MODERN GHANA & THE COMPLETE LECTURE ON ALL THE LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN GHANA

We have learnt how most of the tribes came to be in Ghana. We have also studied some basic courtesy in some selected languages. In modern Ghana, all the tribes have learnt to stay united inorder to live in peace and in harmony. The capital city of Ghana is Accra and it was divided into ten regions, Upper-West Region, Upper-East Region, Norhern Region, Brong-Ahafo Region, Western Region, Eastern Region, Volta Region, Central Region, Ashanti Region and Greater-Accra Region.

There was a move to add 6 new regions to the already existing ten regions: Western-North Region, Oti-Region, Ahafo Region, Bono East Region, Savannah Region & North-East Region. This move was proposed under the Akufo-Addo government 2016-2020. The new regions are to facilitate administration so as to speed up development in the nation but some tribes felt otherwise as they opposed that it would bring about linguistic and tribal divisions.  A referendum was held on the 27^th of December, 2018 for the affected areas to decide and subsequently they all voted yes thus as, at the 29^th of December, 2018, Ghana had 16 regions as compared to the previous ten.

Well, you might have also observed that all the languages of Ghana relate each other in one way or the other. Some words basically cut across all the languages in the country whereas others are modified a little. Well, this is because all the languages in Ghana fall within a very giant family of languages spoken in West Africa called the Niger-Congo language group. The Niger-Congo languages have what we call subgroups. And among these sub-groups, we have the Kwa, Gbe, Voltaic, Nyo, Shilo, Bantu, and many more language groups but the Ghanaian languages fall only within the Kwa, Gbi and Voltaic language families.

The Kwa, Gbe and Voltaic language families are known for making the “kp, gb, ŋm” sounds and they are all related to one another. The above-mentioned sounds are very unique to West African languages. Languages like those in the Bantu family are similar to the Ghanaian languages but they lack the kp, gb, ŋm sounds. Well the kp, gb, ŋm are more of digraphs* rather than a pair of isolated sounds.

Once I travelled outside the country and I was with Setswana speakers. I initially had no idea they were Motswanas (people from Botswana) so as they were speaking, they made a sound to say “yes” which sounds exactly like Ghanaian and Togolese languages. So I quickly asked what language they were speaking and I was told Setswana. I told them the reason why I got attracted to them was the sound “ee” which was to mean “yes” in their language and it sounded exactly like in Dangme, Ewe, Hausa, Dagbanli etc.

So there was this lecturer among them who asked me concerning my native language and I said Ga. And I further explained it is part of the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages which she said so is their language. It is a Bantu language also from the Niger-Congo family of languages so it comes as no surprise to her that there are relations between Bantu languages and Ghanaian languages.

Bantu languages would include Swahili, Setswana, Lingala, Kongo, Zulu, Ndebele, Xhosa, Sotho, Swati e.t.c and they are all part of Niger-Congo, even though they may be in Central and Southern Africa.

To cite another example, Bantu languages would translate a human being into their language as “mo [pronounced Mɔ]” and in some Kwa languages in Nigeria, Benin and most especially Ga which is spoken in Ghana; a person is said as “gbɔmɔ or mɔ”. “Gbɔmɔ” would literally mean “gbɔ: carved or moulded” whereas “mɔ: person”.

Although these Bantu languages are all part of the Niger-Congo group of languages; they do not make these notable sounds that the West African languages are known for. Below is a picture illustrating the languages of Africa including the Niger-Congo language Family.

THE CATEGORIES OF LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN GHANA

1.    

      The Kwa linguistic or language group got their name from the fact that they are known for calling either humans or apes “Kua or Kwa.” Also another theory says they are the only group of people who use the “kw” sound a lot. Yet the view is held by some linguists that Kwa is as a result of the “kw” sound in most of the day names of the Kwa people. This could be observed in the example below.

 

	AKAN		GA		EWE
DAYS	MALE	FEMALE	MALE	FEMALE	MALE	FEMALE
Mon	Kwadjo	Adjoa	Kojo	Ajoa	Kojo	Ajoa
Tues	Kwabena	Abena	Kwabla	Abla	Kobla	Abla
Wed	Kwaku Abeiku	Akua	Kwaku Abeeku	Aku	Koku	Aku
Thurs	Yaw	Yaa	Kwao	Yaa	Yao	Yaa
Fri	Kofi	Afia	Kuofi	Afua	Kofi	Afi
Sat	Kwame	Ama	Kwami	Aba	Kuami	Ama
Sun	Kwesi	Esi	Kwashi	Koshi	Kosi	Esi

 

Well, in the case of the Kwa people referring to human beings as kua, it is basically not all of them but some selected languages. For instance, in Ga, a chimpanzee or Gorilla is referred to as Kũa. Similarly, in Dangme, twins are called “hawihi” and a mother is called “nyɛ or mami.” But then “a mother of twins” is translated to Dangme as “kuanyɛ.” Similarly, Ga “kwamaŋ” is a provocative word translated as “everybody” in place of the actual Ga word “mɔ fɛɛ mɔ.” So a Ga man when offended can use Kwamaŋ as an “insult” in place of “mɔ fɛɛ mɔ” meaning “everybody” to send a strong signal to a group of people.

Also in Anyin, a person or human is referred to as “fuã” whereas its sister languages use “sonla”. Now Anyin fuã does not sound like an f but a blend of k, p and f.

Also, the Kwa people say come in similar fashion, “ba.” The Akans although they say come as bra will not say “wabra” to mean “he has come” instead they say “w’aba.” This phenomenon is not only observed in the above mentioned languages rather like earlier stated, it cuts across a wider range of Kwa languages. Still in Anyin, come is “ba” and not “bela” as said in Nzema and in Ahanta.

So you may have observed that in Dangme, Gonja, Efutu, Nkonya, Likpe, Logba, Ntsumburun, Gidere, Nawuri and some other Ewe-Akan Guan languages, “come” is said as “ba” whereas in Sele it is said as “wa.”

 Among the Akuapem (Larteh, Kyripon, Gua) “come” is said as “bɛ.” In Buem, it is said as “bo” and in the Nzma, Ahanta, Sefwi, Bawule, Chakosi, Anyin and other Akan-Guan dialects, “come” is likewise said as “bela.”

As well, the Kwa people have a common “n” sound when saying “water.” In Ga and Dangme, it is “nu” and “nyu” respectively. In Akan, they say “nsu” or “nsuo.” In Guan, it varies. It is either “ndu,” “ntu,” “ntsu,” “nzule” e.t.c

2.     The Gbe people are those I observed to generally refer to a language as gbe or ɛgbɛ (since I could not get any reason why they are called so). They are mostly found in Togo, Benin and in Ghana. That may not be the absolute criteria for classification but then they speak a dialect continuum* of similarly related languages. So if a line is drawn from the Volta Region through to Nigeria, the language will appear the same but then as you move from one community to the other, the languages keep varying from each other until you get to Nigeria.

 

I may not say specifically for the Edo language spoken primarily in Nigeria. It has a whole lot of sounds similar to the Gbe languages and even it also uses the “v” sound for saying come just like it is for Ewe in Ghana. Edo in Nigeria is an interesting language for my study even to the extent that aside come “vai” in Edo, there are so many similarities it bears with Ghanaian languages.

It also bares some similarities with Dangme and a typical example would be “Aze” in Dangme which means “witch” and it is then again said as “Azɛ” in Edo (Beni).

Fon another Gbe language is spoken primarily in the Republic of Benin. It is the next most spoken Gbe language after Ewe. Fon looks much like Ewe hence a speaker of the Ewe language will have less trouble learning Fon unlike speakers of other languages under the Niger-Congo family. Other languages found in the Gbe family of languages include Gungbe, Guingbe, phla-Phera, Aja e.t.c

 

3.     For the Voltaic language sub-family also known as the Gur languages; they extend to as far as Burkina Faso. These people as I have observed speak similarly related languages. They all have a common way of saying “woman” that is “Paha” but there may be variations in the way they call a man although majority would either say “doo” or “dau” or in similar fashion. In Bimoba, it is “joa.”

 

They also have the Niger-Congo “kp, gb and ŋ, ŋm” sound which tells of their possible origin. They also have a similar way of calling water “kuɔ” or in similar fashion. In Ghana, they occupy mainly the Northern parts but there are a few of them like the Ntrubo, Mo, Kotokoli are found in parts of Southern Ghana.

 

In Burkina Faso, Gur languages are the most spoken throughout the country. The Gur languages that are spoken in Burkina Faso are closely related to those spoken in Ghana. Gur languages are also spoken in parts of the Republic of Togo, Republic of Benin, La Côte D’Ivoire, parts of Nigeria and some other West African countries. They include the people of Mossi, Lobi, Mampruga, Dagomba, Nanumba, Dega (Mo), Kokomba, Dagaaba, Sissaala, Bimoba, Frafra (Nabdam, Nankani, Talensi, Gurunsi), Kusasi, Builsa, Busanga, Kamara, Hanga, Safalba, Mori, Kotokoli, Ntrubo, Loso-Kabre, Wagara and many more others.

 

The Voltaic languages are linguistically broken into the Koromfe languages, Gur languages (Mole-Dagbon, Gurma and Gurunsi languages), Bwamu, Kirma-Lobi, Dogose-Khe and Dogose-Gan languages.

 

In Ghana, Kasem spoken by the Kasina people is a language isolate. A language isolate in the sense that it is not related to any known language in Ghana hence, it is very difficult to learn. Kasem is considered as a Gur language because of its present location and their ability to create the Nankani language.

In short, West Africa is home to groups of inter-related languages. The people are trying their best to hold on to their rich history but little is being done to help. Niger-Congo have the most languages spoken in Africa and perhaps the world; the individual languages number more than a thousand and five hundred (1500) which represents the highest in Africa. Yet, most of them are going extinct. So it would be necessary for efforts to be put out to save most of these languages from dying.

We are now going to take a look at most of the languages spoken in Ghana and how they relate each other. We may not consider every word but we shall look at it using these principal words: come, go, eat and water. We will use these basic words to analyse the kind of languages we speak.

 

	COME	GO	EAT	WATER
Ga	Ba	Yaa	Ye/ye nii	Nu
Dangme	Ba	Ho	Ye/ye ni	Nyu
Nzema	Bela	kɔ	Di	Nzule
Sefwi	Bra	hɔ	dzi/dzidzi	Nzue
Chakosi	Bra	Kɔ	Di	Nzue
Anyin	Ba	Kɔ	Di	Nzue
Twi	Bra	kɔ	di/didi	Nsuo
Fante	Bra	kɔ	zi/zizi	Nsu
Efutu	Bà	wɔ	di/di atɔ	Nsu
Awutu	Ba	Yɔ	Di akrobi	Ntsu
Nkonya	Ba	Nate	Gyi/Gyi atɔ	Ntsu
Kyripon	bɛ	Nye	Gyi/ji teyi	Ntsu
Larteh	bɛ	nyɛ	Gyi/Gyi teyi	Ntsu
Gonja	Ba	yɔ	Gyi/Gyi ajibi	Ntsu
Kuafasa	Ba	Jwo	Zi	Nzu
Logba	Ba	Zɔ	Kpɛ	Nyu
Siwu-Akpafu	Ba	klɛ	De	Ndu
Sekpele	Ba	du/su	di/di lesa	Ntu
Avatime	Ba	Sɛ	Ŋa	Kodaa
Nyagbo-Tutrugbu	Ba	Shɛ	Ŋa	Buli
Buem	Bo	trɔ	Di	Ntu
Sele	Wa	tɔtse	Lie/lie lesa	Ntu
Gurune	Wa	Wana	Di	Koo
Dagaare	Wa	Chen	Di	Kuɔ
Talensi	Chemina	Chema	Di	Kuɔ
Mampruli	Chamina	Chama	Ndi	Koho
Dagbanli	Kamina	Chama	Di	kɔm
Kasem/Grushi	Baa	Ve	Di	Na
Hausa	Zo	Tee	Ji	Ruwa
Birifor	Wa	Chin	Dzi	Kũɔ
Kusaal	Kema	Kem	Di	Kuo
Bisa(Barke)	Iyeba	Ta	De	Hi
Bisa (Lera)	Bru	Ta	De	Hi
Gikyode	Ba	Kpa	Gyi	Ntsu
Nawuri	Ba	Kpa/yɔ	Gyi	Ntsu
Ntsumburun	Ba	yɔ/Nare	Gyi	Ntsu