Ewe language
| Ewe (Ɛʋɛgbɛ) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Ghana, Togo |
| Region: | Southeast corner of Ghana, southern Togo |
| Total speakers: | 2.5 Million, 3 Million including second language speakers |
| Ranking: | not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | - |
| Regulated by: | - |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | - |
| ISO 639-2 | ewe |
| SIL | EWE |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Ewe (pronounced /e'βe/) is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana and Togo by approximately three million people (Capo 1991). Ewe is part of a cluster of related languages commonly called Gbe, stretching from eastern Ghana to Western Nigeria. Other Gbe languages Fon and Aja. Like other Gbe languages, Ewe is a tonal language.
Ewe is one of the better documented languages of Africa, partly due to the massive work of Diedrich Hermann Westermann, who published many dictionaries and grammars of Ewe and several other Gbe languages. Other linguists that have worked on Ewe include Gilbert Ansre (tone, syntax), Hounkpati B. Capo (phonology, phonetics), Herbert Stahlke (morphology, tone), Roberto Pazzi (anthropology, lexicography), Felix K. Ameka (semantics, cognitive linguistics) and Alan Stewart Duthie (semantics, phonetics).
Ewe uses the following alphabet:
A a B b D d Ð ɖ E e Ɛ ɛ F f Ƒ ƒ G g Ɣ ɣ H h I i J j K k L l M m N n Ŋ ŋ O o Ɔ ɔ P p R r S s T t U u ũ V v Ʋ ʋ W w X x Y y Z z
| Missing image Gnome-speakernotes.png (audio) | Núnyá gale núnyá gódó (Ewe proverb) (info) |
| 'There is knowledge behind knowledge' (lit. knowledge again.be-located knowledge behind) | |
| Problems listening to the file? See media help. |
References
- Ansre, Gilbert (1961) The Tonal Structure of Ewe. MA Thesis, Kennedy School of Missions of Hartford Seminary Foundation.
- Ameka, Felix Kofi (2001) 'Ewe'. In Garry and Rubino (eds.), Fact About the World's Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World's Major Languages, Past and Present, 207-213. New York/Dublin: The H.W. Wilson Company.
- Capo, Hounkpati B.C. (1991) A Comparative Phonology of Gbe, Publications in African Languages and Linguistics, 14. Berlin/New York: Foris Publications & Garome, Bénin: Labo Gbe (Int).
- Pasch, Helma (1995) Kurzgrammatik des Ewe Köln: Köppe.
- Westermann, Diedrich Hermann (1930) A Study of the Ewe Language London: Oxford University Press.