Southern Dagaare language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Southern Dagaare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Upper West Region, Ghana | |
| Total speakers: | — | |
| Language family: | Niger-Congo Southern Dagaare |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | — | |
| ISO 639-3: | dga | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
The Dagaare language has been classified as a member of the Oti-Volta group of the Gur branch of the Niger-Congo language family.[1] Dagaare's immediate geographical neighbours are not its immediate genetic relatives, for most of the languages very much related to it like Moore, Gurenne (Frafra), and Dagbane are found in the Upper-East and Northern Regions. Accurate and up-to-date census figures are hardly readily available but the number of native speakers of Dagaare in both Ghana and Burkina Faso may be put at more than one million speakers. In terms of native speakers, Dagaare may be the fourth largest indigenous language of Ghana after Akan, Ewe, and Dagbane. It is a tonal language.
Dagaare has been the principal language of evangelisation in north-western Ghana since the advent of the missionaries in the colonial era. In present-day language policy, Dagaare occupies a considerably important position. It is one of the nine official literacy languages of Ghana. As a result the Bureau of Ghana languages publishes educational material in it. Dagaare is taught and offered for degree courses in the country's higher institutions such as the University of Ghana, Accra, and the University College of Winneba.
The language has approximately 1 million speakers.
- ^ Swadesh 1966, Bendor-Samuel 1971, Naden 1989
