The Oti–Volta languages form a subgroup of the
Gur languages
The Gur languages, also known as Central Gur or Mabia, belong to the Niger–Congo languages. They are spoken in the Sahelian and savanna regions of West Africa, namely: in most areas of Burkina Faso, and in south-central Mali, northeastern Iv ...
, comprising about 30 languages of northern Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso spoken by twelve million people. The most populous language is
Mooré
The Mossi language (Mooré) is a Gur language of the Oti–Volta branch and one of two official regional languages of Burkina Faso. It is the language of the Mossi people, spoken by approximately 8 million people in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cote ...
, the national language of Burkina Faso, spoken by over 55% of Burkina Faso’s 20 million population and an additional 1 million in neighboring countries such as Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, and Mali.
The family is named after the
Oti and
Volta rivers.
Languages
The internal classification of Oti–Volta, as worked out by
Manessy 1975–79 and
Naden 1989 (Williamson & Blench 2000) is as follows:
Native Dagbani speakers assert that Dagbani is mutually intelligible with Dagaare, Frafra, Mamprusi, and Wali, but in the case of Dagaare, Frara and Wali it is rather the case that many people can understand some of a language which is not their mother tongue. These languages are not mutually intelligible with
Mõõré or
Kusaal (a language spoken in
Bawku West District and adjacent areas).
Bodomo (2017)
Bodomo (2017) refers to the Western Oti–Volta group (and also including Buli–Koma) as ''Central Mabia''.
[Naden, Tony. 2021. ''Comparative Dictionary of Central Mabia Languages (Formerly Western Oti-Volta) / Dictionnaire Comparatif Des Langues Mabia-Central (anciennement Western Oti-Volta)''. m.s.] The term ''Mabia'' is a portmanteau of the two lexical innovations ''ma''- 'mother' + ''bia'' 'child'.
The following is a classification of the Central Mabia languages from Bodomo (2017), as cited in Bodomo (2020).
[Bodomo, Adams. 2020.]
Mabia: Its Etymological Genesis, Geographical Spread, and some Salient Genetic Features
" In: Bodomo A., Abubakari H. & Issah, S. 2020. ''Handbook of the Mabia Languages of West Africa''. Galda Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 400 pages, (Print); (E-Book) Bodomo's Central Mabia group consists of 7 subgroups.
*Central Mabia
**Dagaare
***
Dagaare
***
Waale
***
Birifor
***
Safaliba
**North
***
Moore
Moore may refer to:
People
* Moore (surname)
** List of people with surname Moore
* Moore Crosthwaite (1907–1989), a British diplomat and ambassador
* Moore Disney (1765–1846), a senior officer in the British Army
* Moore Powell (died c. 1 ...
**Mid-Central
***
Mabiene
***
Nankanè
***
Nabit
**South
***
Dagbane
***
Mampruli
The Mampruli language is a Gur language spoken in northern Ghana, Northern Togo, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali by the Mamprusi people. It is partially mutually intelligible with Dagbani. The Mamprusi language is spoken in a broad belt ac ...
***
Nanuni
**Kusaal
***
Kusaal
***
Talni
**Buli–Konni
***
Buli
***
Konni
**Hanga–Kamara
***
Hanga
Hanga is a village in Parner taluka in Ahmednagar district of the state of Maharashtra.Maps of India, Map of Haga Village. https://www.mapsofindia.com/villages/maharashtra/ahmadnagar/parner/hanga.html.
Temple
Hanga has a popular temple of ...
***
Kamara
See also
*
List of Proto-Oti-Volta reconstructions (Wiktionary)
*
List of Proto-Eastern Oti-Volta reconstructions (Wiktionary)
*
List of Proto-Central Oti-Volta reconstructions (Wiktionary)
Bibliography
*Bodomo, Adams, Hasiyatu Abubakari and Samuel Alhassan Issah (2020). ''Handbook of the Mabia Languages of West Africa''. Glienicke: Galda Verlag. .
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oti-Volta languages
Gur languages
Dagbon