LEARN ABOUT THE VARIOUS ETHNIC GROUPS IN GHANA

 Ghana has 16 administrative regions with each region having its corresponding administrative or regional capital. The regional capital is the trade and commercial hub of the region. A region comprises of different tribes who may not be of the same ethnic group. The intention of presenting Ghana well to the foreigner who may have no idea of present day Ghana is the main reason for this introduction. Different ethnic groups may exist in one region and below is a clearer illustration of the regions:

Ghana got its name probably from the name of the Old Ghana Empire in Mali. Ghana came under the control of several European countries spanning from the year 1400AD till about 1957. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah won and declared independence for Ghana on the 6^th of March 1957 from the British who had a much greater influence in Ghana till date as compared to the other Europeans who arrived on the shores of the Gold Coast. Gold Coast was later declared as Ghana.

The official language of Ghana is the British-English although French may exist as a co-official language due to her neighbouring countries bordering her that have French as their official languages.

Ghana has its native languages which are used for day to day activities whereas the official languages are only used for official or administrative purposes. So on the issue of the native languages is what brings about the ethnic groups of Ghana.

 Most of the ethnic groups in Ghana were not originally from Ghana. They migrated from different places to their present settlements in Ghana. During these migrations*, they adopted new forms of culture, learnt and borrowed new words from neighbouring languages into their various dialects* which further enriched the vocabularies of the various dialects and obviously developing them into complex languages. This has been one of the main contributions to the cultural and linguistic diversity in Ghana for the reason which we may belong to the same ethnic group yet we speak different languages likewise dialects. We will now have a look at how the whole migration of the various ethnic groups took place and how they got to their present settlements in Ghana.

Migration is the movement of a group of people from one geographical location to the other. Indeed, after the various migrations, it is good to note that several different tribes and clans with similar root and ancestry came together to form ethnic groups which may have similar beliefs, languages and even culture. Therefore, we could come to an agreement that an ethnic group is a group of people who share similar beliefs and culture and speak different dialects of a particular or a main language. Also, an ethnic group consist of tribes and in Ghana. There are about sixty-nine (69) different tribes coming to form the various ethnic groups in Ghana. Each tribe has its unique language as well as clans. An ethnic group is characterised by different languages of the same possible origin.

There are seven to nine ethnic groups in Ghana depending on how you wish to see them and they are the Ga-Dangmes, Akans, Ewes, Gurs, Guans, Senufo and the Ghana-Togo Mountain group. The Gurs can be further split into Mole-Dagbon, Gurma and Gurunsi.  We could also refer to these ethnic groups as language groups and below is a brief introduction of the seven language groups in Ghana.

·       The Ga-Dangme constitutes two main tribes of several clans. The Ga speaking tribe and the Dangme speaking tribe. They are found in the south-eastern part of Ghana close to the Gulf of Guinea. They include the people of Ga [pronounced gã]. The Ga include the people of Nungua, Teshie, La, Osu, Ga-Mashie, Tema, Ablekuma, Ngleshie-Amanfro, Odorkor, Nsakina, Amasaman and others; the Dangme people also include the Krobo [pronounced krɔbɔ], Ada, Ningo [Niŋo or Nugo], Prampram, Dawenya, Sege, Osudoku, Shai, Akuse, Kpong, Dodowa etc.)

 

·       The Akans are one of the major ethnic groups in Ghana. There are nine clans within the Akan ethnic group that are scattered across the various Akan tribes. They are related to the Guans who are not in such clans. The Akans speak with the vowel-toned accent*. The Akans mainly speak the Twi. Some Guans were thought as Akans especially those at the south and they even see themselves as Akans till date.  It was not until sometime later, when language enthusiasts began learning Guan and Akan languages that the divisions were established.

 

The Akans include the Twi speaking people of Agona, Akyem, Bono, Tepa, Worawora, Wassa, Ahafo, Kwahu (Eastern & Oti Region), Akuapem, Asante, Denkyira, Akwamu, and the Gomoa. The Fantes are also Akans who speak the Fante language. Well, the people of Sefwi are originally Akans but the situation is rather complicated in present days and we shall talk about them in further chapters. The Akans form about half of the Ghanaian population.

 

·       The Ewes comprise of several dialectic tribes speaking similar languages. Some group of people although not Ewes in terms of origin do call themselves Ewes. The Ewes are found in Ghana and in Togo. In Ghana, the Volta Region is their main territory. The Ewes include the people of Anlo, Wedome, Kpogame, Kpando, Peki, Bator, Toŋu, Asigame etc. There are some few dialectic tribes called the Ghana-Togo Mountain group who also see themselves as Ewes. They are gradually foregoing their various dialects in favour of Ewe. They are the Logba, Avatime, Nyagbo, Tafi, Santrokofi and Akpafu.

 

·       The Gurs are mainly found in the northern part of Ghana but then there are Gurs in the Oti-Region and possibly the Bono-East Region which would be the Mo or Dega people and the Kokomba people. They migrated from several different places to Ghana. There are three ethnic divisions under the Gur, Gurma, Mole-Dagbon and the Gurunsi.

 

They include the Dagaabas, Dagombas, Nanumbas, Mamprusis, Gurunes, Deg/Mo, Kasina, Kotokoli, Kokomba, Bimoba, Safalba, Vagla, Gurune, Nabdam, Talensi, Kusasi, Mossi, Ntrubo, Hanga, Kamara, Tampulma, Chala, Loso, Basari and many others.

 

·       The next group of people is Guan. They were one of the early settlers in Ghana. They are related to the Akans and most of the Guans speak with the vowel toned accent. Then also, there are other Guan languages that uses the direct plane* in speaking. Guans are viewed as effeminate-Akans whereas the Akans are viewed as masculine.

 

The Ga people lived with most of the Guans at Ayawaso stretching over to Nyanoase in the present day Eastern Region. They were in three distinct clans Shuoyi, Ndenye and Le. Their name was originally Guã but it is presently spelt as “Guan.” As our old colonial masters tried to study and classify the Ghanaian languages, they used the English alphabets to spell most of our languages. Guans include the people of Nkonya, Buem (lelemi), Krachi, Nawuri, Likpe (Sekpele), Nzema, Ahanta, Anyin, Pepenza, Ntsumburun, Gonja, Atsode, Anyanga, Alijo, Foodo-Semere, Efutu etc.

The Nzema, Ahanta, Anyin etc. are brought under the Guans for reasons elaborated further below in the topic: The various ethnic groups in Ghana.

 

·       The next group would be the Senufo ethnic group. Senufo is a branch of the Mande group of languages principally from Senegal. These Senufo languages are natively spoken in the Ivory Coast but then a few of those languages are spoken in Ghana in the Bono and Ahafo regions to be precise. The Senufo who are in Ghana are Bilingual Senufo and Akan speakers. Their languages are closely related to each other. They include the languages of Badu known as Kulango, Nafaanra spoken by the Nafaana and Ligbi spoken by the Ndwera (Banda) people.

Bisa which is spoken at Bawku is a Mande language with a whole lot of Gur vocabulary here and there. The Bisas are popularly known as Busanga. But then for the fact that Bisa is Mande does not necessarily mean the Bisas are Senufo.

 

·       Ghana-Togo Mountain Group: The GTM Languages are spoken in the Volta and Oti Region of Ghana crossing over into Togo. They trace their lineages from different parts of Africa but then with time, they have borrowed words from each other making them unique. Some of this group of people in the Volta Region have inclination to Ewe culture whereas a few in the Oti Region are inclined to Guan culture and customs thus; those in the Oti Region view themselves as Guans.

 

Then also, there are two Guan languages which relate these GTM languages a lot. They have lived among each other for centuries and they are somewhat inclined to the GTM cultures. The GTM group include the people of Nyagbo, Tafi, Avatime, Logba, Santrokofi (Sanko), Akpafu-Lolobi, Akposso, Bowire and Adele.

 

The two Guan tribes that are closely related to the GTM languages are the Likpe and the Buems. Likpe and Buem languages although originally Guan have with time inclined themselves to speak like the GTM groups but still keep remnants of Guan in their languages. Also, there is Nkonya which is also Guan. It is somewhat related to the GTM languages but then, Nkonya preserves its routes as it is originally a member of the Shuoyi clan unlike Buem and Likpe who belong to the Le clan.

 

With much said we will go on to establish that the ethnic groups of Ghana or better still the language families of Ghana are

ü  Ga-Dangme

ü  Akan

ü  Gurma

ü  Gurunsi               Gur

ü  Mole-Dagbon

ü  Ewe

ü  Guan  

ü  Senufo

ü  Ghana-Togo Mountain (GTM)

 

However, there are some few tribes in Ghana which may be intermediaries of two ethnic groups or have none at all. Ethnic group refers to a group of people seeing themselves as one with common culture and traditions. The reason why these tribes may not have language families is because their languages do not relate any language in Ghana or they may be of one ethnic group originally and subsequently switched from speaking their original language in favour of the other. They may include the

-        The Sefwis: - the Sefwi are pure Akans who for reasons of betrayal switched from speaking Twi to Anyin and gradually developed their own version of the Anyin language called Sefwi. Anyins are originally Guans hence the Sefwi language is a mix of Akan and Guan languages thus, their ethnicity is a bit difficult to establish. The Sefwi language itself is a mixture of Twi and Anyin so it is very difficult to establish their ethnicity.

 

-        The Adele: - the Adele originally Bedere also spoke a unique language which was not related to any language in Ghana or in Togo until years after they had settled in Ghana that they began borrowing words from Ghanaian languages most especially the Northern-Guan languages of Gikyode, Nawuri, Krachi and Ntsumburun. So they also speak a partially Guan language which makes it very difficult to establish their ethnicity. Furthermore, some of the Adeles see themselves as Guans whereas others do not see themselves as Guans.

 

-        The Akposso & Bowire: - The people of Akposso also speak a very unique language with borrowings from the Oti Regional languages. This has made their language a partially-isolated language. A partially-isolated language is a language which seems not to relate any language in its vicinity with respect to linguistic features but then, it shares common vocabularies or words with those same languages in its vicinity.

 

They have inclination to the Guans but then the language is nothing like the Guan languages. It is classified as a GTM language together with Akpafu-Lolobi, Santrokofi, Logba, Nyagbo-Tafi, Avatime and Bowire. The people of Akposso speak the Ikposso language. Ikposso shares linguistic relations with Bowire and Buem.

 

The people of Bowire are also an amalgamation of two tribes, the Akans of Asebu originally from the Central Region and the Native Kpokpase-Ofo people. With time, they have blended languages into the unique Tora or Tuwuli language also called Bowire. Bowire and Ikposso are distantly related to the GTM languages making Bowire and Ikposso one of the most difficult languages to learn in Ghana aside Santrokofi-Sele, Kasem, Ewe and the Senufo languages. Bowire and Ikposso are closely related languages.

 

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