Adangme language
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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 Left bank branch of the Kwa family, and it has a separate ISO 639-3 code of 'adq'.
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.There are six main dialects which co-incide with political divisions. The coastal dialects are Ada, Ningo and Prampram (Gbugbla). The inland dialects are Shai (Sɛ), Krobo (Klo) and Osudoku.
Phonology
Consonants
- /l/ has allophones [l] and [r]
- /j/ has an allophone [ʒ]
| Bilabial | Labio- dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar (Palato- alveolar) | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | Labial-velar | Labia- lized velar | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | kp | ɡb | ||||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋm | |||||||||||||
| Fricative | f | v | s | z | h | |||||||||||||
| Affricate | tʃ | dʒ | ||||||||||||||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||||||||||||||
| Lateral approximant | l | |||||||||||||||||
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:
- j - /dʒ/
- ng - /ŋ/
- ngm - /ŋm/
- ny - /ɲ/
- ts - /tʃ/
- y - /j/
- ɛ - /ɛ/
- ɔ - /ɔ/
References
External links
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