Baoulé (native name: ), also known as Baule or Bawule, is a language spoken in central and southern

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

, including in the regions of Lacs, Lagunes, Gôh-Djiboua, Sassandra-Marahoué, Vallée du Bandama, Woroba, and Yamoussoukro, by approximately 5.3 million people. It is a Kwa language of the Central Tano branch, forming a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...

with Anyin and closely related to Nzema and Sehwi. It is the common language of the

Baoulé people The Baule or Baoulé (Baoulé language, Baule: ''Baule'' a.u.le awle are an Akan people, Akan people and one of the largest ethnicities in Ivory Coast. The Baoulé are traditionally farmers who live in the centre of Ivory Coast, in a F ...

, the largest ethnic group in Ivory Coast.

Translations of the Bible

In 1946, portions of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

translated into Baoulé were first published; the full

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

followed in 1953. The complete Bible was published first in 1998, by the Bible Society in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Of these vowels, five may be nasalized: /ĩ/, /ɛ̃/, /ã/, /ũ/, and /ɔ̃/.

Tones

Baoulé has five tones: high, low, mid, rising, and falling.

Orthography

Baoulé uses the following letters to indicate the following phonemes:

References

External links

Baoulé entry
at the World Atlas of Language Structures
PanAfriL10n page on Anyi & Baule

Baoulé Phonology (French)

Baule kasahorow
Central Tano languages Languages of Ivory Coast Bible versions and translations Baoulé people {{IvoryCoast-stub