Jwira–Pepesa, also known as Gwira and Pepesa–Jwira, is a Niger-Congo language of the Western Region of

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 ...

, consisting of the

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...

dialects A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...

Jwira and Pepesa, with approximately 18,000 speakers total. It is a Kwa language of the Central Tano branch, and shares 60% intelligibility with Nzema and partial intelligibility with

Ahanta The Ahanta/Ayinda are Akan people who live to the north and east of the Nzema. The Ahanta land has been historically known as one of the richest areas on the coast of what is now Ghana. The Ahanta land spans from Beposo to Ankobra in what is no ...

and Anyin. Jwira is spoken in 18 villages from Bamiankaw to Humjibere along the

Ankobra River The Ankobra River is situated in southwest Ghana. Starting north east of Wiawso, it flows about south to the Gulf of Guinea, and enters the ocean about 60 km to the west of the city of Takoradi. Near its mouth are the remains of Fort Elize C ...

, while Pepesa is spoken on Wasa land between Agona Junction and

Tarkwa Tarkwa is a town and is the capital of Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal District, Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal district, a district in the Western Region, Ghana, Western Region southwest of South Ghana. Frequently dubbed as the "Golden City" by its indigenous ...

. The two dialects are separated by a mountain range.

Orthography

Jwira–Pepesa has no written form.

References

Central Tano languages Languages of Ghana {{kwa-lang-stub