Animere language

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Animere
Spoken in:	Ghana
Region:	East Central Ghana, Kecheibi and Kunda villages
Total speakers:	Estimates vary: 250 (Sommer 1992); 700 (Ethnologue 2003); 30 (Blench 2006)^[1]
Language family:	Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo Volta-Congo Kwa Nyo Potou-Tano Ghana Togo Mountain Ka-Togo Animere
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`nic`
ISO/FDIS 639-3:	`anf`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

Animere (sometimes Anyimere or Kunda, the latter being a toponym) is a language spoken in Ghana, in the Kecheibe and Kunda villages of the Benimbere people. It is most closely related to Kebu or Akebu of Togo. Both are Ghana Togo Mountain languages, classified as members of the Ka-Togo group by Heine (1968). Like most other GTM languages, Animere is a noun class language.

Animere is an endangered language which is no longer being passed on to children; speaker counts range from 30 (Blench, 2006) to 700 (Ethnologue, 2003).^[2] Already in 1965 Adele, another GTM language, was the dominant language among the younger generation in the Animere area, and only elderly people spoke Animere among themselves, leading Heine (1968) to expect that 'the language is going to be extinct in a few decades'.^[3] Knowledge of Twi, a dominant regional language, is also widespread among the Benimbere.

[edit] References

^ Blench notes that 'all speakers are over 35 years old'.
^ The Ethnologue estimate probably concerns all ethnic Benimbere; Blench (2006) notes that all 30 speakers are over 35 years old. Bodomo 1996:38 states that "Animere (...) is said to be dying out (only 250 speakers now)". Bodomo's figure problably derives from an older edition of the Ethnologue also cited by Sommer 1992.)
^ Heine (1968) says that only members of Nkwantá and Kontrô clans of the Benimbere speak (some) Animere; cf. Sommer 1992:308

Bodomo, Adams B. (1996) 'On Language And Development In Africa: The Case of Ghana', Nordic Journal of African Studies, 5, 2, 31-51.
Heine, Bernd (1968) Die Verbreitung und Gliedering der Togorestsprachen (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik vol. 1). Köln: Druckerei Wienand.
Seidel, A., (1898) "Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Sprachen in Togo." Aufgrund der von Dr. Rudolf Plehn und anderen gesammelten Materialien bearbeitet. Zeitschrift für Afrikanischer und Oceanischer Sprachen.
Sommer, Gabriele (1992) 'A survey on language death in Africa', in Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.) Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 301–417.