Oti–Volta languages

The Oti–Volta languages form a subgroup of the Gur languages, comprising about 30 languages of northern Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso spoken by twelve million people. The most populous language is Mõõré, the national language of Burkina, spoken by five million people.

Oti–Volta
Geographic
distribution		Burkina Faso, northern Ghana and Benin
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo
Glottologotiv1239

The family is named for the Oti and Volta rivers.

Languages

The internal classification of Oti–Volta, as worked out by Gabriel Manessy 1975–79[1][2] and Naden 1989 [3][4] (Williamson & Blench 2000[5][6]) is as follows:

Oti–Volta 
 

Buli–Koma: Buli, Konni

 
 
 

Eastern (Somba): Biali, Mbelime, Tammari (Ditammari), Waama

 
 
Western
(Mole–Dagbani) 
 

Nootre

 
 

Northwest: Mõõré, Frafra, Safaliba, Wali, Dagaare–Birifor

 
 

Southeast: Dagbani, Hanga, Kamara, Kusaal, Nabit, Talni, Mampruli, Kantosi

 
 
 
 

Gurma: Ngangam, Gourmanchéma, Moba (Bimoba), Ntcham (Akaselem), Nateni, Miyobe, Konkomba

 
 

Yom–Nawdm: Nawdm, Yom

 
 
 
 
 

Native Dagbani speakers assert that Dagbani is mutually intelligible with Dagaare, Frafra, Mamprusi, and Wali, but in the case of Dagaare, Frara and Wali it is rather the case that many people can understand some of a language which is not their mother tongue. These languages are not mutually intelligible with Mõõré or Kusaal (a language spoken in Bawku West District and adjacent areas).

See also

References
  1. Manessy, Gabriel (1975). Les langues Oti-Volta. Paris: SELAF.
  2. Manessy, Gabriel (1979). Contribution à la classification généalogique des langues voltaïques : - le proto-central (Langues et civilisations à tradition orale №37 ed.). SELAF: PARIS.
  3. Naden, Tony (1989). Gur. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. pp. 141–168.
  4. Bendor-Samuel, John T. [ed.] (1989). The Niger-Congo Languages. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  5. Heine, Bernd and Derek Nurse [eds] (2000). African Languages — An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  6. Williamson, Kay and Roger Blench (2000). Niger–Congo. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–42.


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