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 ...

is a

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

country in which about eighty languages are spoken. Of these, English, which was inherited from the colonial era, is the

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

and

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

. Of the languages indigenous to Ghana,

Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan languages, a language group within the wider Central Tano languages *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan *Central Tano language ...

is the most widely spoken in the south.

Dagbani Dagbani (or Dagbane), also known as Dagbanli or Dagbanle, is a Gur language spoken in Ghana and Northern Togo. Its native speakers are estimated around 1,170,000. Dagbani is the most widely spoken language in northern Ghana, specifically among ...

, Dagare, Sisaala, Waale, and Gonja are among the most widely spoken in the northern part of the country.

has more than seventy ethnic groups, each with its own distinct language. Languages that belong to the same ethnic group are usually mutually intelligible. The

Dagbanli Dagbani (or Dagbane), also known as Dagbanli or Dagbanle, is a Gur language spoken in Ghana and Northern Togo. Its native speakers are estimated around 1,170,000. Dagbani is the most widely spoken language in northern Ghana, specifically among t ...

, Nanumba and Mamprusi languages of Northern Region, are almost the same and, are mutually intelligible with the Frafra and Waali languages of the Upper East and

Upper West Region The Upper West Region of Ghana is located in the north-western corner of Ghana and is bordered by Upper East Region to the east, Northern Region (Ghana), Northern Region to the south, and Burkina Faso to the west and north. The Upper West regional ...

s of

. The Mole–Dagbani languages are spoken by more than 20% of the population. Eleven languages have the status of government-sponsored languages: three Akan dialects (

Akuapem Twi Akuapem, also known as Akuapim, Akwapem Twi, and Akwapi, is one of the literary dialects of the Akan language, along with Asante dialect, Asante (with which it is collectively known as Twi) and Fante dialect, Fante, with which it is Mutual intell ...

Asante Twi Asante, also known as Ashanti, Ashante, or Asante Twi, is one of the principal dialects of the Akan language. It is one of the three literary dialects of Akan, the others being Akuapem and Fante. There are over 3.8 million speakers of the As ...

and Fante) and two Mole–Dagbani languages (

Dagaare Dagaare is the language of the Dagaaba people of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. It has been described as a dialect continuum that also includes Wali language (Gur), Waale and Birifor language, Birifor. Dagaare language varies in dialect s ...

and

). The others are Ewe,

Dangme The Dangme language, also ''Adangme'', ''Dangbe'' or ''Adaŋgbi'', is a Kwa language spoken in south-eastern Ghana by the Dangme people ''(Dangmeli)''. They are part of the larger Ga-Dangme ethnic group. Klogbi is a variant, spoken by the Klo ...

, Ga, Nzema,

Gonja Gonja may refer to: *The Gonja kingdom * The Gonja people who live there *Gonja language *Ranjan Ramanayake See also * Central Gonja District * East Gonja Municipal District * North East Gonja District * North Gonja (district) * West Gonja Munici ...

, and Kasem. In April 2019, the Ghanaian government declared its intention to make French one of Ghana's official languages due to the country being surrounded by Francophone countries (

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

to a lesser extent, the

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 ...

and

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 the presence of a French speaking minority in the country.

Government-sponsored languages

The number of government-sponsored languages is either eleven or nine, depending on whether or not

, and Fante are considered a single language. They are supported by the Bureau of Ghana Languages, which was established in 1951 and publishes materials in the languages; during the periods when Ghanaian languages were used in primary education, these were the languages which were used. All these languages belong to the Niger–Congo language family, though to several different branches.

Akan (Fante, Asante Twi and Akuapem Twi)

, part of the Kwa branch of the Niger–Congo family, is a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...

, but with regard to official status, only a few out of the many varieties of Akan are recognised: Fante,

. Taken as a whole, Akan is the most-widely spoken language in Ghana.

Ewe

Ewe is a

Gbe language 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 widel ...

, part of the Volta–Niger branch of the Niger–Congo family. The Ewe Language is spoken in Ghana, Togo and Benin with a trace of the language in West Nigeria. Out of the many dialects of Ewe spoken in Ghana, the major ones are Anlo, Tongu, Vedome, Gbi, and Krepi.

Dagbani

is one of the

Gur languages The Gur languages, also known as Central Gur or Mabia, belong to the Niger–Congo languages. They are spoken in the Sahelian and savanna regions of West Africa, namely: in most areas of Burkina Faso, and in south-central Mali, northeastern Ivor ...

. It is the most spoken language in Northern Ghana. The number of native speakers numbers more than three million, this number will reach six million if dialects such as Nanumba, Mamprusi and Kamara are added. It belongs to the larger Mole–Dagbani

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

found in

and makes up about 18.5% of the population. It is spoken by Dagombas in the Northern Region of

Dangme

is one of the

Ga–Dangme languages Ga–Dangme is a branch of the Kwa language family. Ga–Dangme is made up of just two languages: Ga and Dangme. They are closely related and have sometimes been considered as a single language. There are many similarities in the basic vocabul ...

within the Kwa branch. It is spoken in Greater Accra, in south-east Ghana and Togo. Dangme is a West African Kwa language spoken in Ghana, and it has been gaining popularity among Ghana residents.

Dagaare

is another of the Gur languages. It is spoken in the Upper West Region of Ghana. It is also spoken in

. Waali, spoken by the Wala people, and the Dagaare language are languages that can be understood by each other's speakers.

Ga

Ga is the other Ga–Dangme language within the Kwa branch. Ga is spoken in south-eastern Ghana, in and around the capital Accra. It is a Niger-Congo language in the Kwa branch, spoken by around 600,000 people in Ghana. Six separate towns comprised the Ga-speaking peoples: Accra, Osu, Labadi, Teshi, Nungua, and Tema. Each town had a central stool of importance in Ga traditions. Accra, among these towns, rose to prominence and now serves as Ghana's capital.

Nzema

Nzema is one of the

Bia 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 ...

, closely related to Akan. It is spoken by the

Nzema people The Nzema are an ethnic group numbering about 328,700, of whom 262,000 live in southwestern Ghana and 66,700 live in the southeast of Côte d'Ivoire. In Ghana, the Nzema area is divided into three electoral districts: Nzema East Municipal, also k ...

in the Western Region of Ghana. It is also spoken in the

. Nzema, also known as Appolo, is mainly spoken in Ghana's Jomoro district and Ivory Coast's Comoé district. In 2004, it had around 330,000 speakers. The Nzema language utilizes a Latin-based script and comprises a total of twenty-four alphabetic characters.

Kasem

Kasem is a Gurunsi language, in the Gur branch. It is spoken in the Upper Eastern Region of Ghana. It is also spoken in

. By 1998, Kasem had around 250,000 speakers, divided between Ghana (130,000) and Burkina Faso (120,000). It's alternatively known as Kasena, Kasim, Kassem, Kasɩm, or Kassena.

Gonja

is one of the

Guang languages The Guang languages are languages of the Kwa languages, Kwa Language families and languages, language family spoken by the Guang people in Ghana and Togo: *Southern Guang ** Efutu language, Efutu-Awutu ** Hill Guang: dialects Cherepon language, ...

, part of the

Tano languages Tano may refer to Places ;Ghana/Ivory Coast * Tano North District and * Tano South District in Ghana, which make up ** Tano North (Ghana parliament constituency) and ** Tano South (Ghana parliament constituency) * Tano River or Tanoé River in ...

within the Kwa branch along with Akan and Bia. It is spoken in the Northern Region of Ghana and Wa. "Gonja" comes from "Kada Goro-Jaa" in Hausa, signifying "land of Red Cola." Ghana has over 285,000 Gonja people.

Languages spoken in Ghana by number of speakers

This chart reflects data provided by ''Ethnologue''.

Language classification

The language of Ghana belong to the following branches within the Niger–Congo language family: *

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 ...

(Akan, Bia, Guang in Tano; Ga and Adangme) *

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 widel ...

(Ewe) *

(Gurunsi,

, Mossi, Dagaare, and Frafra in Oti–Volta) *

Senufo languages The Senufo or Senufic languages () comprise around 15 languages spoken by the Senufo people, Senufo in the north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso. An isolated language, Nafaanra language, Nafaanra, is also spok ...

(

Nafaanra Nafaanra (sometimes written Nafaara, pronounced ), also known as Nafanan or Nafana, is a Senufo language spoken in northwest Ghana, along the border with Ivory Coast, east of Bondoukou. It is spoken by approximately people. Its speakers call th ...

) *

Kulango languages The Kulango or Kulango–Lorhon languages are spoken principally in Ivory Coast. They were once classified as part of an expanded Gur (Voltaic) family and are now part of the Savannas proposal. The languages distinguished by ''Ethnologue'' are: ...

Mande languages The Mande languages are a family of languages spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé peoples. They include Maninka (Malinke), Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Kpelle, Jula (Dioula), Bozo, Mende, Susu, and Vai. There are ar ...

(Wangara, Ligbi) Older classifications may instead group them as Kwa, Gur, and Mande.

References

External links

Ethnologue listing for GhanaEthnologue map of languages in GhanaOwu-Ewie, Charles. 2006. The Language Policy of Education in Ghana: A Critical Look at the English-Only Language Policy of Education. In Selected Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, ed. John Mugane et al., 76–85. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.PanAfrican L10n wiki page on GhanaGhanaWeb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Languages Of Ghana Ghana-related lists