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THE GUR LANGUAGES OF NORTHERN GHANA

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                                                                                                                (At the Tamale-Gurugu fire festival) The Gurs migrated from several places. They are found within the Northern parts of Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. In Burkina Faso, they form the majority of the people. The Mossi language is the most widely spoken Gur language in Burkina Faso. They speak different but related languages. Their languages extend as far as into all the neighbouring countries bordering Ghana. Most of their languages are not well known and called small languages because they are spoken in very small towns with very few populations including Kamara, Vagla, Safalba...

NOUNS IN THE GA LANGUAGE (GBƐIWIEMƆI YƐ GA MLI )

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NOUNS IN THE GA LANGUAGE (GB ƐIWIEMƆI YƐ GA MLI  ) In Latin, "noun" simply means "a name." They refer to names of people, animals, places or things. They can be concrete or abstract. These things can be anything from living creatures and places to actions, qualities, states of existence, and even ideas. So, whether you're talking about the Independence Arc, the Bank of Ghana building or the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, then you're talking about nouns. Think of nouns as language name tags—they label and identify stuff.  In the Ga language, we have groupings of nouns. A noun is called Gbɛiwiemɔ in the Ga language. There are several types of them and we look at the types in the article below  Kwamaŋgbɛi (Common Nouns) : These are everyday words that we use or things we see. They refer to general things, like “dog - gbei,” “city- maŋ” "spoon-awale," "okpɔlɔ- table" or “book - wolo.” Kɔsuaŋgbɛi (Proper Nouns) : These are more specific and refer to...

UNDERSTANDING VERBS IN THE GA LANGUAGE

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In every language, verbs are very crucial for making good sentences. There is no language which has no usage of verbs in its grammar. The same applies to the Ga language. In the Ga language, we have two types of verbs. Those are the verbs with the "mɔ suffixes" and likewise those without the "mɔ suffixes." That aside, we have verbs that are very simple in nature and those that are complex. The complexity of verbs in the Ghana language is just like it is in German. Let us take German for example we have the separable affixes, which are inflected in sentence formations example   ich kaufe Brot ein . The verb is einkaufen  but in the sentence formartion,  "kaufe"  came before  "ein." The same applies to the Dutch language. For example  I am going out of the home ,  which translates as   Ik ga het huis uit .   The verb is  uitgaan  which has been inflected in the sentence formation. This same grammatical rule also ap...

NAWURI KEWU KIBA/GEWU GIBA ANNUAL HOMECOMING FESTIVAL

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The Nawuris are Guan people found within the northern parts of the Oti Region and the southern parts of the Northern Region. They speak a Guan language called Ginawuri/Kinawuri based on the Nawuri dialect being spoken. Some dialects use the K-prefix to denote singular nouns whiles others use the G-prefix. The Nawuris have their annual Gewu Giba festival/Kewu kiba festival usually in the later parts of December. It is a colourful festival graced with tradition and culture. Gewu Giba translates literally as "Home coming" and it's designed to welcome Nawuris far and wide, whether in the diaspora or in the country back home to the Nawuri land. How did the Gewu Giba/Kewu kiba festival came to be? The festival came to be as a result of the Nawuri Professionals Association, an association formed to be bring togetherness among Nawuri youths and its working force. The association realised that the annual Kigyogyi festival (Yam festival) held in August was not favourable to mos...

THE PEOPLE OF AKPOSSO & AKPOSSOKUBI

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THE AKPOSO OR AKPOSOKUBI (With the chief of Akpossokubi and his Otsiame ) The people of Akposo speak Ikposo . They were the first inhabitants of the Oti Region as it is believed.  Their original name is the Ayade people. Ayade means “children of God.” They migrated from Ancient Abyssimia presently Addis-Ababa through Sudan, Ile-Ife to the then Togoland and with time, they got to their present settlement in Ghana. During their migration, they rode camels till they got to their present settlement. They passed by the Ewes to Ghana thus, the Ewes called them those who ride the camels “Akpɔ ɔsɔ” which gradually came to replace their original name Ayade after the Ewes got to Ghana. The Ewes continued to refer to them as Anyigbatowo meaning “the owners of the land” as they are believed to be the first inhabitants of the Oti and Volta Areas. Akposso history continues that the Guans and the other tribes came to meet them. Furthermore, a Buem hunter called Ojamante from Buem-Guaman went for ...