Sociolinguistic survey in the Jwira language area

This is a report on a sociolinguistic survey of the Jwira language. The survey was carried out in 1995 by Sameul Ntumy and Ebenezer Boafo of Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation(GILLBT).

The purpose of the study was to gather data suited to helping GILLBT administrators decide whether Jwira is a separate literature development need, or to link it to Nzema literacy efforts.

The language development need for Jwira was to be determined by:

1. testing Nzema comprehension (Nzema was tested due to the linguistic closeness of Nzema to Jwira, and due to the fact that Nzema is supposed to be the medium of instruction in the first three years of primary school in the area),
2. assessing the Nzema language learning environment among Jwira speakers,
3. assessing first and second language usage patterns, and
4. assessing community attitude towards Jwira language development, and towards Nzema as a written language.

If Jwira is to be developed, the second purpose of the survey would be to recommend the variety of Jwira that should be used as the reference dialect.