The Dangme language, also ''Adangme'', ''Dangbe'' or ''Adaŋgbi'', is a Kwa language spoken in south-eastern

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 ...

by the Dangme people ''(Dangmeli)''. They are part of the larger Ga-Dangme ethnic group. Klogbi is a variant, spoken by the Kloli (Klo or Krobo People). Kropp Dakubu (1987) is the most thorough grammar of the language.

Classification

Adangme is a Kwa language, part of the Niger–Congo family. It is closely related to Ga, and together they form the Ga–Dangme branch within Kwa.

Geographic distribution

Adangme is spoken in

by over 800,000 people as of 2004. It is the aboriginal language spoken in Ghana,

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

, and

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

by the people of Ada, Osudoku, Manya Krobo, Yilo Krobo, Shai, Ningo, Prampram and Kpone. Adangme is partly mutually intelligible with Ga, and, to a lesser extent, Ewe. Nevertheless, many Adangme people also speak or understand at least one of these languages, painting the relationship as asymmetric. Adangme as a school subject is taught in the Adangme areas. The land of these related tribes stretched from the Greater Accra Region to the Eastern Region of Ghana, northward to the Akwapim hills and has all the Adangmeland on the east and the Ga to the west of it. Bawaleshi, which is about 4.8 kilometers southwest of Dodowa, is the last Adangme town which is close to the Akwapim and the Ga boundaries. There are six main dialects which coincide with political units. The coastal dialects are Ada, Ningo and Prampram (Gbugbla). The inland dialects are Shai (Sɛ), Krobo (Klo) and Osudoku.

Phonology

Consonants

* are bilabial, whereas are

labiodental In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth, such as and . In English, labiodentalized /s/, /z/ and /r/ are characteristic of some individuals; these may be written . Labiodental consonants in ...

. * are singly articulated plosives, are affricates (stops with a strong fricative release), whereas are doubly articulated plosives. * varies between a lateral approximant and a central trill . * has a fricative allophone .

Vowels

Dangme has 7 oral vowels and 5 nasal vowels. * The front vowels are unrounded, whereas the back vowels are rounded. * are slightly more open than . * are close-mid . They do not have nasal counterparts. * are open-mid , whereas are somewhat lower (near-open) . * The nasal is open front , whereas the oral is slightly retracted (near-front) .

Tones

Dangme has three tones: high, mid and low. Like many West African languages, it has

tone terracing Tone terracing is a type of phonetic downdrift, where the high or mid tones, but not the low tone, shift downward in pitch ( downstep) after certain other tones. The result is that a tone may be realized at a certain pitch over a short stretch of ...

Phonotactics

The possible syllable structures are V, CV, or CCV where the second consonant is .

Writing system

Dangme is written 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 Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

, with the addition of the letters ɛ, ɔ, and ŋ. Tones are not normally written. Orthographic and phonemic correspondences include the following: * j - * ŋ - * ŋm - * ny - * ts - * y - * ɛ - * ɔ -

Sample text

The following text is Article 1 of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

My First GaDangme Dictionary
kasahorow
Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Dangme
* Lessons in Wikiversity
Listen to a sample of Dangme from Global Recordings Network

Listen to a sample of Dangme from Global Recordings Network
{{Authority control Languages of Ghana Ga–Dangme languages