Mossi language

Person	Moaaga
People	Moose
Language	Mòoré

Mossi
	Mooré
Native to	Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Togo
Ethnicity	Mossi
Native speakers	7.83 million (2009–2013)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Savannas Gur Northern Gur Oti–Volta Western Oti-Volta Northwestern Mossi; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Recognised minority; language in	Burkina Faso
Language codes
ISO 639-2	mos
ISO 639-3	mos
Glottolog	moss1236
	Majority areas of Mossi speakers, in pink, on a map of Burkina Faso

The Mossi language (known in the language as Mooré; also Mòoré, Mõõré, Moré, Moshi, Moore, More) is a Gur language of the Oti–Volta branch and one of two official regional languages of Burkina Faso, closely related to the Frafra language spoken just across the border in the northern half of Ghana and less-closely to Dagbani and Mampruli farther south. It is the language of the Mossi people, spoken by approximately 5 million people in Burkina Faso, plus another 60,000+ in Mali and Togo.

The distribution of Mossi

Phonology

The Mossi language consists of the following sounds:[2]

Consonants

**Mossi consonant phonemes**
		Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar / palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ
Stop	voiceless	p	t		k	ʔ
Stop	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s			h
Fricative	voiced	v	z
Liquid			r, l
Approximant				j	w

Remark:

The semivowel /j/ y is pronounced [ɲ] (palatal nasal) in front of nasal vowels.

Vowels

		Front	Central	Back
Close	Close	i		u
Close	Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid		e		o
Open			a

Notes:

All vowels (other than /e/ and /o/) are pronounced like their nasal counterparts.
All vowels (oral and nasal) are pronounced like their lengthened counterparts.
Other linguists include the vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/; here, they are analysed as diphthongs, (/ɛ/ is considered to be ea and /ɔ/ is considered to be oa).

Orthography

In Burkina Faso, the Mossi alphabet uses the letters specified in the national Burkinabé alphabet.

Burkinabé Mossi alphabet
A	ʼ	B	D	E	Ɛ	F	G	H	I	Ɩ	K	L	M	N	O	P	R	S	T	U	Ʋ	V	W	Y	Z
a	ʼ	b	d	e	ɛ	f	g	h	i	ɩ	k	l	m	n	o	p	r	s	t	u	ʋ	v	w	y	z
Phonetic values
a	ʔ	b	d	e	ɛ	f	ɡ	h	i	ɪ	k	l	m	n	o	p	r	s	t	u	ʊ	v	w	j	z

References

"Mòoré". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
Cf. Kabore (1985) : (p.44) for the consonants, (p.85-86) for the vowels.

External links

Learning materials

Protestant Mission, Assemblies of God. More (Language of the Mossi Tribe) Phrase Book. Ouagadougou, Upper Volta: World Digital Library.

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[1] "Mòoré". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-12-06.

[2] Cf. Kabore (1985) : (p.44) for the consonants, (p.85-86) for the vowels.