Logba language

Logba

language, modern language

Subclass of	Potou–Tano, Ghana–Togo Mountain
Country	Ghana
Indigenous to	Volta Region
Ethnologue language status	6a Vigorous

Logba be a Kwa language dem dey speak insyd de south-eastern Ghana by approximately 7,500 people. De Logba people dey call demaselves den dema language Ikpana, wich dey mean ‘defenders of truth’. Logba be different from Lukpa of Togo den Benin, wich dem sanso sam times refer to as Logba.

Classification

Na de first published treatment of Logba be a short grammar by Diedrich Hermann Westermann (1903). Westermann include Logba insyd ein group of Togo Restsprachen (Togo Remnant languages), a terminology wey several subsequent researchers adopt. Dakubu den Ford (1988) rename dis cluster de Central Togo languages buh since Ring (1995) dem commonly be referred to as Ghana–Togo Mountain languages. De dozen anaa so Ghana–Togo Mountain languages be part of de Kwa branch of de Niger–Congo family.

Geography den demography

De Logba people dey live insyd de Volta Region of Ghana, east of de Volta Lake insyd de mountains of de Ghana–Togo borderland. Chaw Logba towns den villages dey situate along de trunk road from Accra to Hohoe. Dem dey include de following settlements: Wuinta, Akusame, Adiveme, Andokɔfe, Adzakoe, Alakpeti, Klikpo, den Tota. Tota dey locate high insyd de Ghana–Togo Mountains to de east of de Accra–Hohoe road. Alakpeti be de commercial centre of Logba, while Klikpo be traditionally de seat of de head of de Logba people. De Logba people be primarily subsistence farmers, wey dey produce cassava, maize, yams den forest fruits, supplemented by cash crops like cocoa, coffee den sawn mahogany logs. De Logba area be known for ein scenery, wich dey include waterfalls, cliffs, den limestone formations, wey dey include one anaa two known small caves plus minor speleothems.

De dominant language insyd de region be Ewe, closely be followed by Twi. Chaw Logba people be bilingual insyd Ewe. South of de Logba area live de Avatime people. Logba be only distantly related to ein direct neighbours Avatime den Nyagbo-Tafi; according to Bernd Heine (1968) e be more closely related to de Akpafu den Santrokofi languages dem dey speak northwards.

Dem generally agree say de Logba people no be de original inhabitants of de area dem now dey reside in. Na der be two hypotheses as to de origin of de Logba people. Heine (1968, dey follow Debrunner), propose say de Logba be descendants from de makɔ́ people, wey na dem flee south after a defeat insyd de second half of de 18th century.

Phonology

Logba get a nine vowel system plus ATR vowel harmony. Vowel harmony insyd Logba be root-controlled, wich dey mean say de vowels of ein nominal prefixes dey harmonize plus de vowels of de root. Vowels be nasalized wen dem occur insyd de immediate environment of a nasal consonant.

[-ATR] vowels insyd Logba

.	Front	Central	Back
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

[+ATR] vowels insyd Logba

.	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open		a

Logba be a tonal language plus two level tones: High den Low. Dese tones fi be combined on one syllable, wey dey yield a Rising anaa Falling contour tone.

All syllables be open insyd Logba. Every syllable dey bear a tone. De basic syllable structure fi be rendered as (C₁)(C₂)V+T, wer C = consonant, V = vowel anaa syllabic nasal, den T = tone. Dorvlo (2004) dey distinguish three types of syllables:

1. Nucleus per, wey dey consist of a vowel anaa a syllabic nasal. Dem dey find dis insyd pronouns den nominal prefixes per. Examples: ɛ́-mɔ́ 'dem laugh'; ɔ́-zɔ́ 'he/she go'; n-dà 'liquor'.
2. Onset den nucleus. dis be de most common syllable type insyd Logba; chaw words be of dis form. Insyd multisyllabic words, e fi occur insyd all positions. Examples: bà ‘cam’; gbà ‘sweep’; bìsí ‘cola nut’
3. Complex onset den nucleus. /r/ den /l/ per dey occur as de second consonant of de complex onset. Dis syllable type sanso fi form a word by einself. Insyd multisyllabic words, in fi occur insyd all positions. Examples: à-klɔ́   ‘goat’; trò ‘refuse’; ìvàflí   ‘(thing) white’.

Consonants

De consonants of Logba be as follows:

s, z, ts, den dz be palatalized to ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, den dʒ respectively, wen dem occur before i. Insyd de Tota dialect, t den d be pronounced as ts den dz before u.

Logba be a tonal language plus two tones, high den low. Der be a few words wich get rising tone, all of wich either be loanwords such as zenklǎ (pot stand), a loan from Ewe, anaa dem be ideophonic, such as tǒ (to fell palm trees), wich dey imitate de sound of a palm tree falling. Monosyllabic verbs wich get a low tone insyd dema uninflected form dey gain high tone wen dem inflect.

References

Notes

• Blench, Roger (2001). Comparative Central Togo: What have we learnt since Heine? (paper presented at the 32nd Annual Conference on African Linguistics and subsequently revised), 39p.
• Kropp Dakubu, M.E. & K.C. Ford (1988) 'The Central Togo Languages'. In: The Languages of Ghana, M.E. Kropp Dakubu (ed.), 119–153. London: Kegan Paul International.
• Dorvlo, Kofi (2004). ‘A Preliminary Phonology of Logba’, in Kropp Dakubu & Osam (eds.) Studies in the Languages of the Volta Basin II (Proceedings of the annual colloquium of the Legon-Trondheim Linguistics Project 12–13 January 2004). Legon: University of Ghana, pp. 239–249.
• Dorvlo, Kofi (2008), A Grammar of Logba (Ikpana), Dissertation, University of Leiden
• Greenberg 1966 as cited in Dorvlo 2004
• Heine, Bernd (1968) Die Verbreitung und Gliederung der Togorestsprachen (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik vol. 1). Köln: Druckerei Wienand. [pp. 29–30, 100–101]
• Ladefoged, Peter (1964) A Phonetic Study of West African Languages (an auditory-instrumental survey). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 54]
• Plehn, Rudolf. 1899. 'Beiträge zur Völkerkunde des Togo-Gebietes', in Mittheilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen, 2, part III, 87—124.
• Westermann, Diedrich Hermann (1903) ‘Die Logbasprache in Togo. Kurzer Abriss der Grammatik und Texte’, Zeitschrift fur afrikanische, ozeanische und ostasiatische Sprachen, 7, 1, 23–39.

External links

• The Southern Ghana-Togo Mountain Groups: A description of their languages and cultural heritage. (CNWS research project).
• ELAR archive of Ikpána (Logba) language documentation materials