|
Kwa Languages
The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are a proposed but as-yet-undemonstrated family of languages spoken in the south-eastern part of Ivory Coast, across southern Ghana, and in central Togo. The Kwa family belongs to the Niger-Congo phylum. The name was introduced in 1895 by Gottlob Krause and derives from the word for 'people' (''Kwa'') in many of these languages, as illustrated by Akan names. This branch consists of around 50 different languages spoken by about 25 million people. Some of the largest Kwa languages are Ewe, Akan and Baule. Languages See the box at right for a current classification. The various clusters of languages included in Kwa are at best distantly related, and it has not been demonstrated that they are closer to each other than to neighboring Niger–Congo languages. Stewart distinguished the following major branches, which historical-comparative analysis supports as valid groups: * Potou–Tano (including Akan) * Ga–Dangme * Na-Togo * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of cities in Ivory Coast, city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to the Guinea–Ivory Coast border, northwest, Liberia to the Ivory Coast–Liberia border, west, Mali to the Ivory Coast–Mali border, northwest, Burkina Faso to the Burkina Faso–Ivory Coast border, northeast, Ghana to the Ghana–Ivory Coast border, east, and the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea to the south. With 31.5 million inhabitants in 2024, Ivory Coast is the List of African countries by population, third-most populous country in West Africa. Its official language is French language, French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété languages, Bété, Baoulé language, Baoulé, Dyula language, Dyula, Dan language, Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abidji Language
Abidji (also known as ''Abiji'' and ''Ambidji'') is a language of uncertain classification within the Kwa branch of the Niger–Congo family. It is spoken in the Ivory Coast. It has two dialects: "enyembe" and "ogbru". These dialects' names are used by the members of these Abidji-speaking ethnic groups to refer to themselves. The name Ambidji was given to the language by these groups' neighbors. Villages Abidji is spoken in these villages: Writing system Abidji is written with a Latin alphabet, using the graphemes of the practical writing for the languages of the Ivory Coast. The letter upsilon is often replaced with the V with hook . The nasal vowels are written with ( before and ): . Phonology Consonants Vowels All vowels except have contrastive nasal forms. Tones Abidji has phonemic tones, described as high and low . References External links Abidji basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical DatabaseListen to a sample of Abidji from Global ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volta–Niger Languages
The Volta–Niger family of languages, also known as West Benue–Congo or East Kwa, is one of the branches of the Niger–Congo language family, with perhaps 70 million speakers. Among these are the most important languages of southern Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and southeast Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...: Yoruba, Igbo, Bini, and Gbe. These languages have variously been placed within the Kwa or Benue–Congo families or, starting in the 1970s, combined with them altogether. Williamson & Blench (2000) separate the languages here called Volta-Niger from the others. Güldemann (2018) fails to see clear criteria for dividing the languages into two or three families and maintains the broad grouping and name of Benue-Kwa for all them. Branches The constitu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esuma Language
Esuma (Essouma) is an extinct language of uncertain classification within the Kwa branch of the Niger–Congo family, once spoken in the villages of Assinie (Asini) and Mafia in Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci .... The Esuma were vassals of the Sanwi capital Krinjabo, and shifted to the Anyin and Nzima languages. References Languages of Ivory Coast Kwa languages {{kwa-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ega Language
Ega, also known as Egwa and Diès, is a West African language spoken in south-central Ivory Coast. It appears to be a Kwa language of uncertain affiliation. Demographics Ega is spoken in 21 villages near Gly in Diès Canton, Gôh-Djiboua District, Ivory Coast (Bole-Richard 1983: 359). Some villages are Broudougou, Gly, Dairo, Didizo, and Douzaroko. The Ega people are increasing in number, though some are shifting to Dida through intermarriage. Documentation A language documentation fieldwork project on Ega was conducted by a team from Universität Bielefeld, Germany (Dafydd Gibbon) and Université Houphouet Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (Firmin Ahoua) from 2000 to 2003 in cooperation with York University, Canada (Bruce Connell).Gibbon, Dafydd and Bow, Catherine and Bird, Steven and Hughes, Baden. 2004. Securing interpretability: the case of Ega language documentation. P''roceedings of the 4th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation'', LREC 2004, Evaluati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gbe Languages
The Gbe languages (pronounced ) form a cluster of about twenty related languages stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria. The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and eight million. The most widely spoken Gbe language is Ewe (10.3 million speakers in Ghana and Togo), followed by Fon (5 million, mainly in Benin). The Gbe languages were traditionally placed in the Kwa branch of the Niger–Congo languages, but more recently have been classified as Volta–Niger languages. They include five major dialect clusters: Ewe, Fon, Aja, Gen (Mina), and Phla–Pherá. Most of the Gbe peoples came from the east to their present dwelling-places in several migrations between the tenth and the fifteenth century. Some of the Phla–Pherá peoples however are thought to be the original inhabitants of the area who have intermingled with the Gbe immigrants, and the Gen people probably originate from the Ga-Adangbe people in Ghana. In the lat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akan Languages
The Central Tano or Akan languages are a pair of dialect clusters of the Niger-Congo family (or perhaps the theorised Kwa languages) spoken in Ghana and Ivory Coast by the Akan people. There are two or three languages, each with dialects that are sometimes treated as languages themselves:Dolphyne, Florence Abena (1986) The languages of the Akan peoples. ''Research review''. Vol. 2 No. 1, Pages 1-University of Ghana. p. 15. *Akanic (primarily in Ghana) **core Akan language, Akan (Asante, Akuapem and Fante dialects) **Bono ** Wasa *Bia (primarily in Ivory Coast and Western Ghana) **Northern Bia language *** Anyin dialect *** Baoulé dialect *** Chakosi (Anufo) dialect *** Sefwi (Sehwi) dialect **Southern Bia language *** Nzema dialect *** Ahanta dialect *** Jwira–Pepesa dialect All have written forms in the Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baule Language
Baule () is a commune in the department of Loiret, Centre-Val de Loire, France. The writer Michèle Desbordes (1940–2006) died in Baule. Population See also * Communes of the Loiret department The following is the list of the 325 communes of the Loiret department of France. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2025):Official site Communes of Loiret {{Loiret-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akan Language
Akan (), or Twi-Fante, is the most populous language of Ghana, and the principal native language of the Akan people, spoken over much of the southern half of Ghana. About 80% of Ghana's population speak Akan as a first or second language, and about 44% of Ghanaians are native speakers. The Bono dialect is also spoken across the border in Ivory Coast. Three dialects were developed as literary standards with distinct orthographies: Asante and Akuapem, collectively known as Twi, and Fante. Despite being mutually intelligible, they were inaccessible in written form to speakers of the other standards until the Akan Orthography Committee (AOC)'s development of a common Akan orthography in 1978, based mainly on Akuapem dialect. As the first Akan variety to be used for Bible translation, Akuapem had become the prestige dialect. With the Atlantic slave trade, Akan languages were introduced to the Caribbean and South America, notably in Suriname, spoken by the Ndyuka, and i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ewe Language
Ewe (''Eʋe'' or ''Eʋegbe'' ) is a language spoken by approximately 5 million people in West Africa, mainly in Ghana and Togo. Ewe is part of a group of related languages commonly called the Gbe languages. The other major Gbe language is Fon, which is mainly spoken in Benin. Like many African languages, Ewe is tonal as well as a possible member of the Niger-Congo family. The German Africanist Diedrich Hermann Westermann published many dictionaries and grammars of Ewe and several other Gbe languages. Other linguists who have worked on Ewe and closely related languages include Gilbert Ansre (tone, syntax), Herbert Stahlke (morphology, tone), Nick Clements (tone, syntax), Roberto Pazzi (anthropology, lexicography), Felix K. Ameka (semantics, cognitive linguistics), Alan Stewart Duthie (semantics, phonetics), Hounkpati B. Capo (phonology, phonetics), Enoch Aboh (syntax), and Chris Collins (syntax). Dialects Some of the commonly named Ewe ('Vhe') dialects are ''Aŋ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akan Names
The Akan people of Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Togo frequently name their children after the day of the week they were born and the order in which they were born. These "day names" have further meanings concerning the soul and character of the person. Middle names have considerably more variety and can refer to their birth order, twin status, or an ancestor's middle name. This naming tradition is shared throughout West Africa and the African diaspora. During the 18th–19th centuries, enslaved people in the Caribbean from the region that is modern-day Ghana were referred to as Coromantees. Many of the leaders of enslaved people's rebellions had "day names" including Cuffy, Cuffee or Kofi, Cudjoe or Kojo, Quao or Quaw, and Quamina or Kwame/Kwamina. Most Ghanaians have at least one name from this system, even if they also have an English or Christian name. Notable figures with day names include Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
