A Common Language for Mass Communication in Ghana-Verbal or Visual

Abstract

A careful study of the Mass Media of Ghana discloses the following facts:

1. That Ghana has inadequate infrastructural facilities for effective use of the electronic and printed media for mass communication.
2. That the media in Ghana uses only 5 of the 45 or more indigenous languages, which most Ghanaians speak.
3. That only five of these 45 languages with their numerous dialects are written and taught in the schools in Ghana.
4. That the few written indigenous languages have such complex phonetics sounds and have to be modified by diacritical marks in order to bring out the appropriate meanings of words, but the country’s printing presses do not have the technical facilities for printing all these marks.

These facts indicate that the Ghanaian media cannot safely depend on the local languages for effective mass communication in this country. In searching for an alternative mode of communication for the country, the Paper examines the great variety of the international and traditional symbols. Discovering the symbolic power of the Adinkra and other designs, the Paper satisfies itself of the possibility of the development of such a language and proceeds to make recommendations for the implementation of the idea.