Oti–Volta Languages
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 Ivor ...
, comprising about 30 languages of northern Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso spoken by twelve million people. The most populous language is Mooré, 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 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 Wali language (Gur), Waale and Birifor language, Birifor. Dagaare language varies in dialect s ...
*** Waale *** Northern Birifor *** Southern Birifor *** Safaliba **North *** Moore **Mid-Central *** Mabiene *** Nankanè *** Nabit **South *** Dagbane *** Mampruli *** Nanuni **Kusaal *** Kusaal *** Talni **Buli–Konni *** Buli *** Konni **Hanga–Kamara *** Hanga *** 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