Department of Ghanaian Languages and Linguistics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Love, as a subject, has received a lot of attention in literature, particularly poetry. This is probably because poetry is traditionally seen as the creative exploration and expression of an individual’s emotion and passion. A genre of Ga oral poetry that has love as its primary subject is the adaawe songs which are sung by Ga maidens. This paper examines an aspect of Ga women’s discourse on love in the songs. Particularly, it examines how love is bemoaned. This was done based on the premise that, as a creative exploration and expression of individuals’ emotions and passions, adaawe songs contribute a unique commentary on the subject of love. Songs which were recorded and transcribed, as well as songs collected from Hamond’s (1970) Obɔade Lalai were analysed, paying attention to content and style. The analysis revealed that love is usually bemoaned when there is lack of continuous interest in a persona by the other party in a love relationship, or when there is a betrayal of love.