Nafanan language
| Subclass of | Senufo  |
|---|---|
| Country | Ghana |
| Indigenous to | Brong-Ahafo Region, Northern Region |
| Ethnologue language status | 5 Developing |
Nafaanra (dem sam times wrep am Nafaara, dem pronounce [nafãːra]), dem sanso know as Nafanan anaa Nafana, be a Senufo language dem dey speak insyd northwest Ghana, along de border plus Ivory Coast, east of Bondoukou. E be spoken by approximately 90,000 people.[1] Ein speakers dey call demaselves Nafana, buh odas dem call dem Banda anaa Mfantera. Like oda Senufo languages, Nafaanra be a tonal language. E be sam wat of an outlier insyd de Senufo language group, plus de geographically-closest relatives, de Southern Senufo Tagwana–Djimini languages, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) to de west, on de oda side of Comoé National Park.
De basic word order be subject–object–verb, like Latin den Japanese. Like oda Niger–Congo languages, e get a noun class system, plus nouns dem classify according to five different classes, wich sanso dey affect pronouns, adjectives den copulas. De phonology dey feature a distinction between de length of vowels den whether dem be oral anaa nasal (as insyd French anaa Portuguese). Der sanso be three distinct tones, a feature dem share plus de oda Senufo languages. Nafaanra grammar dey feature both tense den aspect wich be marked plus particles. Numbers be mainly formed by adding cardinal numbers to de number 5 den by multiplying de numbers 10, 20 den 100.
Geography den demography
[edit | edit source]Nafaanra be bordered by Kulango languages to de west den southeast, while dem find Deg (a Gur language) to de north den east.[2][3] De closest eastern den western neighbour be de Mande language Ligbi. Southeast den south of Nafaanra den Ligbi, dem dey speak de Akan language Abron.[2][3]
De Nafana people dey live insyd de north-west corner of de Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana, wey be concentrated mainly insyd Sampa (capital of de Jaman North district) den Banda. Der be two dialectal variants of Nafaanra: Pantera of Banda, den Fantera of Sampa.[4] Bendor-Samuel dey give a 79% cognate relationship on de Swadesh list between de two dialects, wey dey mean say dem get chaw basic words in common.[5] De Banda dialect be considered central. De terms "Fantera" den "Pantera" dey cam from oda peoples wey be considered pejorative by de Nafana.[4]
Sounds
[edit | edit source]Vowels
[edit | edit source]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i • ĩ | u • ũ | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ • ɛ̃ | ɔ • ɔ̃ | |
| Open | a • ã |
Consonants
[edit | edit source]| labial | alveolar | palatal | velar | labial-<br id="mwASI"><br>velar | glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nasal | m | n | ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | ŋ | ŋ͡m | ||
| plosive | voiceless | p | t | c ⟨ch⟩ | k | k͡p | |
| voiced | b | d | ɟ ⟨j⟩ | ɡ | ɡ͡b | ||
| fricative | voiceless | f | s | ç ⟨sh⟩ | h | ||
| voiced | v | z | |||||
| trill | r | ||||||
| approximant | l | j ⟨y⟩ | w | ||||
Grammar
[edit | edit source]
Numbers
[edit | edit source]| No. | Nafaanra | Supyire | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | núnu | nìŋkìn | |
| 2 | shíín | shùùnnì | |
| 3 | táárɛ̀ | tàànrè | Mpre: eta[38] |
| 4 | jíjirɛ̀ | sìcyɛ̀ɛ̀rè | |
| 5 | kúnɔ | kaŋkuro | |
| 6 | kɔ́ɔ̀-ná-nù | baa-nì | 5 + 1 |
| 7 | kɔ́ɔ̀-na-shin | baa-shùùnnì | 5 + 2 |
| 8 | kɔ́ɔ̀-ná-tárɛ̀ | baa-tàànrè | 5 + 3 |
| 9 | kɔ́ɔ̀-ná-jirɛ | baa-rìcyɛ̀ɛ̀rè | 5 + 4 |
| 10 | kɛ́ | kɛ | |
| 20 | fúlo | benjaaga | |
| 30 | fúlo na kɛ | benjaaga na kɛ | 20 + 10 |
| 40 | fúloe shiin | 20 × 2 | |
| 50 | fúloe shiin na kɛ | 20 × 2 + 10, Rapp féleshen-ná-kɛ | |
| 60 | fuloe taarɛ | 20 × 3, however compare Rapp félèko-a-ná-nò | |
| 70 | fuloe taarɛ na kɛ | 20 × 3 + 10, Rapp féleko-náshèn | |
| 80 | fuloe jijirɛ | 20 × 4, Rapp féleko-ná-tàrɛ | |
| 90 | fuloe jijirɛ na kɛ | 20 × 4 + 10, Rapp félèko-ná-nyèrɛ | |
| 100 | lafaa | Mpre: ke-lafa (Rapp 1933) | |
| 200 | lafɛɛ shiin | ||
| 400 | lafɛɛ jijirɛ | ||
| 1000 | kagbenge nunu | Rapp láfâ-kɛĭ (100 × 10) or káboŋge | |
| |2000 | kagbenge shiin |
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ "Nafaanra". Ethnologue. 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - 1 2 Ghana – Maps in Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2022). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (25th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
- 1 2 Côte d’Ivoire – Maps in Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2022). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (25th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
- 1 2 Jordan 1980, p. 1.
- ↑ Bendor-Samuel 1971.
- ↑ Jordan 1980b, p. 16.
Sources
[edit | edit source]Primary sources
[edit | edit source]- Delafosse, Maurice (1904). Vocabulaires comparatifs de plus de 60 langues ou dialectes parlés à la Côte d'Ivoire et dans les régions limitrophes (avec des notes linguistiques et ethnologiques, une bibliographie et une carte) (in French). E. Leroux.
- International Bible Society (1984): Nyiɛkpɔɔ nyu nunu fɔŋgɔ.
- Jordan, Dean (1978). "Nafaara tense-aspect in the folk tale". In Grimes, Joseph Evans (ed.). Papers on discourse. Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 84–90. ISBN 0-88312-061-5. OCLC 4516192.
- Jordan, Carol; Jordan, Dean (1980a). "Nafaara". In Kropp-Dakubu, Mary Esther (ed.). West African Language Data Sheets (in English). Vol. II. West African Linguistic Society, African Studies Centre. pp. 138–143.
- Jordan, Dean (1980b). Collected field reports on the phonology of Nafaara. Collected language notes. Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
- Painter, Colin (1966) Word lists of two Senufo dialects: Fantera et Pantera. Legon: University of Ghana. (30p)
- Rapp, Eugen Ludwig (1933). "Der Einfluss der Migration auf die Sprache". Migration und kulturelle Diversität [The Náfana language in Ivory Coast and Gold Coast] (in German). Vol. 36–3. Mitteilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen (M.S.O.S.). pp. 66–69. doi:10.3726/978-3-653-04688-5/10. ISBN 9783631652206.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Secondary sources
[edit | edit source]- Bendor-Samuel, John T. (1971). "Niger–Congo: Gur". In Sebeok, Thomas; Berry, Jack (eds.). Linguistics in sub-saharan Africa (in English). The Hauge/Paris: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 141–178. doi:10.1515/9783111562520-007. ISBN 978-3-11-156252-0.
- Blench, Roger (1999). Recent Field Work in Ghana: Report on Dompo and a note on Mpre.
- Carlson, Robert (1994). A Grammar of Supyire. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. doi:10.1515/9783110883053. ISBN 3-11-014057-8. OCLC 30895666.
- Hartell, Rhonda L. (1993). The Alphabets of Africa. Dakar: UNESCO and SIL. OCLC 464050942.
- Manessy, Gabriel (1981). "Les langues voltaïques". In Perrot, Jean; Leiper Kane Collection, Thomas (eds.). Les langues dans le monde ancien et moderne (in French). Vol. I. Paris: Éditions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique. ISBN 2-222-01720-3. OCLC 9946042.
- Mensah, Emmanuel N. A.; Tchagbale, Zakari (1983). Atlas des langues gur de Côte d'Ivoire (in French). Abidjan, Paris: Agence de coopération culturelle et technique / Institut de linguistique appliquée. OCLC 492982594.
- Mills, Elizabeth (1984). Senoufo phonology, discourse to syllable (a prosodic approach). Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN 0-88312-087-9. ISSN 1040-0850. OCLC 11484538.
- Stahl, Ann (2004). "Making History in Banda: Reflections on the Construction of Africa's Past". Historical Archaeology. 38 (1): 50–65. doi:10.1007/BF03376632. ISSN 0440-9213. JSTOR 25617131. S2CID 140961583.
- Swadesh, Morris; Arana Swadesh, Evangelina; Bendor-Samuel, John T.; Wilson, W. A. A. (1966). "A preliminary glottochronology of Gur languages". Journal of West African Languages. 3 (2): 27–65.
- Westermann, Diedrich; Bryan, M. A.; Arnott, D. W. (1970) [1952]. The Languages of West Africa (new ed.). Folkstone: Dawsons. ISBN 0-7129-0462-X. OCLC 150447.
Read further
[edit | edit source]- Brɔfu ni yuu (a bridge material to English) Nafaanra. Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (1994)
- Nafaanra dictionary (PDF), by Dean Jordan of SIL.