Names
The general and accepted name for the language is Farefare or Frafra. The names Gurene, Gurenne and Gurune are unaccepted by native speakers.Orthography
The Frafra language uses the letters of the Latin alphabet except for c, j, q, x, and with the addition of ɛ, ɩ, ŋ, ɔ, and ʋ. The tilde is used for showing nasalization in Burkina Faso, but in Ghana it is shown using the letter n. The two nasal vowels /ɛ̃/ and /ɔ̃/ are spelt with ẽ and õ respectively. All long nasal vowels only get their tilde written on the first letter.Phonology
Consonants
Frafra has a system of 17 phonemes, 19 counting the allophones /ɣ/ and /ɾ/. The sound /ŋ/ appears in front of some words starting with /w/, leading them to change into the /j/ sound. /h/ only appears in loanwords, exclamations, and as an allophone of /f/. An example of both of these sound changes are ''weefo'' and ''yeho'' (both meaning ''"horse"''). The only consonants Frafra words may end in are the two nasals /m/ and /n/.Glottal stop
Glottal stops appear at the initial vowel of a word, but are not transcribed. Word-medially, vowel nasalization continues over the glottal stop. In rapid speech, the glottal stop is usually dropped, similar to how vowel hiatus gets dropped in Spanish. Word medial glottal stops must be marked in writing.Allophones
= Allophones of /r/
= and are two phonetic realizations of the same phoneme. occurs at the beginning of words, and is its counterpart everywhere else.= Allophones of /g/
= is an allophone of /g/ that occurs after certain vowels. It is mostly written "g." Usage of the letter "ɣ" is quite rare.= Allophones of /j/
= is an allophone of /j/ that occurs before a nasal vowel. It is always written as "y."Sandhi
This section will describe all the morpho-phonological= Nasals
= Nasal consonants undergo assimilation, coalescence, and elision.Assimilation at Point of Articulation Nasals assimilate to the point of articulation of the occlusive the proceed. * /m/ goes before /p/ and /b/ * /n/ goes before /t/ and /d/ * /ŋ/ goes before /k/
Coalescence When a nasal is followed by /g/, the two consonants amalgamate. * /n/ + /g/ = /ŋ/ This rule does not apply to compound words (e.g. ''tẽŋgãnnɛ "sacred land"'') or loanwards (e.g. ''maŋgo'' "mango")
Elision Nasals disappear when they go before /f/ * /m/ + /f/ = /f/ * /n/ + /f/ = /f/
= Stops
= Two voiced stops become their unvoiced foNorthernrm. Remember that is the word-medial allophone of /d/ * /g/ + /g/ = /k/ * /r/ + /r/ = /t/Sonorants
= Vibrant assimilation
= Vibrant consonants, also called taps, assimilate to a preceding lateral or nasal. * /l/ + /r/ = /ll/ * /n/ + /r/ = /nn/ * /m/ + /r/ = either /nn/ or /mn/= Lateral assimilation
= * /n/ + /l/ = /nn/ * /m/ + /l/ = /nn/= Combination of these processes
= C designates any consonant, and N designates any nasal. * Cm + r = Cn * Cl + r = ClVowels
Frafra has 9 oral vowels and 5 nasal vowels. All Frafra vowels have a long form.Vowel harmony
Like many Mande languages, Frafra features= Where all vowels must be in harmony
= In disyllabic words, both vowels are always in harmony. The same applies in= Mid vowels
= The lax vowel -a in noun and verb endings will change the tense vowels /e/ and /o/ to lax vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/.= Close vowels
= When a suffix's vowel is close, and stem's vowel is close and tense, it causes the suffix's vowel to become tense. For example, the locativeGrammar
Tone
Gurenɛ marks a high and a low tone. Changes in tone have an impact on either the lexical or grammatical function of a particular word.Lexical Function
With low tones the word becomes a verb, whereas with high tones it is a noun.Grammatical Function
The low tone on the preverbal tense marker ''wà'' indicates future, while the high tone on the same element indicates aspect.Noun Classes
Nouns in Gurunɛ have different "classes" with regard to plurals:Personal Pronouns
Emphatic Pronouns
Only emphatic pronouns can appear in focus positions, whereas all other pronouns cannot appear in those positions. Emphatic pronouns are used in exclusive contexts, in which the speaker indicates that only one thing is true and not the other.Reciprocal Pronoun
The reciprocal pronoun is ''taaba'' and occurs postverbally.Reflexive Pronouns
To form a reflexive pronoun in Gurenɛ the morphem ''-miŋa'' for singular or ''-misi'' for plural is attached to a particular personal pronoun. While in other Gur languages, the reflexive morphem is not sensitive to number, in Gurenɛ there exist two forms, one for each number.Relative Pronouns
There are two relative pronouns, ''ti'' and ''n''. The former relativizes subjects, while the latter is used to relativize objects. Both pronouns are not sensitive to number or animacy, while this is the case in other Gur languages such as Dagbani for instance.Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns can either occur sentence-initially or sentence-finally.Demonstrative Pronouns
Each demonstrative pronoun refers to a single noun class.Syntax
Word Order
The word order in Gurenɛ is strictly SVO.Verb Phrase
The verb phrase (VP) consists of pre- and postverbal particles surrounding the verb. Preverbal particles encodeParticles
There are a lot of particles in Gurenɛ, such that the total number is not fully clear. The following table provides an overview of the most common particles.Verb
The verb in Gurenɛ consists of an obligatory stem orQuestion Formation
There are several ways of forming a question in Gurenɛ, but importantly the strict word order SVO is always to obey.Ex situ
In subject questions the question word occurs as the first element of the clause and can either function as the subject or as the agent of the clause.In situ
In general, questions are formed by raising intonation of the final tone. Questions without an explicit question word have a clause-final question marker ''-ì''.Embedded
Questions can be embedded and are then preceded by theMultiple Questions
Question can also be formed by more than one question word. In these cases one question word occurs ex situ and the other(s) in situ. Again, a question word can only appear ex situ, if it replaces the subject orLong distance extraction
Question words in Gurenɛ can also cross clause boundaries, such that they originated in the embedded clause and have been fronted to the clause-initial position.Greetings
Geography
''Solemitẽŋa'' means "land of the white man" and is used to refer to all non-African countries. ''Soleminɛ'' is theoretically referring to all non-African languages, however it is only used to refer toBibliography
*Atintono, Samuel (2011). ''Verb Morphology: Phrase structure in a Gur Language (Gurenɛ).'' Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing. *Bodomo, Adams, Hasiyatu Abubakari & Samuel Alhassan Issah (2020). ''Handbook of the Mabia Languages of West Africa''. Glienicke: Galda Verlag *Kropp-Dakubu,M.E., S. Awinkene Antintono, and E. Avea Nsoh, ''A Gurenɛ–English Dictionary and accompanying English–Gurenɛ Glossary'' *Kropp-Dakubu, M.E. (2009). ''Parlons farefari (gurenè): langue et culture de Bolgatanga (Ghana) et ses environs''. Paris: L`Harmattan *Notes
External links
*References
{{Authority control Languages of Ghana Oti–Volta languages Articles citing ISO change requests