintain the Akan (Ghanaian) language and culture is influenced by social identity. The immigrants associate their language with sanctity, with kinship, and with their innermost feelings and aspirations. They also feel and express a sense of selfhood, of ‘society,’ and of ‘community’ through their language and other cultural paraphernalia. Akan language and culture maintenance is also due, in part, to the immigrants being perceived as ‘foreign,’ ‘other,’ or ‘ethnic’ Hertz (1994). With such perception, language and culture become important tools for identity, self-assertiveness, and national pride. The immigrants’ cultural background, collective identification, and social organization in terms of culture and history also help in the maintenance of their language and culture. The paper has some relevance for the primordialist view of ethnicity (Geertz, 1963).