Dagaare language

Dagaare is the maternal language of the Dagaaba people in Ghana and Burkina Faso. It has been described as a dialect continuum that also includes Waale and Birifor.

Dagaare
Native to	Ghana, Burkina Faso
Ethnicity	Dagaaba people
Native speakers	1.1 million (2001–2003)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Gur Northern Oti–Volta Moré–Dagbani Moré Dagaare
Writing system	Latin (Dagaare alphabet) Dagaare Braille
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: dga – Southern Dagaare dgd – Dagaari Dioula dgi – Northern Dagara
Glottolog	sout2789  Central Dagaare[2] daga1272  Dagaari Dioula[3] nort2780  Northern Dagara[4]
Majority areas of Northern Dagara speakers, in red, on a map of Burkina Faso.

Ethnologue divides Dagaare into three languages:

• Southern/Central Dagaare language, which is spoken mainly in Ghana
• Northern Dagara language, which is spoken mainly in Burkina Faso
• Dagaari Dioula, which is spoken mainly in Burkina Faso, and has significant influence from the genetically unrelated Dioula language

Phonology

The consonant and vowel sounds in the Dagaare languages:

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Consonants

		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar	Post- Alveolar	Palatal	Labio- velar	Velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p		t				k	ʔ
	voiced	b		d				ɡ
Affricate	voiceless				t͡ɕ		k͡p
	voiced				d͡ʑ		ɡ͡b
Fricative	voiceless		f	s					h
	voiced		v	z
	implosive								ʼh
Nasal	plain	m		n		ɲ	ŋ͡m	ŋ
	implosive	ʼm
Lateral	plain			l
	implosive			ʼl
Approximant						j	w

Allophones of /d, ɡ/ include [r, ɣ].[5]

References

1. Southern Dagaare at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Dagaari Dioula at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Northern Dagara at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Central Dagaare". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Dagaari Dioula". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
4. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Northern Dagara". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
5. Bodomo, Adams (1997). The Structure of Dagaare. Stanford University.

External links

• Alphabet and pronunciation at Omniglot
• Bodomo, Adams, "The Dagaare language and its speakers: Introduction"
• PanAfriL10n page on Dagaare
• Bibliography of Dagaare Studies
• Journal of Dagaare Studies
• Database of audio recordings in Dagara - basic Catholic prayers