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Information About

Adangme Language




  speakers 800,000 (SIL 2004)
  region South-eastern Ghana , east of Accra
  familycolor Niger-Congo
  fam2 Atlantic-Congo
  fam3 Volta-Congo
  fam4 Kwa
  fam5 Nyo
  fam6 Ga-Dangme
  script Latin Alphabet (Adangme variant)
  nation Ghana
  iso2 ada
  iso3 ada


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 (S), Krobo (Klo) and Osudoku.


PHONOLOGY


Consonants

  • has allophones and

  • has an allophone




Vowels

Adangme has 7 oral vowels and 5 nasal vowels.


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 .


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 -

  • ng -

  • ngm -

  • ny -

  • ts -

  • y -

  • -

  • -



REFERENCES



EXTERNAL LINKS