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 ...

is a

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

country in which about eighty languages are spoken. Of these,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, which was inherited from the colonial era, is the

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

and lingua franca. Of the languages indigenous to Ghana,

Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan language, a language spoken by the Akan people *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan * Central Tano languages, a language group ...

is the most widely spoken.

has more than seventy ethnic groups, each with its own distinct language. Languages that belong to the same ethnic group are usually mutually intelligible. The Dagbanli and Mampelle languages of Northern Region, for instance, are mutually intelligible with the Frafra and Waali languages of the

Upper West Region The Upper West Region of Ghana is located in the north-western corner of Ghana and is bordered by Upper East region to the east, Northern region to the south, and Burkina Faso to the west and north. The Upper West regional capital and largest se ...

. These four languages are of Mole-Dagbani ethnicity. Eleven languages have the status of government-sponsored languages: three Akan ethnic languages ( Akuapem Twi,

Asante Twi Asante, also known as Ashanti, Ashante, or Asante Twi, is one of the principal members of the Akan dialect continuum. It is one of the four mutually intelligible dialects of Akan which are collectively known as Twi, the others being Bono and A ...

and Fante) and two Mole-Dagbani ethnic languages (

Dagaare Dagaare is the language of the Dagaaba people of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. It has been described as a dialect continuum that also includes Waale and Birifor. Dagaare language varies in dialect stemming from other family languages i ...

and Dagbanli). The others are Ewe, Dangme, Ga, Nzema, Gonja, and Kasem. In April 2019, the Ghanaian government declared its intention to make French one of Ghana's official languages due to the country being surrounded by Francophone countries (

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to ...

, the Ivory Coast and

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 ...

) and the presence of a French speaking minority in the country.

Government-sponsored languages

The number of government-sponsored languages is either eleven or nine, depending on whether or not Bono, Akuapem Twi,

, and Fante are considered a single language. They are supported by the Bureau of Ghana Languages, which was established in 1951 and publishes materials in the languages; during the periods when Ghanaian languages were used in primary education, these were the languages which were used. All these languages belong to the Niger–Congo language family, though to several different branches.

Akan (Fante, Bono, Asante Twi and Akuapem Twi)

Predominant tribe in the area - (Ghana) LOC 88692692

, part of the Kwa branch of the Niger–Congo family, is a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

, but with regard to official status, only a few out of the many varieties of Akan are recognised: Bono, Fante,

, Akuapem Twi. Taken as a whole, Akan is the most-widely spoken language in Ghana.

Ewe

Ewe is a

Gbe language 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 ...

, part of the Volta–Niger branch of the Niger–Congo family. The Ewe Language is spoken in Ghana, Togo and Benin with a trace of the language in West Nigeria. Out of the many dialects of Ewe spoken in Ghana, the major ones are Anlo, Tongu, Vedome, Gbi, and Krepi.

Dagbani

Dagbani is one 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 ...

. It is the most spoken language in Northern Ghana. The number of native speakers numbers more than three million, This number will reach six million if dialects such as Nanumba, Mamprusi and Kamara are added. It belongs to the larger Mole-Dagbani ethnic group found in

and makes up about 18.5% of the population. It is spoken by Dagombas in the Northern Region of

Dangme

Dangme is one of the

Ga–Dangme languages Ga–Dangme is a branch of the Kwa language family. Ga–Dangme is made up of just two languages: Ga and Dangme. They are closely related and have sometimes been considered as a single language. There are many similarities in the basic vocabul ...

within the Kwa branch. It is spoken in Greater Accra, in south-east Ghana and Togo.

Dagaare

is another of the Gur languages. It is spoken in the Upper West Region of Ghana. It is also spoken in

Ga

Ga is the other Ga–Dangme language within the Kwa branch. Ga is spoken in south-eastern Ghana, in and around the capital Accra.

Nzema

Nzema is one of the Bia languages, closely related to Akan. It is spoken by the

Nzema people The Nzema are an Akan people numbering about 328,700, of whom 262,000 live in southwestern Ghana and 66,700 live in the southeast of Côte d'Ivoire. In Ghana the Nzema area is divided into three electoral districts: Nzema East Municipal, also kno ...

in the Western Region of Ghana. It is also spoken in the Ivory Coast.

Kasem

Kasem is a Gurunsi language, in the Gur branch. It is spoken in the Upper Eastern Region of Ghana. It is also spoken in

Gonja

Gonja is one of the

Guang languages The Guan languages are languages of the Kwa language family spoken by the Guan people in Ghana and Togo: *South Guan: Efutu, Cherepon, Gua, Larteh Larteh is a language of southeastern Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), official ...

, part of the

Tano languages Tano may refer to Places ;Ghana/Ivory Coast * Tano North District and * Tano South District in Ghana, which make up ** Tano North (Ghana parliament constituency) and ** Tano South (Ghana parliament constituency) * Tano River or Tanoé River in Gh ...

within the Kwa branch along with Akan and Bia. It is spoken in the Northern Region of Ghana and Wa

Languages spoken in Ghana by number of speakers

This chart reflects data provided by ''Ethnologue''.

Language classification

The language of Ghana belong to the following branches within the Niger–Congo language family: *

Kwa languages The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are a proposed but as-yet-undemonstrated family of languages spoken in the south-eastern part of Ivory Coast, across southern Ghana, and in central Togo. The name was introduced 1895 by Gottlob Kr ...

(Akan, Bia, Guang in Tano; Ga and Adangme) *

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 ...

(Ewe) *

(Gurunsi, Dagbani, Mossi, Dagaare, and Frafra in Oti–Volta) *

Senufo languages The Senufo or Senufic languages (''Senoufo'' in French) has around 15 languages spoken by the Senufo in the north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso. An isolated language, Nafaanra, is also spoken in the west o ...

( Nafaanra) * Kulango languages * Mande languages (Wangara, Ligbi) Older classifications may instead group them as Kwa, Gur, and Mande.

References

External links

Ethnologue listing for GhanaEthnologue map of languages in GhanaOwu-Ewie, Charles. 2006. The Language Policy of Education in Ghana: A Critical Look at the English-Only Language Policy of Education. In Selected Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, ed. John Mugane et al., 76-85. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.PanAfrican L10n wiki page on GhanaGhanaWeb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Languages Of Ghana Ghana-related lists