Frafra language
Frafra | |
---|---|
Gurenɛ | |
Native to | Ghana, Burkina Faso |
Ethnicity | Frafra people |
Native speakers | 720,000[1] (2003)[2] |
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | gur |
Glottolog | fare1241 |
Frafra or Farefare, also known as Gurenɛ, is the language of the Frafra people of northern Ghana, particularly the Upper East Region, and southern Burkina Faso. It is a national language of Ghana, and is closely related to Dagbani and other languages of Northern Ghana, and also related to Mossi, also known as Mooré, the national language of Burkina Faso.
Frafra consists of three principal dialects, Gurenɛ (also written Gurunɛ, Gudenne, Gurenne, Gudeni, Zuadeni), Nankani (Naani, Nankanse, Ninkare), and Booni. Nabit and Talni have been mistakenly reported to be Frafra dialects.[3]
Orthography[]
The Frafra language uses the letters of the Latin alphabet with the exception of c, j, q, x, and with the addition of ɛ, ɔ, ɩ, ʋ, and ŋ. The tilde is used for showing nasalization in Burkina Faso, but in Ghana it's shown using the letter n.[4]
Acute, grave, circumflex, caron, and macron are sometimes used in grammar books to indicate tone, but not in general-purpose texts.[5] The apostrophe is used to indicate the glottal stop.[6]
Sound | Representation | Example | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
/a/ | a | ya /ja/ | houses |
/a:/ | aa | gaarɛ /ga:ɹɛ/ | a type of bean cake |
/ɛ/ | ɛ | ɛkɛ /ɛkɛ/ | to fly |
/e/ | e | zoore /zo:ɹe:/ | mountain/hill |
/ẽ/ | ẽ | tẽŋa | city |
/ɪ/ | ɩ | taablɩ /ta:blɪ/ | table (French borrowing) |
/i/ | i | piika /pi:ka/ | little |
/ɔ/ | ɔ | ɔɔrɔ /ɔ:ɹɔ/ | cold |
/o/ | o | toma toma /to:.ma.to:.ma/ | a greeting similar to "hi" |
/ʊ/ | ʋ | teebʋl /te:bʊl/ | table (English borrowing) |
/u/ | uu | buulika /bu:lika/ | morning |
Grammar[]
Words in Gurunɛ have different "classes" for noun endings:
Class | Singular | Plural | Example | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | -a | -ba | nɛra > nɛreba | Person > People |
2 | -ka | -gsɩ | bɛka > bɛgsɩ | part(s)/fraction(s) |
4 | -ko | -gero | boko > bogero[7] | hole(s) |
Used mainly for
loanwords from Twi, English, and other languages |
- | -dõma | ãnkɔra > ãnkɔrdõma | water barrel(s) [Twi] |
foto > fotodõma | photo(s) [most likely
French and English] | |||
taablɩ > taablɩdõma | table(s) [French] | |||
n/a | -grɛ | -ga | dɩgrɛ > dɩga | dwarf(s) |
-ɩa | -ɩɩsɩ | bɩa > bɩɩsɩ | child > children | |
-kɔ | -grɔ | dʋkɔ > dʋgrɔ | pot(s) | |
-õa | -õosɩ | kõa > kõosɩ | voice(s) | |
pɔgdɔgnõa >
pɔgdɔgnõosɩ[8] |
Cuckoo bird | |||
-lɛ | -la | ɩɩlɛ > ɩɩla[9] | horn(s) | |
ʋʋlɛ > ʋʋlɛ[10] | Uulea mushroom | |||
-nɛ[11] | -ma | gɩgnɛ > gɩgma | lion(s) | |
bẽmnɛ > bẽma | Bemnea calabash drum | |||
-(n)na | -nɩba | sɔ'ɔna > sɔ'ɔnɩba | owner(s) |
Greetings[]
Gurunɛ | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|
Bulika | /bulika/ | morning (Greeting in the morning) |
Wuntɛɛŋa | /ˈvʊntɛ:ŋa/ | sun (Greeting around noon) |
Zaanuurɛ | /za:jʋɻɛ/ | Evening (Greeting in the evening) |
Zaare | /za:r̝e/ | Welcome |
Tooma Tooma | /to:.ma.to:.ma/ | a greeting similar to "Hello" (every time of the day) |
Nambaa | /ˈnaːmba:/ | Response to these greetings |
Geography[]
English | Gurunɛ |
---|---|
Africa | Afrika |
America | Amerika |
Antarctica | Antarktika |
Asia | Asia |
Australia | Australia |
Europe | Europa |
Oceania | Okeania |
Solemitiŋa means "land of the white man" and is used to refer to all non-African countries.
Solemine is theoretically referring to all non-African languages, however it is only used to refer to English.
External links[]
- "Ninkare | SIL Burkina Faso". sil-burkina.org. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
Bibliography[]
- Niggli, Idda; Niggli, Urs (2007). De la phonologie à l’orthographe : Le ninkãrɛ au Burkina Faso. SIL.
- M.E. Kropp Dakubu, S. Awinkene Antintono, and E. Avea Nsoh, A Gurenɛ–English Dictionary and accompanying English–Gurenɛ Glossary
- Ninkare Frafra Dictionary
References[]
- ^ Excluding ?30,000 Nabit and ?100,000 Talni
- ^ Frafra at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ^ ISO change request
- ^ Niggli 2007, p. 85.
- ^ Niggli 2007, p. 84.
- ^ Niggli 2007, p. 94.
- ^ "Ninkare Frafra Dictionary » boko" (in French). Retrieved 2019-08-09.
- ^ "Ninkare Frafra Dictionary » pɔgdɔgnõa" (in French). Retrieved 2019-08-09.
- ^ "Ninkare Frafra Dictionary » ɩɩlɛ" (in French). Retrieved 2019-08-09.
- ^ "Ninkare Frafra Dictionary » ʋʋlɛ" (in French). Retrieved 2019-08-09.
- ^ "Ninkare Frafra Dictionary » Search Results » nɛ". Retrieved 2019-08-09.
Frafra language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator |
- Languages of Ghana
- Oti–Volta languages