Ligbi language

language, modern language
Subclass of	Jogo
Country	Ghana
Indigenous to	Brong-Ahafo Region
Ethnologue language status	6a Vigorous

De Ligbi (anaa Ligby) people speak a Mande language insyd Ghana, insyd de north-west corner of de Brong-Ahafo Region. Approximately 10,000 speakers (1988 GILLBT/SIL) dey speak Ligbi. E be fairly closely related to Jula, Vai den Kono. Dem report a small population of Ligbi speakers (around 4,000) to live insyd Ivory Coast (Vanderaa 1991). Ligbi sanso be known as Wela (Hwela) anaa Numu. De latter of dese dey refer to a subsection of de Ligbi people; Numu be Dyula give 'blacksmith'. (Spy blacksmiths of western Africa.)

De Ligbi area insyd Ghana be bordered to de west by Nafaanra, de Senufo language of de Nafana people. Na de Ligbi people cam to de area of Begho (Bighu), an ancient trading town on de Tain river insyd Ghana, insyd de early 17th century before de Nafana.^[1] Ligbi get seven oral den seven nasal vowels. E be a tonal language plus two level tones, High den Low. Syllables be of de form (C₁)V(C₂) anaa N (a syllabic nasal), wer CV be de most common syllable type. C₁ fi be any of de consonants, wer as de optional C₂ slot fi get nasals homorganic per plus de following consonants, e.g., gbám mádáánè "nine houses," gbán táà "ten houses." V (a vowel) alone dey occur word-initial insyd personal pronouns per, sam loan words, den names, e.g., á jádɛ̀ "we cam."

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants^[2]
		Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Labial-velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t̪	tʃ	k	kp
Plosive/ Affricate	voiced	b	d̪	dʒ	g	gb
Nasal		m	n̪	ɲ	ŋ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s				(h)
Fricative	voiced	(v)	(z)
Approximant			l	j		w

/d/ be [r] between vowels.^[2]
/k/ den /g/ be [ɣ] between vowels.^[2]
/d/, /g/, den /l/ be nasalized between nasal vowels.^[2]
/h/ dey occur insyd English den Arabic loanwords.^[2]
/v/ den /z/ dey occur insyd ideophones per.^[2]

Vowels

Oral vowels^[2]
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Nasal vowels^[2]
	Front	Central	Back
Close	ĩ		ũ
Close-mid	ẽ		õ
Open-mid	ɛ̃		ɔ̃
Open		ã

Tones

Ligbi get two level tones, low den high.^[2]

References

↑ Goody, Jack (1964). "The Mande and the Akan Hinterland". In Vansina, J.; Mauny, R.; Thomas, L. V. (eds.). The Historian in Tropical Africa. London: Oxford University. pp. 192–218.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Persson & Persson 1980, p. LIG 5.

Notes

Persson, Andrew; Persson, Janet (1980). "Ligbi". In Kropp Dakubu, Mary Esther (ed.). West African Language Data Sheets. Vol. 2. West African Linguistic Society. pp. LIG 1-LIG 6. OCLC 9403639.

[1] Goody, Jack (1964). "The Mande and the Akan Hinterland". In Vansina, J.; Mauny, R.; Thomas, L. V. (eds.). The Historian in Tropical Africa. London: Oxford University. pp. 192–218.

[FOOTNOTEPerssonPersson1980LIG_5-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Persson & Persson 1980, p. LIG 5.

[1]

[2]