"If your dress gets missing, I shall buy one": Compliments and Compliment Response Strategies in English in Ghana

Abstract

This study reports an analysis of compliments and responses to compliments by selected speakers of English in Ghana. The analysis is based on a combination of participant observer schedules and recall protocol questionnaire., The population for the study is drawn from speakers of English selected from a university in Ghana. The findings of the study show that in making and responding to compliments, speakers of English in Ghana show positive transfer of complimenting strategies from Ghanaian languages and cultures into the English language spoken in Ghana. These transferred elements, which are typical structures that are used to pay compliments in many Ghanaian languages, give the English language that is spoken in Ghana its distinctive pragmatic features.