Tamprusi is a Gur language of Ghana.

Names

The general and accepted name for the language is Tampulma. The name Tamprusi Is mostly used to refer to the ethnic group who speak the language, and it is unaccepted by native speakers to refer to the language.

Geographic distribution

The Tampulma language is the language of the Tamprusi people. The Tamprusi are located in the Northern Region, especially in the

North Gonja District North Gonja District is one of the seven districts in Savannah Region, Ghana. Originally it was formerly part of the then-larger West Gonja District on 23 December 1988, until the northern part of the district was split off on 28 June 2012 to crea ...

, dominated by the

Gonja people Gonja (also Ghanjawiyyu, endonym Ngbanya) was a kingdom in northern Ghana founded in 1675 by Sumaila Ndewura Jakpa. The word can also refer to the people of this kingdom. Origin The Gonja are a Guan people who have been influenced by Dagbon, Aka ...

and in the

Mamprusi District Mamprusi District is a former district council that was located in North East Region, Ghana. It was created as an ordinary district assembly in the Northern Region in 1975. However on 1988, it was split off into two new district assemblies: Ea ...

, dominated by the Mamprusi people. The Dagomba people are also present and dominant in the Region.

Classification

The Tampulma language is one of the Gurunsi languages. It is related to the languages of Dega,

Sisaala Sisaala (''Sissala'') is a Gur languages, Gur language cluster spoken in northern Ghana near the town of Tumu, Ghana, TumuEdited by M.E.Kropp Dakubu, ''The Languages of Ghana'', Kegan Paul International, 1988. and in the neighbouring republic of ...

and Vagla. The Gurunsi languages are Gur languages, which are

Niger–Congo languages Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic-Congo languages (which share a characteristic noun class system), and possibly several smaller groups of ...

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 across ...

, another Gur language, and Gonja, which is a Kwa language, are the dominant languages in this areas. Also,

Dagbani Dagbani (or Dagbane), also known as Dagbanli and Dagbanle, is a Gur language spoken in Ghana and Northern Togo. Its native speakers are estimated around 3,160,000. It is a compulsory subject in primary and junior high school in the Dagbon Kingdo ...

, related to Mampruli, is also a dominant language all over the area. The Tamprussi also speak English,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and Hausa. In a similar way as in other African languages, Tampulma has a

Nown class A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...

sistem. For example, Tampulma is a component of Tamp- and -ulma, similar to Kiswahili, which is composed of Ki- and -swahili.

References

Languages of Ghana Gurunsi languages {{gur-lang-stub

Names

Geographic distribution

Classification

See also

References