Dr. Obadele Kambon 2013 UG-Legon Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Thesis - Humanities

Comments from the external examiner:
The main findings of the research point to the fact that (a) An overwhelming majority (98%) of Full Lexicalized-Integrated SVCs have nominal counterparts; 2% do not; (b) Only 3% of Partial Lexicalized-Integrated SVCs have nominal counterparts; 97% do not; (c) Clause Chaining Serial Constructions appear to nominalize haphazardly and/or unsystematically as frozen sentences or figures of speech (idioms, proverbs, etc.; (d) The primary function of such forms, he identified, were what Charles Morris (1971) calls denotata and designata; Full Lexicalized-Integrated SVCs behave as lexicalized idioms and because of this, four criteria of idiomaticity namely -- collocability, familiarity, flexibility and compositionality -- are applied to them; and (g) There is systematicity in the pattern of nominalization behavior of serial verb nominals across the main Akan dialects.
This work recapitulates and substantially extends work already done on Akan SVCs by Osam (1994), Agyeman (2002) and others. A major contribution of the dissertation is the detailed discussion and exemplification of issues relating to nominalization of SVCs. This is the first attempt at such a detailed discussion and exemplification and the candidate deserves commendation. His categorizations are original as is his attention to scholarly detail and to showing the relationship between and among the three major Akan dialects. One could conveniently argue that this is one of the strongest points of the dissertation.
Very little has been done on Akan nominalization in general and little to nothing on SVC nominalization in particular, so this study is a trailblazer or a path-finder! Syntacticians and semanticists will cite this work and continue with the discussion and issues it raises for the next couple of decades. I am impressed with the details and both the candidate and his advisors must be commended for the high degree of systematicity employed in the synthesis and analyses done in the study.
The candidate drew his conclusions based on the actual data collected and on the results (synthesis and analysis of the data) thereby making the analytical claims have functional validity and protecting them from standing insulated from public scrutiny. This is, again, commendable.
The recommendations for future research, especially, his call for comparing SVNs with other types of nominalizations, is in the right direction more especially due to the scantiness and dearth of knowledge about nominalizations in general about Akan and other West African languages in particular.
The dissertation is very well written and I am willing to pass it without any reservation whatsoever. The content is excellent as is its rendition.

Comments from the internal examiner:

The study does a good job of relating the data and findings to broader theoretical debates in the Functional/cognitive linguistic literature. For example, study results suggest that, at least in the Akan data examined, higher degrees of semantic integration in complex forms correlate with lower degrees of iconicity. Further, the subtype categories of serial verb constructions identified by Osam (1994) are "fuzzy" categories in terms of ability to undergo nominalization. This supports the prototype approach to categorization, rather than a classical "sharp-boundary" approach to categorization.
Though the author does not particularly draw it out rhetorically, the study sits squarely within the linguistic sub-field of Lexicography: the study is a detailed investigation of speakers' lexical knowledge of nouns formed (either historically or productively possibly in the moment of speaking) from serial verb constructions. In my view, the lexicographic work, bringing out native-speaker knowledge about the complex forms including in some cases how this may have changed across time and may vary by dialect, may be one of the most enduring contributions of the study. Many of the item-by-item findings could, for example, largely be incorporated into an etymological dictionary of Akan.
The study contributes new information to understanding the cross-linguistic and Akan-internal typology of nominalizations of serial verb constructions. The minute detail on dialect variation is valuable for sociolinguistic variationist studies.

2016 UG Provost Publications Award: Dr. Obadele Kambon

Kambon, O. (2015). Theory of Endogenous and Exogenous Motivation in L2 Migration. Per Linguam, 31(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.5785/31-2-594

Available as a free download here:

http://perlinguam.journals.ac.....za/pub/article/view/ /

http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/7433

https://www.researchgate.net/p....ublication/281107402

https://www.academia.edu/16125....266/THEORY_OF_ENDOGE

ABSTRACT: Implied in theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is the notion that language learning is analogous to obtaining or acquiring a possession – thus the use of the term ‘acquisition.’ While this interpretation has gone relatively unchallenged in the literature, this article introduces a new analogy whereby language learning is seen as analogous to a process of permanent or semi-permanent migration towards a new socio-linguistic L2 space. As such, a theory of endogenous and exogenous motivation is delineated, entailing a dynamic interplay between internal (primarily psychological) and external (primarily sociological) push-pull factors. Endogenous and exogenous push-pull factors, together with various other personal factors, contribute to learner decisions to migrate towards, move away from or remain inert with regard to the target language. Further, motivation is framed in the larger theoretical context of causation.

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UNIVERSITY OF GHANA
COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES
2018 Provost Publications Award
(Early Career)
This Award is presented to Dr. Obadele Kambon (Research Fellow, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana) as the winner of the 2016 Provost Publications Award (Early Career). The award is based on your Paper titled: "Theory of Endogenous and Exogenous Motivation in L2 Migration" which was published in Per linguam, 31(2)2015" Your article has been noted to be a great input in the area of language teaching and learning and this work will be used by many researchers and foreign language teachers.
Also, your work is deemed as provocative, perceptive and a well researched paper that has unmistakable relevance for the teaching and learning of foreign languages and target languages."
Your write-up is an original contribution which challenges current theories that account for second language acquisition.
Dr. Obadele Kambon , for your outstanding contribution to knowledge and scholarship and for breaking new grounds, the College of Humanities is proud to award you the 2016 Provost Publications Award (Early Career)
Congratulations.
Professor Samuel Agyei-Mensah
Provost

Courtesy of Lashid4u

Official Audio for Can You Feel It by Dj Private Ryan & Terri Lyons off the the upcoming "World On Fire" album.

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In 1998, Square One released 'Faluma', spoken in the language of the Saamaka tribe in Suriname. The song went on to top the charts in almost every Caribbean territory, as well as on numerous radio stations throughout North America and Europe. Watch now as the Caribbean Queen Alison Hinds re-introduces 'Faluma,' to the world followed by her 2011 carnival release of Makelele!
Video Directed by: Tania Hoser
Edited by: Tania Hoser & Raivo Loo
©: 2012 Black Coral Inc

Full presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1GFqTGpvzg

This is the fuller version of the presentation I delivered at the Re-Engaging Pan-Africanism Conference at Birmingham City University, Dec 2018.

The presentation explores the relationship between Culture & Economics as an attempt to:
Rescue "culture" from reductive definitions by demonstrating the relationship between it & economic development.
Demonstrate how revolutionary movements have pursued economic development from a culturally appropriate foundation.
Its pre-recorded, but will be broadcast with a live chat. I look forward to hearing your feedback.

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Musical meditations on the beauty of moorish architecture

Our great Ancestor/Warrior/Scholar Dr. Chancellor Williams states in his master work "The Destruction of Black Civilization" that northern Afrika was invaded by asiatic settlers 3000 years ago. The descendants of these invaders can still be found in Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Mauritius, Egypt and other parts of north Afrika. These arab states have, for the most part, marginalized and discriminated against the indigeneous Afrikan population. This video deals primarily with the situation in Tunisia, but can also be applied to most of the other north Afrikan, muslim states. How can these nations be allowed to be members of the "African Union" under these types of conditions?

In January 2011, driven to despair by high unemployment, food inflation, corruption, a lack of political freedom and poor living conditions, Tunisians ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and introduced democracy to their country.

As the celebrations of this remarkable achievement began to quieten down, people got ready to enjoy the benefits of liberty - especially those to do with fairness, human rights and equality.

And indeed, many of those benefits did follow; even though many Tunisians continue to feel economically marginalised and the country faces security problems, for the most part the repression that was such of feature of the Ben Ali years has gone. Tunisia is widely regarded as one of the few successes of the Arab Spring.

But not all Tunisians would agree. Five years on from the revolution, the country's large black minority - roughly about 15 percent of the population - say they have yet to fully experience the freedoms that their fellow citizens enjoy. They say that racial abuse and discrimination are still widespread in a society that is supposed to have done away with inequity and prejudice - and that the authorities are failing to take action.

People & Power sent filmmaker Nada Issa to investigate.

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Nigeria erupted in protests this week against the anti-labor policies of the Tinubu administration and soaring inflation that is crippling Nigerians. Inspired by the anti-colonial uprisings across the Sahel, thousands took to the streets to demand living wages and the resignation of US-backed President Tinubu. Investigative journalist and author David Hundeyin joins the show to discuss the demands behind the #endbadgovernance protests and how the US government’s backing of Tinubu

#breakthroughnews