Editing Gbe languages (section)

==Languages==

===Geography and demography===
The Gbe language area is bordered to the west and east by the [[Volta River]] in Ghana and the [[Weme River]] in Benin. The northern border is between 6 and 8 degrees [[latitude]] and the southern border is the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast. The area is neighbored mainly by [[Kwa languages]], except for the east and north-east, where [[Yorùbá language|Yorùbá]] is spoken. To the west, [[Ga–Dangme languages|Ga–Dangme]], [[Guang language|Guang]] and [[Akan language|Akan]] are spoken. To the north, it is bordered by [[Adele language|Adele]], [[Awuna|Aguna]], Akpafu, Lolobi, and Yorùbá.

Estimates of the total number of speakers of Gbe languages vary considerably. Capo (1988) gives a modest estimate of four million, while SIL's [[Ethnologue]] (15th edition, 2005) gives eight million<!-- Note: number obtained by adding up speaker numbers of all individual Gbe languages -->. The most widely spoken Gbe languages are Ewe ([[Ghana]] and [[Togo]]) and Fon ([[Benin]], eastern Togo) at four million and 3 million speakers, respectively. Ewe is a language of formal education for secondary schools and universities in Ghana, and is also used in non-formal education in [[Togo]]. In Benin, Aja (740,000 speakers) and Fon were two of the six national languages selected by the government for adult education in 1992.

===Classification===
[[Joseph Greenberg|Greenberg]], following Westermann (1952), placed the Gbe languages in the [[Kwa languages|Kwa]] family of the [[Niger–Congo languages]].<ref>Greenberg (1966), ''[[The Languages of Africa]]''.</ref> The extent of the Kwa branch has fluctuated through the years, and [[Roger Blench]] places the Gbe languages in a Volta–Niger branch with former East Kwa languages to their east.

Gbe is a [[dialect continuum]]. Based on comparative research, Capo (1988) divides it into five clusters, with each cluster consisting of several mutually intelligible dialects. The borders between the clusters are not always distinct. The five clusters are:<ref>Sources: for the classification, Capo (1991) & Aboh (2004); for speaker numbers, [http://www.ethnologue.com Ethnologue, 15th edition].</ref>

{| class="wikitable" 
!Name!!Alternate names!!Speakers!!Some dialects!!Region
|-
| [[Ewe language|Ewe]]||Vhe, Ɛ̀ʋɛ̀&nbsp;gbè||ca. 3,600,000||Anlo-(Keta area)Along the coast, Ewedome, (Ho area) Hill country, Tongu (Sogakope area) along the Volta River||lower half of Ghana east of the [[Volta River]]; southwest Togo
|-
|[[Gen language|Gen]]||Gẽ, Mina, Gɛn&nbsp;gbe||ca. 400,000||Gliji, Anexo, Agoi||[[Lake Togo]], around [[Anexo]]
|-
|[[Aja language (Niger–Congo)|Aja]]||Aja&nbsp;gbe, Adja||ca. 500,000 ||Dogbo, Sikpi||Togo, [[Benin]] area, inland along the [[Mono River]]
|-
|[[Fon language|Fon]]||Fɔn&nbsp;gbè||ca. 1,700,000||[[Gun language|Gun]], Kpase, Agbome, Maxi||southeast Togo, Benin west of the [[Weme River]] and along the coast
|-
|[[Phla–Pherá languages|Phla–Pherá]]||Fla, Offra, Xwla&nbsp;gbe||ca. 400,000||Alada, Toli, Ayizo||Togo and Benin along the coast and around [[Lake Ahémé]]
|}

Kluge (2011)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sil.org/resources/publications/entry/41567|title=A sociolinguistic survey of the Gbe language communities of Benin and Togo: Gbe language family overview|website=SIL International}}</ref> proposes that the Gbe languages consist of a [[dialect continuum]] that can be split into three large clusters.

*'''Western Gbe''' varieties ([[Ewe language|Ewe]], [[Gen language|Gen]], and Northwestern Gbe): Adan, Agoi/Gliji, Agu, Anexo, Aveno, Awlan, Be, Gbin, [[Gen language|Gen]], Kpelen, Kpési, Togo, Vhlin, Vo, Waci, Wance, Wundi (also [[Aguna language|Awuna]]?)
*'''Central Gbe''' varieties: [[Aja language (Niger–Congo)|Aja]] (Dogbo, Hwe, Sikpi, Tado, Tala)
*'''Eastern Gbe''' varieties ([[Fon language|Fon]], Eastern [[Phla–Pherá languages|Phla–Pherá]], and Western [[Phla–Pherá languages|Phla–Pherá]]): Agbome, Ajra, [[Alada language|Alada]], Arohun, [[Ayizo language|Ayizo]], Ci, Daxe, [[Fon language|Fon]], Gbekon, Gbesi, Gbokpa, [[Gun language|Gun]], Kotafon, Kpase, Maxi, Movolo, [[Saxwe language|Saxwe]], Se, Seto, [[Tofin language|Tofin]], Toli, Weme, [[Pherá language|Xwela]], [[Phla language|Xwla]] (Eastern), [[Phla language|Xwla]] (Western) (also [[Wudu language|Wudu]]?)

===Naming===
The dialect continuum as a whole was called 'Ewe' by [[Diedrich Hermann Westermann|Westermann]], the most influential researcher on the cluster, who used the term 'Standard Ewe' to refer to the written form of the language. Other linguists have called the Gbe languages as a whole 'Aja', after the name of the local language of the Aja-Tado area in Benin. However, use of this single language's name for the language cluster as a whole was not only not acceptable to all speakers but also rather confusing. Since the establishment of a [[working group]] at the West African Languages Congress at [[Cotonou]] in 1980, H. B. Capo's name suggestion has been generally accepted: {{'}}''Gbe''{{'}}, which is the word for 'language/dialect' in each of the languages.<ref>In daily use, individual Gbe languages are referred to by their speakers as X-gbe, e.g. ''Ewegbe'' for Ewe, ''Fongbe'' for Fon, etc.</ref>