Restoring mꜢꜤt ‘truth, justice, order, harmony’ Through Speech: “Therapeutizing” Indigenous Language in Health Communication, and socio-cultural contexts in Ghana

“Therapeutizing” Indigenous Language in Health Communication, and socio-cultural contexts in Ghana
Contributors
Joseph Aketema Ọbádélé Kambon Amponsah Kwaku Yeboah
DOI icon https://doi.org/10.36386/ijilmd.v2i1.794
Abstract

This paper examines indigenous language therapy in Ghanaian health communication and socio-cultural life. It argues that, in indigenous Ghanaian contexts, therapy is not limited to clinical correction of speech impairment. It also includes culturally grounded practices through which speech is shaped, softened, redirected, and morally aligned to preserve dignity, restore social balance, and prevent conflict. Drawing on indigenous-language radio broadcasts and observations of Kasena-Nankana traditional court proceedings, the study analyses how proverbs, euphemism, indirect speech, speech surrogacy, and culturally regulated address operate as therapeutic tools. The paper develops a  mꜢꜤt-centred framework, grounded in the classical  Kmt(.y.w) ‘Black people’ understanding of restoring  mꜢꜤt ‘truth, justice, order, harmony’ by driving out  isft ‘wrongdoing, falsehood, disorder’. Within this framework, the Ná-Zuá, griots, radio presenters, and other indigenous communicators are understood as custodians of speech whose work protects communal well-being. The findings show that indigenous language therapy operates in two major sites: traditional adjudication and indigenous-language radio health discourse. In both settings, speech is treated before it circulates, especially when the subject concerns illness, sexuality, conflict, shame, accusation, or authority. The paper contributes to health communication and intercultural communication by showing that indigenous therapeutic communication is not a remnant of the past but a living system for culturally responsive public health messaging, ethical media practice, and social healing in Ghana.

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