Gen language

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Gen (also called Gɛ̃, Gɛn gbe, Gebe, Guin, Mina, Mina-Gen, and Popo) is a Gbe language spoken in the southeast of Togo in the Maritime Region. Like the other Gbe languages, Gen is a tonal language. It was misidentified as the 'Arda' language isolate of South America.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

The Gen-Mina originated from Accra and Elmina in Ghana. The Mina from Elmina migrated because of the Denkyira wars of aggression, while the Gen came over from Accra after their defeat in the Akwamu wars. The two groups intermingled with the indigenous Ewe, resulting in their Ewe dialect having words borrowed from Fanti, Ga-Adangbe and various European languages.Template:Citation needed

The Gen language is mutually intelligible with Ewe and is considered to be one of the many dialects of Ewe.Template:Citation needed

There were 476,000 Gen-speakers in Togo in 2019, and 144,000 in Benin in 2021.<ref name=e26/>

Orthography

The orthography is defined in the Alphabet des langues nationales of Benin. In the 1990 edition, Gen shared its alphabet with Waci.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the 2008 edition, Gen has its own alphabet (without F with hook Template:Angbr).

Alphabet<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Uppercase	A	B	C	D	Ɖ	E	Ɛ	F	G	GB	Ɣ	H	X	I	J	K	KP	L	M	N	NY	Ŋ	Ɔ	P	S	T	U	Ʋ	V	W	Y	Z
Lowercase	a	b	c	d	ɖ	e	ɛ	f	g	gb	ɣ	h	x	i	j	k	kp	l	m	n	ny	ŋ	ɔ	p	s	t	u	ʋ	v	w	y	z

Nasalisation is indicated with a n after the vowel (Template:Angbr).

Sources

• Kangni, Atah-Ekoué (1989) La syntaxe du Gẽ: étude syntaxique d'un parler Gbe: le Gẽ du Sud-Togo. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

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