The Aja language is a Gbe language spoken by the

Aja people Aja or AJA may refer to: Acronyms *AJ Auxerre, a French football club *Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport's IATA airport code *Al Jazeera America, an American news channel *American Jewish Archives *''American Journal of Archaeology'' *, a Germa ...

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

. In Gabon, they are mostly migrants. it is closely related to other

Gbe languages The Gbe languages (pronounced ) form a cluster of about twenty related languages stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria. The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and eight million. The most widel ...

such as Ewe, Mina, Fon, and Phla Phera.

Phonology

Consonants

* Voiced consonants /, , / are heard as nasal sonorant sounds , when followed by a nasal vowel. * // is heard as a rhotic trill [] when after alveolar, retroflex or post-alveolar consonants. * Sounds // and // are heard as post-alveolar [], [] when preceding //. * Approximant sounds /, / may also be nasalized as [, ] when preceding or following nasal vowels. * Some linguists have also attested the nasal sound [], and labialized uvular sounds, [] and [], as separate phonemes.

Vowels

* // when before // is heard as a labio-palatal []. It is then nasalized as [] when in nasal position.

Comparison

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Aja

Ewe

English

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

References

Gbe languages Languages of Benin Languages of Togo {{VoltaNiger-lang-stub