Adangme language

Adangme
Spoken in	South-eastern Ghana, east of Accra
Ethnicity	Ga
Native speakers	800,000  (2004)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Kwa Ga–Dangme Adangme
Writing system	Latin (Adangme alphabet)
Official status
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'.

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

• /l/ has allophones [l] and [r]
• /j/ has an allophone [ʒ]

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:

• j - /dʒ/
• ng - /ŋ/
• ngm - /ŋm/
• ny - /ɲ/
• ts - /tʃ/
• y - /j/
• ɛ - /ɛ/
• ɔ - /ɔ/

References

• M. E. Kropp Dakubu, ed (1977). West African Language Data Sheets Vol 1. West African Linguistic Society. 
• M. E. Kropp Dakubu, ed (1988). The Languages of Ghana. London: Kegan Paul International for the International African Institute. ISBN 0-7103-0210-X. 
• Language Guide. Accra: Bureau of Ghana Languages 4th Edition. 1977. 

External links

• Ethnologue entry
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Dangme
• Lessons in Wikiversity