Gun () is a language in the
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 ...
group. It is spoken by the
Ogu people
The Gun people, also rendered Ogũ, Ogun and Egun, are an ethnic group located majorly in Lagos and Ogun State in southwestern Nigeria, and Ouémé Department in the southeast of the Republic of Benin, who speak the Gun language. The Ogu accoun ...
in
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 ...
, as well as in south-western
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 ...
. Gun is part of the Fon cluster of languages inside the Eastern Gbe languages; it is close to
Fon, especially its Agbome and Kpase varieties, as well as to the
Maxi and
Weme (Ouémé) languages. It is used in some schools in the
Ouémé Department of Benin.
Gun is the second most spoken
language in Benin. It is mainly spoken in the south of the country, in
Porto-Novo
Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people.
Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of G ...
,
Sèmè-Kpodji
Sèmè-Kpodji is a town, arrondissement, and commune in the Ouémé Department of south-eastern Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a ...
,
Bonou
Bonou is a town, arrondissement, and commune in the Ouémé Department of south-eastern Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a countr ...
,
Adjarra
Adjarra is a town and commune in Ouémé Department, 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 ...
,
Avrankou
Avrankou is a town, arrondissement, and commune in the Ouémé Department of south-eastern Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a coun ...
,
Dangbo
Dangbo is a town, arrondissement, and commune in the Ouémé Department of south-eastern Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a count ...
,
Akpro-Missérété
Akpro-Missérété is a city, arrondissement, and commune in Ouémé Department, Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West A ...
,
Cotonou, and other cities where Ogu people live. It is also spoken by a
minority of Ogu people in southwest
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 ...
near the border with Benin, particularly
Badagry
Badagry (traditionally Gbagli) also spelled Badagri, is a coastal town and Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is quite close to the city of Lagos, and located on the north bank of Porto Novo Creek, an inland waterway that con ...
, Maun, Tube.
Orthography
The language has been written with three orthographies, all of them based on the
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and th ...
. In Nigeria, it has been written with an orthography similar to that of
Yoruba
The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...
and some other languages of Nigeria, and using the
dot below
When used as a diacritic mark, the term dot is usually reserved for the '' interpunct'' ( · ), or to the glyphs "combining dot above" ( ◌̇ ) and "combining dot below" ( ◌̣ )
which may be combined with some letters of t ...
diacritic to indicate sounds. In Benin, another orthography was developed for publishing a Bible translation in 1923, and it was updated in 1975, and is now used for teaching literacy in some schools in Benin; it is similar to the orthography of
Fon, using letters such as and . There are proposals to unify the orthographies, for example the one made by Hounkpati Capo in 1990.
References
Bibliography
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{{benin-stub
Gbe languages
Languages of Benin
Languages of Nigeria
Language articles with speaker number undated