Adangme language

Adangme
Spoken in South-eastern Ghana, east of Accra
Ethnicity Ga
Native speakers 800,000  (2004)
Language family
Writing system Latin (Adangme alphabet)
Official status
Official language in Ghana
Regulated by No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-2 ada
ISO 639-3 ada
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Adangme (also called Dangme), is a Kwa language spoken in south-eastern Ghana by 800,000 people. Some sources list Adangbe as another name for the same language whereas Ethnologue lists it as a different language in the Kwa family, and it has a separate ISO 639-3 code of 'adq'.

Contents

Classification

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

Geographic distribution

Adangme is spoken in Ghana by 800,000 people.

It is the aboriginal language spoken in Ghana by the people of Ada, Osudoku, Manya Krobo, Yilo Krobo, Shai, Ningo, Prampram and Kpone. It is true to say that at Kpone, though a Dangme town, the people speak Ga more than their indigenous language. However, this enigma brought about by their close association with the Gas is being solved gradually with the introduction of Adangme as a school subject in the Dangme areas. The land of these different tribes streched from the coast northward to the Akwapim hills and has all the Dangmeland on the east and the Ga villages to the west of it. Bawaleshi, which is about 4.8 kilometers southwest of Dodowa, is the last Dangme town which is close to the Akwapim and the Ga boundaries. There are six main dialects which coincide with political divisions. The coastal dialects are Ada, Ningo and Prampram (Gbugbla). The inland dialects are Shai (Sɛ), Krobo (Klo) and Osudoku.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes
  Bilabial Labio-
dental		 Alveolar Postalveolar
/ palatal		 Velar Labial-velar Glottal
Plosives &
affricates		 p b     t d tʃ dʒ k ɡ kp ɡb  
Nasals   m       n   ɲ   ŋ   ŋm  
Fricatives     f v s z              
Approximants           l   j       w  

Vowels

Adangme has 7 oral vowels and 5 nasal vowels.

Monophthongs Front Central Back
Close i   u
Close-mid e   o
Open-mid ɛ   ɔ
Open   a  
Monophthongs Front Central Back
Close ĩ   ũ
Close-mid      
Open-mid ɛ̃   ɔ̃
Open   ã  

Tones

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

Phonotactics

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

Writing system

Adangme is written with a form of the Latin alphabet. Tones and nasalisation are not normally written.

Orthographic and phonemic correspondences include the following:

References

External links