Dagaare language
| Dagaare | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Ghana, Burkina Faso |
| Ethnicity | Dagaaba people |
Native speakers | 1.1 million (2001–2003)[1] |
| Latin (Dagaare alphabet) Dagaare Braille | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:dga – Southern Dagaaredgd – Dagaari Diouladgi – Northern Dagara |
| Glottolog | sout2789 Central Dagaaredaga1272 Dagaari Dioulanort2780 Northern Dagara |
 Majority areas of Northern Dagara speakers, in red, on a map of Burkina Faso. | |
Dagaare is the maternal language of the Dagaaba people in Ghana and Burkina Faso. It has been described as a dialect continuum that also includes Waale and Birifor.
Ethnologue divides Dagaare into three languages:
- Southern/Central Dagaare language, which is spoken mainly in Ghana
- Northern Dagara language, which is spoken mainly in Burkina Faso
- Dagaari Dioula, which is spoken mainly in Burkina Faso, and has significant influence from the genetically unrelated Dioula language
Phonology
The consonant and vowel sounds in the Dagaare languages:[2]
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Labio- velar |
Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | t͡ɕ | k͡p | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʑ | ɡ͡b | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | |||
| voiced | v | z | |||||
| implosive | ʼh | ||||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɲ | ŋ͡m | ŋ | |
| implosive | ʼm | ||||||
| Lateral | plain | l | |||||
| implosive | ʼl | ||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||
Allophones of /d, ɡ/ include [r, ɣ~ɡ̆].[3][4]
References
- ^ Southern Dagaare at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Dagaari Dioula at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Northern Dagara at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Ali M, Grimm S, Ali M (2021). A dictionary and grammatical sketch of Dagaare (pdf). Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.5281/zenodo.5154710. ISBN 978-3-98554-002-0.
- ^ Bodomo, Adams (1997). The Structure of Dagaare. Stanford University.
- ^ Akinbo, Samuel, Alexander Angsongna, Avery Ozburn, Murray Schellenberg & Pulleyblank, Douglas (2018). "Velar Tap in Dàgáárè". Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 49). University of Michigan.
External links
- Alphabet and pronunciation at Omniglot
- Bodomo, Adams, "The Dagaare language and its speakers: Introduction"
- PanAfriL10n page on Dagaare
- Bibliography of Dagaare Studies
- Journal of Dagaare Studies
- Database of audio recordings in Dagara - basic Catholic prayers
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