Anii language
| Subclass of | Ghana–Togo Mountain  |
|---|---|
| Country | Benin, Togo |
| Indigenous to | Donga Department, Centrale Region |
| Ethnologue language status | 5 Developing |
De Anii be a Guan language (dem sam times call Bassila anaa Baseca, dem sanso know as Oji-Ouji, Ouinji-Ouinji, Winji-Winji, though dis be derogatory) wich dem dey speak insyd Benin, central-eastern Togo den central eastern Ghana by Makɔ-Makua anaa Bakɔ-Bakua clan. E be part of de geographic group of Ghana Togo Mountain languages (dem formerly know as de Togorestsprachen anaa Togo Remnant languages) of de Kwa branch of Niger–Congo.
Der be four major dialect groups insyd Anii, wich be quite different from each oda, even to de point say sam of de dialects no be mutually intelligible.[1] Dese differences fi include variation insyd phonology (wey dey include tonology), lexicon, syntax, den semantics. Der be significant differences from village to village within groups, particularly wey dey regard pronunciation.
Na dem choose de name "Anii" insyd May 1979 by de Anii people as de official name give de language[2] secof e be a word wey be common to all de Anii dialects. E be an interjection wey dey mean roughly ‘you dey hear?’, anaa ‘you dey bab?’ Sam of de older names get colonial anaa derogatory connotations wey e for no longer be used, den just be kept for reference.[1]
Classification
[edit | edit source]Anii be classified under de Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo den Kwa language groups.[3]
History
[edit | edit source]De Anii people be a diverse group plus approximately eighteen villages along de border region of Benin den Togo. Benin get de largest Anii population, plus fifteen villages den 33,600 Anii, while Togo get three villages wey dey comprise roughly 12,300 residents[1] den a significantly smaller community insyd Oti den Ashanti region insyd Ghana. De Anii people no be originally from neither Togo nor Benin buh dem be believed dem emigrate, likely from de border area between Ghana den Togo sam time before de 19th century.[4] De only closely related language be Adele wey dem dey speak insyd dat border area.[5]
De different villages develop in relative isolation wey dem develop dema own names den dialect of Anii. De dialects sanso likely be affected by language contact, as de different Anii villages get origin stories wey tell of different mixes of language groups wey dey found each village. Na e no be til 1979 den de Sous-Commission National Anii wey dem officially call de language Anii wey na dem establish a written alphabet.[4] Na dem officially accept full orthography by de community insyd 2012, wey e be regularly used den taught.
Ein origin den use today
[edit | edit source]Although der be relatively few Anii speakers, de language get a comparatively strong presence among ein speakers while de lingua franca, French no be as prevalent. Anii be de main language dem use insyd public den private domains. A majority of de younger population still dey use Anii as dema everyday language, den kiddies dey learn am as a first language. Chaw Anii speakers sanso dey speak oda languages like French, Tem (Kotokoli), anaa oda surrounding languages.
Language risk
[edit | edit source]Although der be relatively few speakers den within de speaker population der be chaw dialects, de language cam be more popular among de population. Dis be secof in part to de work of de NGO LINGO-Benin, wich dey work hard to publish both original den translated works insyd Anii, den sanso dey facilitate classes for speakers to learn to read den wrep. According to Ethnologue de language be classified as a 5 (developing).[6]
Religion
[edit | edit source]In general, de Anii people dey ascribe to de Muslim faith, buh Benin be very religiously diverse den der sanso be people of oda faiths wey dey live insyd Anii communities.
Dey depend on de village: Arabic, Anii, Kotokoli, Tchamba anaa a combination of Arabic den Anii be used for preaching, den daily service. However, dem always dey speak private prayer insyd Anii.[1]
Dialects
[edit | edit source]Der be four to five distinct dialect clusters wey be geographically based. Dese dialects be distinct based on each group ein relative physical isolation from one anoda den contact plus oda regional languages.
Additionally, der be significant differences in pronunciation between villages of de same dialect cluster. Each dialect get a varied set of rules wey dey include ein lexicon, phonology, syntax, den TAM semantics. Na dis make am extremely difficult for linguists to document a unified set of grammatical rules for Anii.
Der be two areas of nearly universal similarity between de dialects: de tone den pitch of de speaker den de influence of de lingua franca English den French.
Dialects of villages
[edit | edit source]- Giseda (Bassila, Benin) - de most prominent dialect, especially by adults
- Gifolanga (Guiguizo, Benin)
- Frinyio ka gija (Frignion Village)
- Gikodowaraja (Kodowari village)
- Gipenesulja (Kemetou Penezoulou, Benin)
- Gipenelanja (Penelan, Benin)
- Naagayili ka gija (Nagayile village)
- Gibodija (Bodi, Benin)
- Gibayaakuja (Bayakou, Benin)
- Gideenguja (Dengou village)
- Ngmeelang ka gija (Agerendebou village)
- Giborokoja (Mboroko, Benin)
- Yaari ka gija (Yari, Benin)
Phonology
[edit | edit source]Anii get 23 consonant phonemes den 11 vowel phonemes.[6] E be tonal plus both a high den low tone.
Vowels
[edit | edit source]| +ATR | -ATR | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | i | u | ɪ | ɨ | ʊ | |
| Mid | e | ǝ | o | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a | |||||
Writing system
[edit | edit source]| Upper case | A | Ǝ | B | C | Ɖ | E | Ɛ | F | G | Gb | H | I | Ɩ | J | K | Kp | L | M | N | Ny | Ŋ | Ŋm | O | Ɔ | P | R | S | Sh | T | U | Ʊ | W | Y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower case | a | ǝ | b | c | ɖ | e | ɛ | f | g | gb | h | i | ɩ | j | k | kp | l | m | n | ny | ŋ | ŋm | o | ɔ | p | r | s | sh | t | u | ʊ | w | y |
References
[edit | edit source]- 1 2 3 4 Tompkins, Barbara; Kluge, Angela (August 2008). "A sociolinguistic survey of the Anii-Akpe language area" (PDF). SIL International. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-09-07. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
- ↑ Revue GʊGʊ, edition 0, 2011, Bassila, Benin, page 9
- ↑ "Did you know Anii is vulnerable?". Endangered Languages (in English). Retrieved 2018-04-20.
- 1 2 Morton, Deborah. "The Dialects of Anii" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-11.
- ↑ Morton, Deborah (2023). "The Anii Language: A Progressive Language Island in Togo and Benin". Journal of Language Contact. 16.
- 1 2 3 "Anii". Ethnologue (in English). Retrieved 2018-04-20.
Read further
[edit | edit source]- Blench, R. (2001). Language: Anii. Retrieved February 12, 2016, from http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/anii1245
- Heine, Bernd (1968a). Die Verbreitung und Gliederung der Togorestsprachen. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
- Heine, Bernd (1968b). "A preliminary survey of the noun classes of Bassila". Journal of African Languages. 7: 1–13.
- Dakubu, M.E. Kropp, ed. (1988). The Languages of Ghana. Kegan Paul International.
- Morton, Deborah (2011). "[ATR] Harmony in an Eleven Vowel Language: The Case of Anii". In Marlo, Michael R.; Adams, Nikki B.; Green, Christopher R.; Morrison, Michelle; Purvis, Tristan M. (eds.). Selected Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference on African Linguistics: African Languages in Context (PDF). Cascadilla Press.
- Zaske, S. (n.d.). Calendrier 2013 en langue anii. SIL Language and Culture Archives, 1-2. Retrieved February 12, 2016