Widespread use of ‘tweaa’ adulterates expression — Prof. Yankah
The local expression ‘tweaa’ has taken on a global outlook and the global village is fast cashing in on it to the disadvantage of Ghana.
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Currently, owners of myghanaonline are selling a domain name, tweaa.org, to the highest bidder for $20,000, while other countries have started adopting the word.
The President of the Central University College (CUC), Professor Kwesi Yankah, who expressed worry over the development, said the global adoption of tweaa could be the beginning of the adulteration of the word.
Prof. Yankah mounted the podium as the guest speaker at the launch of the 50th anniversary of the Department of Linguistics of the University of Ghana at the British Council Hall in Accra and his 43-minute presentation was constantly interrupted with applause, laughter and shouts of tweaa.
It was obvious that the presentation, titled: Tweaa: Meaning and Social Power of Little Words”, would attract excitement, and true to expectation, he preceded his introductory remarks with a playback of the former Ahafo Ano South District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Gabriel Barimah’s outburst at a function in which the infamous tweaa featured prominently.
Attention getter
Prof. Yankah said tweaa was now an attention getter which the business community was using to make huge gain, adding, for instance, that there were tweaa T-shirts available on the global network, a tweaa song on YouTube, tweaa bitters and tweaa alcoholic drinks.
He said the word, which had gone viral on social media platforms, had become a comic relief and was taking over “our official discourse”. He recalled that days after the incident, Ghana’s parliamentarians used the word at every opportunity until one of the parliamentarians questioned the acceptability of the word in parliamentary discourse and it was subsequently banned.
Ban in Parliament
He, however, said it was the first time an interjection had been banned in Parliament, stressing that banning the word could amount to censorship on the expression of emotion and disagreement in Parliament, as well as an over-reaction.
Interjecting his lecture with photographs and power point presentation, he said Mr Barimah had become a global celebrity and was mobbed whenever he was introduced at any gathering.
Prof. Yankah, who is also the Chairman of the Council of Independent Universities, pointed out that the word had drawn more laughter and was now more of a comic relief than the fury it originally sought to express, adding that days after the ban on the use of the word in Parliament, President John Dramani Mahama, in a way to defuse the tension and reduce heckling, used it in the House.
Arsenal
He said the context in which tweaa was used by the anonymous person and the DCE’s reaction moved beyond the expression of reservation to that of a protest, pointing out that tweaa then becomes part of arsenals” used by the underdog in response to such domination.
Arrogance and political liability
Prof. Yankah described Mr Barimah as an intolerant and arrogant man who displayed lack of capacity to cope with situations, which led to his dismissal by the President.
“In sanctioning the DCE, the President might have appreciated the risk in keeping him in post for the abuse of power and lack of respect for the people displayed by the highest local representative of government.
“The DCE angrily and boastfully reminded the gathering about unequal power relations with him, pointing to the superior power he wields and the social distance between him and the anonymous faceless chap,” he said.
Prof. Yankah said, indeed, Mr Barimah was considered a political liability, though there had been a number of calls for his reinstatement by local leaders and the NDC leadership who felt the DCE was a target of people who were engaged in corrupt practices which he had waged a war against.
He said Mr Barimah’s demand to know who said tweaa was rhetorical and he did not expect the person to own up, considering the anger and his menacing move towards the word.
Meaning of tweaa
Tweaa, Prof. Yankah explained, was used to express resentment and strong reservation, noting that the inability of anybody in the gathering to expose the person who said tweaa was an indication that the lone voice was a representation of the people.
Welcome
Earlier in a welcome address, the Head of the Linguistics Department of the University of Ghana, Prof. Nana Aba A. Amfo, had said the department was celebrating the launch of the anniversary with pride, considering the fact that its achievements outweighed the challenges.
She said the department was the only one to have produced three deans, each of whom had gone up to become a pro vice-chancellor of the university, adding, “No one is our co-equal.”
